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10 TURBIDITY AND TURBINES?
Citizens and scientists seek solutions to turbid water wells in Chatham-Kent, Ont.
18 PASSING THE TORCH
A gradual transition and mutual respect make succession work for B.C.’s Red Williams Drilling Ltd.
20
SOWING THE SEEDS
Outreach efforts are targeting high school and university students.
24 Q-AND-A WITH JAY Jay Famiglietti has a strong message about managing ground water responsibly.
ON THE WEB:
Combination of contaminants in Calif. tap water raises cancer risks, study finds
The array of toxic pollutants in California drinking water could in combination cause more than 15,000 excess cases of cancer, according to a peer-reviewed study by scientists at the Environmental Working Group.
The customer is angry and it’s not your fault
A customer’s complaint may not be your fault, but it is an opportunity for your business to shine, writes customer service expert Shep Hyken.
Problem-solvers
by Colleen Cross
Treat the disease, not the symptoms. That’s what medical experts always tell us.
And that’s what well owners in ChathamKent, Ont., tried to do.
They observed widespread symptoms in their water wells. They saw brown and black sediment cloud their water and clog their home filtration systems. They saw and smelled slimy biofilm in their water. They worried (and still do) about the possible negative health effects of drinking and bathing in it.
They formed an activist group called Water Wells First. They did what any good doctor or scientist would do: They gathered evidence of the problem. They looked for patterns. They did research. They consulted experts.
And they did what any good patient would do: they proactively asked for answers. From their local council, from the wind turbine developers and the Ministry of the Environment. Unable to get satisfactory answers, they sought and received help from their provincial ground water association, from hydrogeologists, from geologists and from the media.
Water Wells First did what any independent-minded person would do: they went about solving the problems themselves.
The group’s co-founder, Kevin Jakubec, has done a mountain of research on the Kettle Point black shale underlying the contact aquifer, on the behaviour of particles of difference sizes and on the phenomenon of seismic coupling. Jakubec surrounded himself with experts and shared that knowledge with all who would listen.
Unfortunately, the message of Water Wells First has fallen on deaf ears all too often.
Despite strong evidence of well interference by industrial wind turbines, the provincial government and the wind industry have not acknowledged a link between the turbines and the well problems.
So these folks did what any independent-minded person with their back against a wall would do: they went about solving the problems themselves.
That’s not to say they gave up trying to hold industry and government responsible. Far from it
– as this issue went to press, Water Wells First, the Ontario Ground Water Association and University of Windsor scientist Joel Gagnon joined neighbouring Essex County’s MPP at a press conference at the Ontario legislature to ask the premier to keep his promise to help.
They’ve spoken out before, but were inspired to speak out this time by ongoing ground water concerns and the prospect of another wind project planned in Finch township near Ottawa, where fragile geological conditions exist.
The OGWA said at the press conference: “Our association is not against development, but . . . seriously committed to the protection of ground water in Ontario. Our aquifers need to be protected from any form of contamination. Not only from wind turbine vibrations, such as in Chatham-Kent, but also from the improper storage of radioactive waste, the disposal of garbage in old quarries and gravel pits, industrial chemicals, PFSAs from fire fighting, and low dose pharmaceuticals and micro-plastics.”
They continue to voice their concerns, but the focus has shifted to finding solutions. They face “the practical challenge of using the water and the costs residents have incurred,” as Gagnon puts it in our story (page 10).
Chatham-Kent’s well problems are far from solved, and Finch township’s may be just beginning. But feisty Water Wells First and its supporters have advanced knowledge of well issues by working as a team to try to solve them. Their drive to spread the word about this threat to ground water proves there is strength in numbers. Let’s help them find low-cost solutions while the fight continues to nail down and get public acknowledgment of what’s causing them.
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INDUSTRY NEWS
NEW PRESIDENT SHARES PRIORITIES FOR ONTARIO GROUND WATER ASSOCIATION
Matt Wilson, the new president of the Ontario Ground Water Association, shared some of the association’s priorities with Ground Water Canada.
Wilson reported the OGWA is on sound financial footing and has three top priorities: communicating effectively with members, the public and other organizations; providing continuing education and technical sessions to members; and streamlining the board’s structure to efficiently deliver benefits to members.
“We have lots of great benefits of membership but don’t always do the best job communicating that to members,” Wilson said. The OGWA also plans to communicate more closely with the provincial Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Parks, the public and other like-minded water groups “to raise our profile.”
He identified challenges as improving communication, advocacy and outreach to the public as well as to other organizations such as real estate groups and plumbing groups. These challenges are in line with those facing the industry as a whole, he said. “It’s a constant battle to educate the public – especially the non-rural public.”
Wilson grew up working in the family business started by his grandfather, J.B. Wilson and Son Well Drilling Ltd., in Springfiled, Ont. He earned an honours bachelor of science in molecular genetics from the University of Guelph and worked in student leadership for two years. As a leadership consultant, he gained experience running meetings, helping to support different groups and dealing with people from diverse backgrounds.
After working in the pharmaceutical industry for three-and-a-half years, he joined his father, John, and brother, Johnny, in the family business in 2004. He is the co-vice-president of the company.
WORKPLACE HEALTH AND SAFETY IMPORTANT TO JOB SEEKERS: POLL
Ninety-four per cent of Canadians currently employed say that workplace health, safety and mental well-being is important when choosing a job, according to an Angus Reid poll commissioned by the Manufacturing Safety Alliance of BC.
Yet B.C. employers lost 2.75 million work days to workplace injury or occupational disease according to WorkSafeBC statistics for its most recent reporting year. And only three-quarters of Canadians currently working said that decisions made in their workplace consider employee health, safety and well-being all or some of the time, according to the poll conducted in February.
Alliance executives and board members recently met with Minister of Labour Harry Bains and MLAs from across the province in Victoria to raise awareness about workplace health and safety and its impact on recruitment and retention, said a news release from the Alliance, which delivers services to support workplace safety, health, and wellness for B.C. manufacturing and food processing brands.
According to the Angus Reid survey, slightly more women than men (97 per cent compared to 91 per cent) said that workplace health and safety was very important or somewhat important.
Among young people, 96 per cent of workers who are 18 to 34 responding said it was very important or somewhat important compared to 93 per cent of those over 35.
Meanwhile, just 77 per cent of Canadians currently working said that decisions made in their workplace consider employee health, safety and wellbeing all or some of the time, according to the poll conducted in February.
“What this tells us is there is a gap between what is currently happening in Canadian businesses and the management best practices that would help employees feel safer at work,” said Lisa McGuire, chief executive officer of the Manufacturing Safety Alliance of BC.
CANADA PROPOSES ENVIRONMENTAL GUIDELINES FOR IRON, LEAD, STRONTIUM AND QUINOLINE
The federal government has issued draft federal environmental quality guidelines for iron, lead, quinoline and strontium.
According to the Government of Canada website, Federal Environmental Quality Guidelines (FEQGs) are recommendations in quantitative or qualitative terms to support federal environmental quality monitoring. They are based on the toxicological effects, that is, the hazard, of specific chemical substances or groups of substances.
The use of FEQGs is voluntary unless prescribed by regulation or binding agreements. The guidelines propose the following targets:
• lead – freshwater guideline value of 0.4 µg/
• iron – freshwater guideline value of 604 µg/L
• quinoline – water and ground water guideline values of 130 µg/L
• strontium – freshwater guideline value of 1.7 µg/L
The deadline for comments is July 3, 2019. For more information, visit the Government of Canada website.
SHERWOOD LOLLAR AWARDED NSERC AWARD FOR WATER DISCOVERIES
University of Toronto professor Barbara Sherwood Lollar has been awarded the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada’s most prestigious prize for her insights about the nature of water and life on Earth and her discoveries and expertise on ancient water.
Sherwood Lollar is a professor in the department of earth sciences at the University of Toronto, is receiving the Gerhard Herzberg Canada Gold Medal for Science and Engineering, an award worth $1 million.
“As one of Canada’s most renowned earth scientists, Barbara Sherwood Lollar has given us incredible insights about the nature of water and life on our planet,” reads her profile on the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada website. “Her work has been recognized for helping us understand environmental clean-up processes that remediate and preserve precious water resources. Her work has also shown us that there is still much to discover about water on this planet.
“Her celebrated research on ancient water discovered kilometres below the surface in mines on the Canadian Shield and in ancient rocks throughout the world has earned her international acclaim. This discovery peeled back a new layer of the Earth to help reveal subsurface lifeforms thriving in conditions that scientists had once thought were uninhabitable.
“Today, her expertise on earth systems is taking her out of the deep earth and out to the distant solar system. Sherwood Lollar’s knowledge about water and life on our planet is helping shape space exploration and the search for life on other planets – where could life have existed, how it might it survive, where it might be found?”
Sherwood Lollar, along with 27 of Canada’s top scientists and seven industry partners will receive the award at a ceremony at Rideau Hall. The researchers will receive six NSERC prizes for a range of research including creating new safety enhancements for hospital beds, developing biodegradable plastics for disposable coffee pods and commercializing the first non-military infra-red camera.
CHANGES TO ONTARIO SKILLED TRADES AND APPRENTICESHIP SYSTEM
The Ontario government has proposed the Modernizing the Skilled Trades and Apprenticeship Act, 2019, which, if passed, would create a new governance model for the skilled trades and apprenticeship system.
The new model will be led by the ministry, with industry input in training programs and regulation, the Ontario College of Trades said in a news release on its website. The bill is known as Schedule 40.
During the transition period the college will continue to deliver on its core services, including the following:
• issuing or renewing certificates of qualification and other credentials
• verifying credentials on worksites for compulsory trades
• undertaking trade equivalency assessments
• supporting labour mobility through credential verification
Upon request of the Minister of Training, Colleges, and Universities, effective immediately, College of Trades annual membership fees have been reduced or eliminated. The college temporarily ceased sending out invoices and will begin again at the new rate no later than July 5, 2019, according to the release.
OGWA TO HOST GOLF EVENT AND AWARDS FUNDRAISER
The Ontario Ground Water Association will host its third annual golf tournament Sept. 20 in Conestogo, Ont., to raise funds for annual scholarship awards for graduates of Fleming College’s resources drilling and blasting program.
The aim is to raise funds that can be held in an interest-earning account to be dispersed each year to the recipients at its annual convention, the OGWA said in a news release.
“It is important to recognize the academic achievements, year to year, of deserving students and welcome them into the ground water community,” said Paul Conrad of the association’s board of directors.
Registration includes a barbecue lunch on the patio, a full-course dinner, golf with a cart in an 18-hole scramble format, a silent auction, contests and prizes.
Those who can’t attend can still help support the industry’s next generation by making a donation through the association. Funds earmarked for the scholarship will be set aside for this purpose. “Silent auction and prize donations would be greatly appreciated!” the OGWA said.
Tournament details, registration forms and donation information are available at ogwa.ca.
by Ground Water Canada staff
WEST COAST CONFERENCE
BCGWA convention features drillers course
Highlights of the British Columbia Ground Water Association’s annual convention included a two-day drillers course, a talk by McEllhiney Distinguished Lecturer Gary Hix on adapting to changing markets and a panel on flowing artesian wells.
The BCGWA held its annual convention, trade show and annual general meeting April 10-11 in Langley, B.C. The event was well attended, with approximately 150 members coming out and some 25 manufacturers and suppliers exhibiting, estimated David Mercer, the association’s general manager.
A two-day drillers course was developed and run by association members. The course’s 30 spaces were filled, with several more on a waiting list, suggesting plenty of drillers are interested in upgrading their skills, Mercer said. Last year the association hosted a pump installers course and next year they may consider offering another type of course such as confined spaces training, he added.
Dave Mercer said training will be a focus going forward and “I have another goal of growing the membership.”
McEllhiney Distinguished Lecturer Gary Hix gave a talk entitled “Drilling markets change –so must we.” Hix discussed the need to be aware
of market changes brought about by economic conditions and technology transformations. He offered strategies on how to adapt and how to structure your business operations to ensure profitability. Ground water professionals need to consider what services their potential customers are demanding, Hix said.
A panel on flowing artesian wells focused on interpreting the Water Sustainability Act, which came into effect in February 2016. The panel tackled the question of what is the liability of drillers when they encounter a flowing artesian well and how can contractors help protect themselves and their businesses.
For more information on the association, visit bcgwa.org.
BCGWA BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Executive committee:
About 150 members of the British Columbia Ground Water Assocation gathered in Langley in April for its annual convention.
President Ryan Rhodes (2017-2019)
Vice-president Thomas Williams (2017-2019)
Secretary Ron Nelson (2018-2020)
Treasurer Bill Tuytel (2017-2019)
Past-president Blaine Matuga (2017-2019)
Regional and industry group directors:
John Vlchek, Mike Bombardier Ward VanProstij, Jim Clark, Paul Anderson, David Slade, Mark MacNeil, Tim Martin, Chad Petersmeyer, Morley Bishop, Lloyd Ingram, Scott Stewart (Geoexchange BC liaison)
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TURBIDITY AND TURBINES?
Citizens and scientists seek solutions to water-well issues in Chatham-Kent, Ont.
There’s something in the water wells in Chatham-Kent. Excessive sediment, problematic gases, and offputting, potentially infection-causing biofilm.
Since August 2013, water-well owners in the largely rural municipality of about 100,000 residents in southwestern Ontario have seen their well water turn dirty, fill with brown or black sediments that clog filtration systems, expel gases, smell bad. For many, the water was not good enough to bathe in, let alone drink. These wells have provided good quality drinking water for decades to residents and their livestock and farms. They draw from the fragile contact aquifer that occurs at the contact between the glacial overburden and the Kettle Point shale, which is known to contain elevated concentrations of heavy metals such as arsenic, copper, lead and uranium. The properties are documented in studies, including those by the Ontario Geological Survey and the Geological Survey of Canada in 1985 and 1993, respectively. Hydrogeologist Bill Clarke describes the local geology as consisting of “a thick sequence of both till and deep-sea sediment.” Historically, when drilling wells, Clarke says, “drillers looked for fractured shale or a thin, sandy bed lying on top of the bedrock. They sometimes had to try up to six times.”
Why the widespread changes in well water after water had been good for over half a century? Many are convinced the aquifer has changed – not the wells
– and those changes are linked to the construction and operation of industrial wind turbines in the area, namely, the Marsh Line, East Lake St. Clair and North Kent 1 projects. One resident, Kevin Jakubec, has taken his concerns to another level. Jakubec, an area resident and farmer, set out to get answers from wind turbine companies and the provincial Ministry of Environment and Climate Change. Frustrated by the lack of information available and an apparent lack of interest in solving the well problems, he formed a citizen activist group called Water Wells First in 2016 to draw attention to the issues.
Since then, Water Wells First – which is not against wind energy but instead focuses on ground water protection –has staged peaceful protests, attracted extensive coverage by local and national newspapers, radio and TV, and lobbied local and provincial governments and wind turbine developers to halt construction on North Kent 1 and other proposed projects and do further testing. They are on a continuing quest to find answers to a host of problems seen in wells near the turbines.
What followed is a tale marked by too many twists and turns and political machinations to cover in these pages (for background see Ground Water Canada’s fall 2016 edition). We will focus on the
by COLLEEN CROSS
work being done by Jakubec and the residents to solve the issues and make the water useable.
TWISTS AND TURNS
To make a long story very short – a story that includes the group’s appeal of North Kent 1’s Renewable Energy Approval – the ministry concluded the issues in about 20 complaints from well owners filed under the Well Interference Protocol (remedial steps approved by the MOECC that may be taken to address complaints of damage to a well or well water quality) could not be attributed to turbine construction or operation.
In a February 2018 YouTube video that describes studies commissioned by North Kent 1 developers Samsung and Pattern Energy, a Golder Associates consultant found no plausible way particles could be transported hundreds of metres from turbine locations to water supply wells. “This is narrow thinking,” Bill Clarke says. “It’s not about a plume, it’s about vibration. It’s as if four or five of us were to take turns throwing a pebble into a pond. This creates a pattern of cancelling and reinforcing waves. Private wells are located in a spot among the turbines where multiple vibration patterns happen. This would cost millions and require years of study to prove or demonstrate.”
Jakubec, who has a degree in biology,
did extensive research and has a theory that relates to vibration: a phenomenon known as seismic coupling. “It’s been well documented in scientific literature that a wind turbine can shed ground water vibrations into the local ground during operation,” he says, pointing to the work of Mark-Paul Buckingham at Xi Engineering in Scotland. Locally sourced particles enter the wells during pumping. Particle transport over long distances is not required for wells to be impacted.
BASELINE TESTING
Early on, Water Wells First had support from the Ontario Ground Water Association, and through them contracted Bill Clarke to perform independent baseline testing at a cost of $2,000 per well on several area wells before and after construction of North Kent 1 began. “There is no doubt in my mind this is well interference,” says Clarke, who wrote two articles describing his findings and opinion in Ground Water Canada in 2018.
Clarke did chemical testing and found elevated concentrations of particles under two micron in several wells, including a huge jump in one well. He detected no dissolved metals in the water. But he and Jakubec are more concerned about the fine particulates than the dissolved metals. “Fine particulates don’t settle out, they stay in suspension, and in time they migrate,” Jakubec says.
Clarke collected sediment samples at the same time. “They have no shelf life, so I took them to save for future use in case they are needed later,” he says. The hydrogeologist gives weight to anecdotal evidence and common sense. “I got to meet a lot of people,” he says. “It was common to hear from second-generation residents, many of them farmers, the words ‘I’ve never seen water like this.’ Their systems were blocked and you could see discoloration in sinks, bathtubs and washing machines.”
WORTH STUDYING
Joel Gagnon, associate professor in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at the University of Windsor and head of the metals lab at the Great Lakes Institute for Environmental Research (GLIER), presented a set of water quantity and quality problems at the Ontario Ground Water Association banquet and awards ceremony in March 2019. The talk
told “a tale of two wells” and generated new interest in the Chatham-Kent issues. Gagnon, who grew up in the area, set out to find interesting research problems with the intention of applying for funding to study them.
“My role is to use this situation as best we can to provide learning opportunities to students. That started out as field trips with students,” he says. After visiting several residences, he chose two for further evaluation: Dave Lusk’s farm on Green Valley Line and the home of Marc and Marilynn St. Pierre on Bay Line near Mitchell’s Bay.
His team collected water samples and wrote up their preliminary findings with the goal of applying for funding to do research. He described the problems reported at two homes and talked about the potential and need for scientific study of the well issues, which include excessive turbidity – fine-grained suspended
particles causing filters to fail in seconds to minutes – low yield, no yield, and gas, which is mostly methane but could also contain radon. In the case of the St. Pierres’ well, they also found biofilm, which had a slimy texture, black colour and sulphurous odour, and appeared to contain sulphate-reducing bacteria.
Gagnon is especially concerned about radon, which was detected in ambient air in Lusk’s basement at a level just below the threshold considered hazardous and requiring remediation.
“There’s a lot of uncertainty,” he says. He is trying to raise questions about water treatment, water quality, potential health risk from water or gas or both. Gagnon would like to see an assessment of the region to decide how extensive this problem is. Then toxic metals as they relate to the quality of water in the area need to be assessed. He wants to look at patterns within that study to see
Kevin Jakubec and Joel Gagnon stand beside an elaborate water filtration system Jakubec engineered to try to get Dave Lusk’s water up to potable quality.
if locations of the metals might correlate with turbine operation.
Gagnon is focusing on quality of water, distribution of sediments, dissolved metals, dissolved gases: What does it look like? How do you treat the water? Is there evidence of statistically significant human health impacts related to the Kettle Point shale (even without turbines) that exceed the level you would expect?
A TALE OF TWO WELLS
Gagnon and Jakubec accompanied Ground Water Canada on a visit to the two sites – the homes of Dave Lusk and Marc St. Pierre. It was Gagnon’s third visit and one of countless visits for Jakubec, who has helped his fellow well owners rig up water treatment systems that must be seen to be believed. We will get to that.
Dave Lusk is a fourth-generation farmer who lives on Green Valley Line in Chatham township. He grows corn on land his great-grandfather developed. On an overcast day in May, Lusk shows us to his wellhead, which is about a kilometre and a half away from the nearest wind turbine. Within sight is a decommissioned
well his grandfather drilled that provided good water for workhorses for many years. Lusk’s well is 49 feet deep and the static water level is 10 to 20 feet below ground. Intake is at the top of the aquifer, just above the shale bedrock.
Since 1966 his well has provided excellent water to the household and farm. In 2017, Lusk started noticing fine brown sediments in his water, which made drinking the water impossible and bathing with it unpleasant and worrisome.
There is no doubt in Lusk’s mind the trouble began with construction of 34 North Kent 1 turbines. Thirteen piles were driven into the bedrock using a steel tube with hardened drive shoe beginning on Aug. 24, 2017. During pile driving, the well began expelling natural gas at a rate that caused water to be ejected from the top of the well casing. Lusk took a video of the alarming phenomenon Gagnon refers to as “self-sparging,” to borrow a term from ground water treatment strategies that involve injection of air into an aquifer. “Gas that’s dissolved in the water is exsolving because of the reduction of pressure at the well,” he explains.
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After testing Lusk’s water, AECOM, the wind developers’ consultant, provided him with an alternative water supply. But when the company said it was no longer required and suggested Lusk keep it as a gift, he declined. Instead he bought a large tank, which he keeps in his shed for outdoor, non-potable uses. He doesn’t like the notion of trucked-in water.
“But the worst thing is the stress,” Lusk says during our visit. “Every minute of every day. It’s disheartening as hell. I can only talk about it for so long, then I have to stop because I get too upset,” he says.
Lusk keeps chickens but he no longer gives away eggs to family and friends for fear they are contaminated. Nor does he garden anymore. “I used to grow a vegetable garden. It was a stress reliever for me. Now I wouldn’t eat the vegetables.”
The situation has left him feeling helpless and as if he is letting his greatgrandfather down. And there are fifth and sixth generations being affected by the well issues. His daughter wants to take over the farm but he can’t in good conscience let her. “I don’t want my daughter here. It’s not safe for her children,” he says. “We now have to teach the kids not to drink the water, just like we would teach them not to touch a light socket.”
Lusk is currently drinking bottled water; until recently he was drinking well water but stopped when he got sick.
LUSK FARM: ‘TREATMENT TRAIN’
Jakubec and the well owners have not waited around for answers from the government. They are forging ahead with their own solutions to well issues. One such solution is a system Jakubec calls a “treatment train” that aims to remove the Kettle Point black shale particles and reduce the amount of shale gas entering Lusk’s home water supply.
We troop down into Lusk’s basement to have a look at the system, which fills about half the basement and is flanked by a washing machine and dryer. Jakubec’s “treatment train” would rival any scientific lab and calls to mind 1950s sci-fi movies.
“It is based on a brute filtration method where you start with the coarser particles then work your way down to smaller and smaller ones,” Jakubec explains. “The technology they are using is the same technology used in wastewater treatment.”
He describes the key elements of the elaborate system: a spin-down trap with your business. our policy.
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Excessive sediment in Dave Lusk’s well – seen here in a spin-down trap –causes the system to clog regularly and requires frequent changes of filters.
a coarse sediment filter to keep sediment from accumulating; a piston pump; Taco air strippers to remove exsolved gases; water hammer/surge arrestors to dampen the water-hammer effect produced by gas exsolution, reduce pressure fluctuations and improve filtration efficiency; a magnetic filter with a three-quarter-inch looped hose and two 600-pound pull magnets at the bottom of the loop to magnetize and settle the particles, which helps slow the backwash to every 20 minutes; a self-cleaning Judo filter with a screen to help remove particles above the 30-micron size range; a 60-micron spindown filter followed by two 30-micron spin-downs; six commercial grade filters (60 per cent efficient) to remove as much fine particle load as possible; and three high-grade filters. After treatment the water is brute-scrubbed to 0.2 micron, Jakubec says. A water meter to give readings of water flow.
All of this is monitored through a control panel that sits in the middle of the train. The Judo filter is linked to voltage
dataloggers that document every backwash cycle triggered. This is to prevent the filtration system from plugging with sediment, burning up the electric motor and possibly damaging the pump. It also lets Jakubec and Lusk track the amount of sediment loading to outside weather and turbine operating conditions such as wind speed and wind direction.
While we are there an old-school alarm bell goes off. Jakubec climbs in among the pipes and components to turn off the system and take a sample from the spindown filter. He leans forward to show us a cluster of fine brown particles that resemble iron filings settling at the bottom of a cup. He then pulls out a filter cartridge and reads off the numbers to Lusk, who records them on a wall chart. To date, Lusk has invested about $8,000 into the system.
‘REDNECK ENGINEERING’
Jakubec calls his system a form of “redneck engineering” and likens it to a game of whack-a-mole. “As soon as you figure out one problem, another pops up,” he says. He has support from Joel Gagnon and a local electrical engineer.
“We’ve learned a lot in trying to filter this water that’s clearly been interfered with,” Jakubec says. “It’s been a great learning experience and we’ve learned there are a number of problems we have to solve simultaneously, which makes it an incredibly hard engineering problem to solve. If there are any engineers that want to give me a call, I would welcome any advice you could share with me.”
“All of this is just basically to address esthetics and to make the water usable,” Gagnon points out. “They haven’t even got to the point of assessing the efficiency of the system for addressing water chemistry.”
Lusk also has to change or wash filters every week or so. He’s changing them sooner than that day of my visit because it’s been windy lately, Jakubec speculates. It used to cost him $3-4 per month to run the pump and water treatment was unnecessary. Now it is costing thousands.
ST. PIERRE HOME: ALL THAT AND BIOFILM
Nearby on Bay Line, Marc and Marilynn St. Pierre have similar issues with their well since turbines were built – less gas than at Lusk’s but the unwelcome addition of biofilm. Their large red brick house and property, where they’ve lived since 1980, is near the East Lake St Clair
Wind project in Dover township.
The St. Pierres’ well was constructed in 2006 to replace an older well due to water quality issues that started during installation of the turbines. The new well is 66 feet deep and terminates in the contact aquifer. It had good pumping capacity but was full of fine black sediment, was cloudy, had an unpleasant smell, and possibly pathogenic biofilm. Rehabilitation of the well by a licensed water-well contractor using surging, bailing and purging methods helped reduce sediment and biofilm; however, the biofilm returned within six months.
The water issues have meant high stress for Marilyn, a cancer survivor who has been cancer-free since 2005. She is terrified of going through that again, Marc says. Their family has included their five children and more than 80 foster children over the years. The well passed strict inspection by Children’s Aid Services as part of standard home inspections of foster parents and water quality issues developed only after turbine installation and operation.
Jakubec has helped the St. Pierres set up a system very similar to the treatment train in Dave Lusk’s basement, with three major differences: it employs a submersible rather than a piston pump, it must deal with biofilm issues and it’s smaller (about a quarter of the footprint).
St. Pierre, a former engineer, installed a Seccua pump with a water tank. The filtration system was designed to filter glacial milk and provides microfiltration meant to go to the colloidal level, Jakubec says. They customized it to filter tiny black shale particles and biomass.
He invites us inside to see the system, which is hidden under a trap door he built just inside the main doorway of the house. He has put in a heavy-duty house filter designed for black water. He too has a Taco filter and surge-arrestors. It may seem like overkill, he says, but “everything is built to protect.”
“I’m kind of proud of it,” St. Pierre says from down in the treatment train.
The water is filtered to 0.01 micron, the NSF standard. It is smooth, goodtasting and sweet – a trait area water has been known for.
As with Lusk’s well, a northwest wind affects the nearby wind turbine and, thus, the operation of the treatment system. St. Pierre knows this because he sees a visible
change in water quality and the treatment system monitor sends a pulse indicating loading rates have changed.
They now drink the water, but for the St. Pierres, this experience has meant stress, worry and around $15,000 in unplanned expenses. Like Lusk’s treatment system, theirs has addressed esthetic issues. Its ability to address potential health risks associated with consuming the water is yet to be determined, Gagnon says. In both cases, these assessments will be undertaken once the configurations of the systems are finalized.
PROBLEMS GO UNREPORTED
After investigating the situation, Gagnon recommended to the Ministry of Health a regional study of the contact aquifer to look at baseline water quality, temporal and spatial variability, and the nature and extent of impacts on ground water. He also believes the Kettle Point aquifer’s shale chemistry requires more study: are there leachable metals in it, and if so, in what amount? Are there hazardous organic compounds or gases? Lastly, he’s pushing for toxicity and hazard assessments that would look at potential ingestion, inhalation and dermal contact exposures, methylation of metals and explosive and hazardous gases.
Jakubec and Gagnon estimate water-well quality in at least 80 wells has been affected by turbine activity, possibly twice the number of problem wells reported. In response, some well owners use water tanks, some filter the
water and some use bottled water. The extent of the risk to residents’ health is not known in part because sampling has been done by the MOECC only in response to well owner complaints. Many residents experiencing well issues, however, have not reported them, Gagnon says, citing as possible reasons fear that a complaint will lower property values, reluctance to get involved or draw attention and the legal obligation not to talk about the matter after having signed turbine lease contracts or having accepted water treatment systems from wind energy companies that included non-disclosure agreements.
The potential for health issues prompted Gagnon to share his findings with the Ministry of Health last November. The ministry has not responded other than to say the information Gagnon provided was given to its policy team.
“People should be apprised of any potential health impact, and should they have the opportunity to treat it, they should be aware of that. Then there is the larger question of should we allow ground water resources to be destroyed or should we protect them?”
Gagnon and Jakubec are now experimenting with magneto-electro coagulation to reduce the amount of
sediment in Dave Lusk’s well. They will continue assessing treatment options in the hopes of finding a solution that is lower in cost and less complex than the current system.
“What’s been lost in all this is the loss of use,” Gagnon says. “This isn’t just a question of health . . . but of the practical challenge of using the water and the costs residents have incurred. These are costs that people never had before.”
A WISH LIST
Jakubec advises well owners anywhere near proposed construction or other major construction projects that might impact ground water to get a baseline test for their water quality. Without baseline tests, impacts to ground water quality are very difficult to argue. Water well records, documented flow rates and well surveys should also be recorded, adds the OGWA’s Craig Stainton.
He wants the provincial government to do a health hazard investigation. Jakubec, Clarke and Gagnon agree that a committee made up of different disciplines is needed to come up with solutions.
“If we don’t do a study and we find out years down the line that people in Chatham-Kent have illnesses, who will pay for this tragedy?” Clarke wonders. “Why not stop, reflect on what we don’t know.”
Kevin Jakubec welcomes advice and ideas from readers: 519-350-9458, contactaquifer@gmail.com or through waterwellsfirst.org. For more, visit groundwatercanada.com
PASSING THE TORCH
Gradual transition, mutual respect make succession work for B.C.’s Red Williams Drilling
Red Williams Drilling Ltd. provides a range of services, including well drilling, water treatment, water delivery, and pump service, and covers an area of central Vancouver Island that stretches about 300 kilometres from the home base in Parksville.
by CAROLYN CAMILLERI
While Red Williams Drilling was established in 1986, the company history goes back even farther.
“My grandfather’s company, Island Well Drilling, was started in 1958 out of Ladysmith,” says Thomas Williams, the third generation in a family of drillers.
Back then, only cable tools were used for drilling on Vancouver Island.
“In 1978, [Red Sr.] bought his first air rotary drill rig but continued to run the cable tool for years later,” Thomas says. “We still run the old cable tool to this day. Just last month, I completed a 250-foot, 10-inch well with the same rig.”
For several years, Island Well Drilling and Red Williams Drilling were separate businesses.
“In the early to mid-80s, when we had the economic downturn, there was work available but it wasn’t close to home,” Red says. “My father [Red Sr.] wasn’t interested in taking on that kind of work. He’d always been home-based, always worked within a certain radius, but there was no work for me.”
Red had been working with his father since childhood, and by the time he was 13 or 14, he was running equipment on his own. Rather than stay where there was no work, Red started his own business, taking on jobs farther away using equipment his father provided on “very generous terms.”
Thomas Williams is becoming more and more involved in management of the company but still enjoys running the limitedaccess rig in remote locations.
PHOTO
COURTESY THOMAS WILLIAMS
“I went out there and made all my mistakes and cut my teeth and learned how to organize a business,” Red says.
He was careful not to compete with his father.
“I drilled rock when I was out of his area, but I would never compete against him on rock work,” Red says. “I would do the overburden work and unconsolidated work for him.”
Red slowly took on more of the jobs, and by the time Red Sr. retired in the mid-1990s, Red Williams Drilling had acquired Island Well Drilling.
“My father ran a very clean, organized business, so there were no liabilities I had to worry about,” Red says.
VALUABLE OUTSIDE EXPERIENCES
Although Thomas worked with his father through his school years, he didn’t officially join the family business as a driller until 2003.
“I never wanted to work for my dad as a teenager,” he says. “After high school, I worked for one year doing mostly pump work for Red Williams Well Drilling. Following that, I took a one-year automotive trade course at Vancouver Island University.”
When his coursework was complete, he was offered apprenticeship jobs for a disappointing $10 per hour.
“By this time in my life, I had worked with my father’s company for several summers and was capable of drilling on my own,” Thomas says. “I could make $18 per hour at that time running a rig, so I followed the money and eventually ended up loving what I do.”
When the busy summer season was done, Thomas often worked in the oil patch, where he met drillers from across the country and was exposed to new equipment. Red sees value in Thomas’s experiences.
“He had to get out of the cage to find out what’s out there and to realize the cage wasn’t so bad,” Red says with a laugh.
Thomas put his time “out of the cage” to good use.
“Instead of going to university, he went to the oil fields, which, for us, is our university,” Red says. “He got educated and he put this education back in, so in a lot of respects, he’s better qualified than me. He’s brought something into the company.”
An area of particular interest for Thomas is equipment, and a big factor in his decision to keep drilling was the purchase of a rig that was more user-friendly and reliable than the older rigs.
“We spent several hundreds of thousands of dollars on equipment because of that new knowledge and opened up a few new venues in business that we wouldn’t otherwise have if he hadn’t done this work,” Red says.
Thomas says equipment represents the biggest change in the industry.
“Our rigs now can drill up to 400 feet of hard rock in a single shift, whereas, in the past, a well like this, drilling through hard rock, would take up to a couple of weeks to complete,” Thomas says.
While Thomas strives to update equipment, he understands his father doesn’t share that priority.
“Red sees a 30-year-old drill rig or pump hoist that is well maintained as better, because they are simpler,” he
says, explaining that with less wiring and fewer electronic controls, problems are easier to diagnose in the field.
Thomas is mindful of the risks.
“The biggest challenge I see in our company is updating our aging fleet without acquiring large amounts of debt,” he says. “Even since I started in the industry, we have seen some slow times, and if we had large lease payments, we could have lost everything. We have over 20 pieces of equipment on the road and the average age is early 90s.”
The purchase of newer equipment is worked into the transition plan, with Thomas taking on more ownership with each capital investment.
“It’ll be a soft takeover, you might say,” Red says.
Another difference in perspective between father and son: “We do a lot more commercial drilling and large pump systems since I started managing and estimating,” says Thomas. “Red never had the patience for the days of work it can take to estimate a large drilling or pump job and writing up the safety plans and shop drawings.”
UNOFFICIAL SUCCESSION PLAN
While Thomas says there isn’t an official succession plan, every year he takes on more responsibility on the management side of the company, which runs with about 20 staff in the busy season, including two pump crews and two drill crews.
As Red did with Red Sr.’s business, Thomas is buying shares
Continued on page 28
Financing provided by
COMMUNITY OUTREACH
SOWING THE SEEDS
Outreach efforts are targeting high school and university students
Outreach efforts by J.B. Wilson and Son Well Drilling, the University of Windsor and Fleming College are giving post-secondary science students who may someday work as consultants a taste of what’s involved in drilling a water well and encouraging high school students to seriously consider a career in drilling.
by COLLEEN CROSS
DRILLING FIELD TRIP FOR STUDENTS
HELPS
BRIDGE GAP
Students in the environmental science program at the University of Windsor were taken on a field trip to remember led by Johnny Wilson, of J.B. Wilson and Son Well Drilling in Springfield, Ont.
Professor Joel Gagnon, department head of earth sciences, brought the senior students to Wilson’s shop to tour the business, visit a site to see firsthand properly drilled wells and improperly drilled wells, and learn about well remediation at an area farm.
Johnny Wilson, who has a dual background in drilling and hydrogeology, started the day
on a light note. “We thought we’d show you how wells are drilled before you try to tell us how to drill wells,” he told the students, who potentially will work as consultants for government or private industry.
The group toured the shop, which contains a 14-foot test well, learned about the challenges of water-well drilling and learned the ideal conditions for air and mud rotary versus cable-tool drilling. As veteran driller John Wilson looked on, the crew witnessed startup of Wilsons’ air-rotary rig. Matt Wilson explained, among other things, differences in drill bits.
They also learned about setting screens and
Johnny Wilson (foreground) of J.B. Wilson and Son Well Drilling in Springfield, Ont., takes Prof. Joel Gagnon (third from right), session instructor Janet Hart (fourth from right) and a group of senior students on a field tour of a site containing both properly and improperly drilled wells.
discussed soil makeup in the area centred in Elgin County, which is largely glacial till and limestone. They also received samples of well records.
The students visited a well site to observe a well that had issues with high iron content and straightness likely related to improper grouting, Johnny Wilson said. Wilson explained that a cable tool can be good for centring a well and that gravel pack and proper grouting helps keep it straight. They also observed newer wells that were done properly.
The tour ended in Iona at Fleetwood Farms. Farmers Bob, Nancy and David McKillop talked with students and joined the crowd of onlookers as the well was worked on through mechanical means, including using the bailer to get a sample. Next step will be chemical means, students were told.
The lively – and unusually warm – March day ended with a different kind of demonstration: Johnny Wilson played his Celtic drum, a Bodhran, and sang a favourite Atlantic tune.
It was the first time most of those students had looked up close at a water well. Student Alex said he gained a new perspective on his chosen field of environmental science. “I’m really enjoying the day. It’s great seeing all the different aspects of drilling.”
FLEMING COLLEGE MAKING MOST OF COMMUNITY SERVICE
Fleming College’s drilling and blasting program has developed a promising initiative that gives post-graduate volunteer hours in exchange for promoting the drilling program to their classmates. Students in the program are required to complete five hours of community service. Starting in September, that service can take the form of shop maintenance and other jobs that need doing around the college’s shop and campus.
After completing those hours, they will go back to their old high schools and make a presentation to students there.
“The presentation is prepared for them and they can add in slides of their own,” says Jim Smith, Fleming College liaison and professor of Fleming’s post-graduate drilling and blasting program in Lindsay, Ont. One of the benefits is that often the high school students will know the Fleming student as they are recent high school graduates.
What makes this outreach even more effective is that 55 to 60 per cent of his 45 drilling students have taken entrylevel drilling jobs over the summer. “They will have that experience under their belt,” Smith says. “It’s kind of like an audition.”
“It’s good for students,” he says. The only problem is keeping students in school. “If they like the work and the employers like them, they may get invited to stay on in the job.” He says they encourage students to finish their twoyear program so they have the transferable skills needed to give them options in their careers.
Another 18 intake students that started in January will carry on with their courses and catch up with their classmates by the time they finish their summer jobs.
Johnny Wilson describes to University of Windsor students the hallmarks of a properly sited and drilled water well.
Fleming College’s drilling and blasting program has developed a promising initiative that gives its senior students volunteer hours in exchange for promoting the drilling program to their classmates.
WATER MANAGEMENT
Q-AND-A WITH JAY
Jay Famiglietti has a strong message about managing ground water responsibly
He has been called the “Al Gore of Water” – most notably when he was interviewed on Real Time with Bill Maher. One of his many op-eds in the Los Angeles Times inspired a James Corden monologue on the Late Late Show.
by CAROLYN CAMILLERI
He has been interviewed by Lesley Stahl for 60 Minutes and was the featured expert in the 2011 documentary, Last Call at the Oasis, about the world’s water crisis.
Those are just a few items from his list of media appearances and references. His career includes positions as senior water scientist at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory at the California Institute of Technology and faculty member at both the University of California, Irvine and the University of Texas at Austin.
Jay Famiglietti is as top-ranking and influential an expert on water as they come – and now he lives here in Canada.
In 2018, Famiglietti was recruited by the University of Saskatchewan to be the Canada 150 Research Chair in Hydrology and Remote Sensing and director of the Global Institute for Water Security, as well as a professor in the School of Environment and Sustainability, Department of Geography and Planning. He has a strong message about how much trouble we are in as a planet –and he has the scientific evidence to prove it.
He explains: “Most ground water data are collected on the ground, from wells and boreholes around the world. Typically, water levels and the various measures of water quality are monitored. Canada, the United States and many other developed nations do an excellent job collecting important ground water data and making it accessible
to everyone. However, in many parts of the world, such monitoring may be scarce to non-existent, as is management and protection of ground water resources.
“Our research, using NASA satellites, has allowed us to map how ground water storage is changing all over the world, including in those places where data are not being routinely collected on the ground. This work has revealed a startling picture of the severe and global nature of ground water depletion. For example, our work has shown that over half of the world’s major aquifers are past sustainability tipping points and are being rapidly mined. Because ground water provides roughly half of the water for agricultural irrigation, this situation puts regional and global water and food security at far greater risk than people realize.”
WHAT ARE THE IMPLICATIONS OF THAT DATA FOR CANADA, SPECIFICALLY?
“What our satellite data show us about Canada is that since 2002, Canada has gotten wetter but with some important exceptions and caveats. There are regions of profound water loss, including the disappearance of snow and glaciers of western British Columbia and into Alaska and on Baffin Island. Both of these are contributing significantly to rising sea levels. Other places like the Great Slave Lake-Lake Athabasca region have suffered prolonged drought.
“Ground water will become the key resource for water resilience during drought,” Jay Famiglietti says. “We should expect that we will begin using more ground water to irrigate agriculture, as the timing of precipitation changes and more ground water will be required to supplement the missing rainfall.”
In contrast, the southern Alberta region has grown much wetter, an indication of the disastrous floods of 2013 that occurred around Calgary.
“An important aspect of what underlies these data is that the timing and amount of rainfall delivered to Canada is changing in many places. This could easily lead to greater demands for ground water, in particular, if rainfall begins decreasing during the growing season. Some major growers are reporting that this is already happening, and that they need to turn to ground water during peak growing season.”
WHAT
ARE
YOUR THOUGHTS ON DRILLING IN CANADA
AND HOW RESOURCE MANAGEMENT IS DIVIDED BETWEEN FEDERAL AND PROVINCIAL LEVELS OF GOVERNMENT?
“Water-well drillers play a critical role in developing and protecting Canada’s ground water resources. As climate changes, ground water will become an increasingly important component of provincial and federal water supplies.
“Just like in the United States, ground water in Canada is managed at the provincial and not the federal level. This is good because it allows for local control of the resource. However, it can also be problematic, since aquifers don’t correspond to political boundaries, and also because what is in the best interest of the country may conflict with provincial desires. A good example from the U.S. is that much of its produce is grown in California, yet California is running out of water. If the U.S. had a national water policy, it might have been possible to move water from wetter regions in the U.S. to provide the water required to grow food for the nation. Climate change may well result in an analogous situation in Canada, where some federal oversight may be important.”
YOU’VE STATED: “WE HAVE A SHARED RESPONSIBILITY TO EDUCATE THE PUBLIC AND TO RAISE AWARENESS AROUND THOSE CRITICAL WATER ISSUES WHERE WE HAVE EXPERTISE.” WHAT SHOULD WELL DRILLERS AND HYDROGEOLOGISTS BE DOING TO SUPPORT THAT MESSAGE?
“We all rely on water and, in many parts of the world, available resources are being stressed beyond their limits. In Canada, our issues include the changing extremes of flooding and drought, changing patterns of precipitation, melting ice, sea-level rise, and more.
“So first, we should all be thankful that Canada is a waterrich country. However, much of our ground water in Canada is
Ground water in Canada is managed at the provincial and not the federal level. This is good because it allows for local control of the resource. However, it can also be problematic.
contaminated and will need to be remediated as necessary and protected from further contamination.
“Ground water will become increasingly important for Canada’s water security. It will become the key resource for water resilience during drought. Furthermore, as mentioned
above, we should expect that we will begin using more ground water to irrigate agriculture, as the timing of precipitation changes and more ground water will be required to supplement the missing rainfall.
“Hydrogeologists and well drillers all have a stake in ground water stewardship and sustaining it for future generations. We all need to acknowledge the critical importance of ground water, communicate that to the public, and work together to develop and use it responsibly.”
YOU HAVE SAID IT IS TOO LATE FOR CLIMATE CHANGE BUT NOT FOR MANAGING WATER. CAN YOU EXPLAIN?
“It is too late to reverse the tragedy that is human-induced climate change. At this point, the best we can do is to mitigate the amount of change by curbing emissions and adapt to the profound changes that we expect.
“With respect to water, that means preparing for the increasing frequency and intensity of flooding and drought, for rising sea levels and coastal storm surges, for the disappearance of snow, ice, and permafrost, and importantly, for more limited ground water recharge.
“We can adapt and prepare for this, but we are not going to change it. Previous generations have fuelled the
Jay Famiglietti is the University of Saskatchewan’s Canada 150 Research Chair in Hydrology and Remote Sensing, and director of the Global Institute for Water Security.
climate change bullet train. The burden of slowing it down and dealing with its consequences is up to current and future generations.”
To learn more about his work and for links to his media appearances, visit Jay Famiglietti’s website, jayfamiglietti.com.
EVENTS
June 16-18
CIPH Annual Business Conference Charlottetown, P.E.I.
June 18
PFAS in Groundwater Workshop (NGWA) Westerville, Ohio
July 27-29
South Atlantic Jubilee Myrtle Beach, S.C.
Sept. 3
Protect Your Groundwater Day
Sept. 7
AWWDA Golf Tournament Ponoka, Alta.
Sept. 20
OGWA Scholarship Golf Tournament Conestogo, Ont.
Dec. 3-5
NGWA Ground Water Week
Las Vegas, Nev. (including Canadian National Ground Water Association information meeting)
PROFILE
Continued from page 19
rather than buying the business and equipment outright, allowing them to avoid large loans and minimize interest and tax payments. Red says that while the benefit of depreciation is lost, whether that matters depends on how much work is available. He took over Red Sr.’s business during the economic downturn in the 1990s. With Thomas, the transition will continue slowly depending on the
economy and how the company is doing.
“It has been a gradual transition from running a rig every day over the last six years to now mostly estimating and planning all the drilling work and large pump jobs,” says Thomas, who still runs the limited-access rig in several very remote locations, something he enjoys doing. “My favourite thing about the drilling trade is working all over the coast
and meeting new people every day.”
Asked how he feels about Thomas joining the family business, Red says, “Absolutely ecstatic!”
“I always looked at my company as a means to raise a family,” he says, adding that of his five children, Thomas was the only one interested in drilling. “I never looked at my company as a major investment with a big payout at the end of the day.”
Red stresses the importance of the decision being Thomas’s.
“You can’t be making decisions for your kids or they just resent it. They have to make their own decisions,” he says. “You can give them an opportunity, but you can’t tell them what opportunities are good or bad. That’s their call.”
Another tip for other business owners in the same situation: “You have to let them make a few mistakes – you can’t try to head off every mistake,” Red says. “If the mistakes look like they’re getting out of hand, then you have to step in.”
Ultimately, it’s about patience and picking and choosing the issues you’re going to deal with, he says, adding with a laugh: “And being able to sit back and keep your mouth shut.”
Red Williams and his crew are often seen at industry events. Here Red, left, visits with Albert Kaye during the B.C. Ground Water Association’s annual conference. in 2016 in Kamloops.
Submit
Well water quality
by Jeff Wahl
Adrilled well is a mainstay for many Canadians, with 30 per cent of residents, or nine million residents, within Canada obtaining their water from a ground water source. Approximately 15 per cent of this water is within rural areas and some parts of the country rely on ground water exclusively.
The suitability of water for a given use depends on multiple factors such as hardness, salinity, pH, nitrates, pesticides, heavy metals, volatile organic compounds, iron, manganese, sulphates, hydrogen sulphide, turbidity, tannins, mineralized water, natural gas, methane and microbiological contaminants. Water should also be tested for hazardous chemicals whenever contamination is suspected.
The quality of well water varies tremendously because it is affected by the factors listed above as well as by human-developed influences on aquifers and ground water. Examples include petroleum products leaking from underground tanks, road salt, nitrates from overuse of chemical fertilizers or manure on farmland, accidental chemical spills, and leaching of fluids from landfills and dump sites. Additionally, there are risks for contamination from septic systems and contaminants originating from industries, manufacturing and plastics.
Well regulations vary by province and territory, although wellhead protection, procedures and policies are mandatory to ensure that there is no contamination entering the well from the surface. Many areas of Canada have deep layers of soil that act as a natural filter, preventing contaminants from making their way into the water table below. Other areas have shallow or non-existent soil cover and permit surface water to enter easily into ground water sources.
Many wells draw from aquifers, which are made up of permeable rock or loose material and can produce useful quantities of water. Aquifers come in all sizes and are of variable origin and composition. They may be very large, underlying thousands of square kilometres of the Earth’s surface, or tremendously small, concealed under only a few hectares in area.
CONTRIBUTING FACTORS
Most rural Canadian residences and cottages are served by private septic disposal systems. These systems were originally designed for houses widely separated from their nearest neighbour, typically farmhouses and the occasional rural residence. Today, individual private wells are being installed in rural subdivisions alongside septic systems at suburban densities in many parts of the country. A recent study by Laurel Schaider at the Silent Spring Institute in the United States has provided a positive link, revealing that septic systems can leach contaminant into the surrounding water supply. This can have a dramatic effect on well water quality in rural subdivisions due to the proximity of drilled wells to septic systems. Emerging contaminants are being detected in surface water sources. Typically, they consist of pharmaceuticals and personal care products, endocrine disrupting compounds, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and polychlorinated biphenyls. Examples in everyday society include veterinary and human antibiotics, human drugs and industrial or household products such as insecticides, detergents, fire retardants, fuels and steroidal hormones. Ground water can become contaminated by many of the same pollutants that contaminate surface water.
BEST PRACTICE RECOMMENDATION
In order to accurately assess the quality of a ground water source, a water sample should be taken for comparison against the Canadian Drinking Water Guidelines, which provide standards for microbiological, chemical, radiological and esthetic quality guidelines. Specifically engineered for safety, water testing in relation to these parameters is the most effective way to ensure an uncontaminated ground water source.
Jeff Wahl has 20 years of experience in the water treatment industry. He is the chief executive officer of Wahl Water and a water educator. For more information, contact Jeff at jeff@ wahlwater.com.
