i'm in the process of an organic certification on my produce farm. my water source is an old dug well. i need a potible water source for my certification. any suggestions? thanks tom reilly

-- tom reilly (streilly@warwick.net), February 11, 2002

Answers

is there something wrong with the water now? "organic disenfectant"? filter ,,only thing I can think off. I dont see where the water,,unless its EXTREMLY polluted could cause a problem with the cert

-- Stan (sopal@net-port.com), February 11, 2002.

My limited experience with dug wells is they likely don't have a recovery rate sufficient to handle irrigation. Their intent was a bucket full at a time. You might want to try to verify water availability by using a portable pump to see how long it takes to pump it dry.

-- Ken S. in WC TN (scharabo@aol.com), February 12, 2002.

Have you had your well inspected, the water tested, and actually been told that the water is not "potable"?? Seems to me that would be the first step.

Then if it isn't ask the certifier what steps you need or who to contact to bring it up to speed.

Don't spend a lot of money on an old dug well until you're certain that it's potable and can handle the water flow. Ours wasn't and couldn't and we had to have a new well put in.

-- Michaela (flhomestead@hotmail.com), February 12, 2002.