we have two old hand dug wells on our property (just moved in Jan.)& I am concerned about the possiblity of them becoming breeding grounds for mosquitos. Any suggestions ?

-- diane dirck (di_wtch@yahoo.com), April 15, 2000

Answers

First off, are you using the water from the wells for drinking? There are several things you could do, but I am not sure any of them would be good if you need to drink the water. One is a tablet of some kind that floats on the water and releases Bt or something that kills the larvae. Another thing you could do is put a little oil (vegetable) on the water. The larvae have to rise to the surface to breathe, and the oil stops up their breathing tubes. If the wells are shallow enough that they get some sun (which is where they would be most likely to be breeding mosquitoes, anyway) you could catch some minnows to put in them, or do as my husband does and buy a few feeder goldfish. If the water doesn't get any sun, though, there won't be anything much growing in it for the little fish to eat, and probably not too much for mosquito larvae, either.

-- Kathleen Sanderson (stonycft@worldpath.net), April 15, 2000.

We don't use those for drinking water(we have a drilled well on the property which supplies the house with water) I didn't think about the sunlight factor & the one I was really concorned about is in the garage> the house is about 160 yr. old and when they added the garage, they built it over the old well! But since it doesn't get any sunlight it should be fine. Thanks for the suggestions for the other outside one.

-- diane dirck (di_wtch@yahoo.com), April 15, 2000.

I have a question about that well in the garage. Is it usable? I've heard about having a well under the house before, but the mechanics of it just baffles me. Thanks for any clearing up anyone can do for me. Annette

-- annette (j_a_henry@yahoo.com), April 15, 2000.

Hmmm...I guess that depends on your definition of usable. We had the water tested and it is fine, but the only way that I can see to get water out would be tie a rope to bucket, drop it in and haul it out. While it's nice to have for a back up, it's not something I want to do on a daily basis.

-- diane dirck (di_wtch@yahoo.com), April 16, 2000.