The water stinks!

On the day of purchase we sat in the garden after our walk all the way to North border. Long hiking trek had taken its toll and we needed a glass of water. What came out of tap was yelloish and not very inviting. This is possible with some surface open wells if the ground is boggy around but also the well house was in poor condition and surface water could have had access to the well. We knew that the well that gave water to the house was about 8 m deep, another one on site is 6 m deep but has no pump in there. Both wells are with limestone lining and probably as old as the original farmhouse late 18th century. Something had to be done in order to use the water on site.

First step was to stop the ground water seeping into the well. Winter was on its way and we had to work fast to get it done before snow - well that is what I hoped for. Due to work and other commitments that my brother had the works got pushed all the way to first snow. But finally the housing got demolished (lost a sledge hammer into the depths of the well in the process).

New breeze block surround and roof erected, not perhaps as nice as natural limestone would have been, but fast and will do its job to save the well before winter. Decorative state can be improved in the future when we have more time.

As the building works were somewhat delayed in the autumn and there was no water usage, conditions worsened. Next time when taps were opened the water had foul smell and did not in any way resemble drinking water. As part of local initiative to test well water quality we ordered some tests to be carried out. After few weeks of waiting it came back with another condemning report. The water has harmful bacteria in it, is unsafe to drink or use for cooking and the well would require extensive cleaning.

We managed to find specialist in open well maintenance who pumped the well empty and disinfected the walls. I think were were lucky not to see what came out of it... Numerous drowned rodents, thousands of snail shells and about 1m of mud that had accumulated over decades. Pretty gross stinky stuff, no wonder the water colour and smell was off big time.

Since we have tested the water again after being away for months and although the results have come back negative for bacteria, we have not managed to bring ourselves to use it un-boiled for drinking water. Some time in the future we would need to get borehole well drilled but that would come with price tag that was not in our initial budget