The ‘Working Well Workshop’ is coming to the White Sands Community Hall (8 Front St.) on March 12th.
Supper will be at 5:30 p.m. with a discussion to follow from 6-8 p.m.
Did you know a poorly maintained water well can put your water supply at risk? As a landowner, you’re responsible for looking after the water wells on your property.
If you are one of the 450,000 Albertans who use their water well for household purposes, the key to ensuring your water is safe and secure is understanding how groundwater works, learning about your well and knowing how to properly maintain it.
Proper water well siting, construction, maintenance and plugging will help protect your well from biofouling and contamination, save you costly repairs and ensure your well water yields are sustained over many years.
Learn what you can do to protect your well at a free water well management workshop hosted by County of Stettler and presented by the Working Well Program, with technical expertise from Alberta Agriculture and Forestry, Alberta Environment and Parks, Alberta Health Services and licensed water well drillers on March 12th at 5:30 p.m.
Sign up for our free water well management workshop today. Please pre-register - so we can help you look up the drilling report for your well - by calling the County of Stettler office at 403-742-4441.
For more information or to register for this upcoming workshop contact the County of Stettler Agricultural Service Board by phone at 403-742-4441, or by email at asb@stettlercounty.ca.
Registration will be conducted through Eventbrite. To register, please visit our link at https://stettlerwellworkshop.eventbrite.ca.
According to the County, despite its importance, many Albertans give little thought to groundwater and where it comes from.
“It is a common belief that groundwater comes from fast flowing underground rivers and lakes. This is not true. Groundwater is the water that fills the cracks and spaces between soil particles, sand grains and rock. An aquifer is simply a water-bearing zone in the ground where there are interconnected cracks and spaces (e.g. sand, gravel or fractured shale) that allow groundwater to move freely,” notes a release.
It is also a little known fact that groundwater and surface water are connected.
In some areas groundwater can be a source of recharge for streams, lakes and dugouts. In other areas water from rivers, lakes, snowmelt and rain seeps into the ground, where it trickles downward until it reaches the water table.
The water table is the point at which the ground is completely saturated with water. Below the water table, the spaces between every grain of soil and rock are completely filled with water.
Water is the world’s greatest solvent: it tries to dissolve everything it comes in contact with.
“This means manure, pesticides and fertilizers over-applied to lawns and fields can be carried by rain or snowmelt seeping down through the soil to the water table. Sewage from poorly maintained septic systems or spilled and improperly disposed-of chemicals can similarly seep into groundwater.”
If you have highly permeable soils on your land, such as sand or gravel, your groundwater could be at higher risk, because these soils are poor filters.
Having abandoned, poorly constructed or infrequently maintained wells on your property is even more risky because such structures could be draining surface water and everything it carries directly into your aquifer, according to the County.
“The water well management workshop offers all the information you need to protect and maintain your well.”
For more than 10 years, the Working Well program partners have been bringing water well management workshops and information resources to Albertans.
Since its launch in 2008, Working Well has become a very successful and in-demand program for rural Albertans, providing them with the information and resources they need to manage their water wells and protect Alberta’s groundwater resources.
Over the past 10-plus years, the Working Well program has also delivered more than 300 workshops to over 8,100 people in nearly 200 different communities across Alberta.
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