Private well contamination from sand and salt piles

[Hardenbergh]

While some "city slickers" would consider themselves fortunate to have their own private wells, some residents in Mount Vernon, Maine, are having problems:

Saturday, October 01, 2005

Water woes have residents Mount Vernon steamed

By DAN McGILLVRAY
Staff Writer

MOUNT VERNON -- With a polluted well on her rural property, Rhonda Marquis loads up on spring water in another town every Monday.

"I would love to have a new well," Marquis said. She is among a group of people along Route 41 who believe their private water supplies were contaminated over the years by sand and salt stored nearby in a state Department of Transportation shed.

Marquis said the bad water has also damaged her home.

"It's rusting everything in my house, the dishwater, and I've had to replace faucets," she said. The shower and the toilet must be rubbed down frequently to remove brown stains caused by the bad water, Marquis said.

For complete article, follow the link:

http://kennebecjournal.mainetoday.com/news/local/2001883.shtml

 

[Ed]

While some "city slickers" would consider themselves fortunate to have their own private wells, some residents in Mount Vernon, Maine, are having problems:



For complete article, follow the link:

http://kennebecjournal.mainetoday.com/news/local/2001883.shtml

Sand, as in Sodium Silicate, is a polluter? We get rust stains but that is from iron in the water. Also, if the water is slightly acid and you have copper pipes you have a serious problem.

I smell angling for a lawsuit.

 

[Manny]

Agree with Ed. Private well contamination from off-source pollutants which travel is a very real problem, but iron and salt are fairly easily dealt with at the wellhead. The poor schmuck down the water table from the lead smelting operation, now there's someone for whom I have some sympathy.

 

[Ed]

Agree with Ed. Private well contamination from off-source pollutants which travel is a very real problem, but iron and salt are fairly easily dealt with at the wellhead. The poor schmuck down the water table from the lead smelting operation, now there's someone for whom I have some sympathy.

odd that the Ace Reporter didn't get a water test done.

 

[fishbob]

From the article

Dwight Doughty, a DOT hydrogeologist, acknowledged that the department is aware of a drinking water problem and has provided containers filled with water for some residents affected by the contamination.

"I understand there are some legal issues connected with this," he said.

Doughty said the DOT stopped putting winter salt piles in the shed along Route 41 sometime in the late 1970s. After that, the town started using the site to store municipal piles, he said.

"A lot of this revolves around legalities," said Doughty. He said Mount Vernon selectmen in the late 1970s assumed responsibility for the site.

Deane Jones, a longtime selectmen, said the town never acquired the property.

The issue is not whether there is a problem. The issue is who has to pay to fix the problem. And Manny - how is salt water intrusion into a bunch of formerly fresh-water wells 'easily dealt with'?

 

[WildCat]

Salt dissolves in water, I can see how that may contaminate the well water. But sand?

 

[Ed]

Salt dissolves in water, I can see how that may contaminate the well water. But sand?

I don't see how a finite amount of salt, whose source was removed 35 years ago, can be a problem.

 

[Manny]

And Manny - how is salt water intrusion into a bunch of formerly fresh-water wells 'easily dealt with'?

When the contamination is from a source above the normal water table as in this instance, the usual fix is to drill below the contamination. If bedrock or other considerations make that impractical a reverse osmosis system is called for. People in shore communities deal with this all the time, and it's increasingly becoming an issue in New England for precisely this reason and because of built up and improperly disposed of salts from water softening systems.

 

[hgc]

I have the Libertarian solution: Build a privacy fence!

 

[fishbob]

I don't see how a finite amount of salt, whose source was removed 35 years ago, can be a problem.

I think you mis-read the article. The state stopped storing salt at the site, then the municipality started using the site. The storage of salt apparently did not cease until more recently. It does not take a lot of road salt to really mess up a water well.

Also - Wildcat; the road salt was apparenty mixed with sand. Sodium chloride, road crud, and dirt. Yummy.

Also - Manny; 'Easily dealt with' actually means drilling new deeper wells ( expensive) or installation and long term operation of reverse osmosis filtration systems ( also expensive). A cheaper fix might be achieved by hooking the affected property owners up to city water supply.

 

[shanek]

The issue is not whether there is a problem. The issue is who has to pay to fix the problem.

Whoever caused the problem, whoever put the contaminants where they could get into the groundwater system, should have to pay.