At the tail end of a post last week I included this picture…

The glass on the right is a glass of water… so is the glass on the left… straight from the tap.

To make a very long story somewhat shorter, early last week our well water became noticeably cloudy (the picture was taken at its very worst as we were trying to “flush” the well clean). As we continued to investigate and correct the issue, the DW and I have learned that the new well that was installed a few months before we purchased the property was installed with a cost over quality approach. Now I’m all for saving a buck or two when the opportunity presents itself, but this went so far that it was against the advice of the well drilling company and they disclaimed any warranty on the well (which would have included a 10 year guarantee on the water quality).

What we got was a new well in an aquifer with known contamination issues that finally presented itself last week. The well had passed previous water quality tests, so it’s likely the extremely heavy rains in the area over the last couple weeks opened a sink hole and allowed contaminated surface water to reach our well through the aquifer. Needless to say, the DW and I are now carting around laundry baskets and water bottles like college freshmen while we try to put a temporary fix in place for water clean enough for the basics (shower and laundry) and line up a new well. In the meantime, everybody drinks bottled water and we switched over to all paper/plastic table settings since it’s easier than hauling in water to clean dishes.

So, stay tuned… the old house with a new well is going to become an old house with an even newer well.