Re: Abandoned Water Wells

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@igc.org>]

Jim,

Here in Silicon Valley there has been an active program, ever since
groundwater contamination was discovered in the early 80s, to detect
and plug old well. In fact, it was a Navy presentation on the plugging
of an old agricultural well here at Moffett Field that convinced me to
take its program seriously. It was a lot harder than I would have thought.

The high sensitivity around here is due largely to the fact that we
rely upon deep aquifers for most of our drinking water supply. Old
wells definitely act as a conduit unless they are plugged before the
plume reaches them.

Lenny