Sealing the Past, Protecting the Future: Decommission Your Water Wells with FRWIP

Do you have old, abandoned wells on your farm?

Decommissioning unused or abandoned water wells is an important measure to eliminate hazards, reduce potential groundwater contamination and improve farm safety.

Bryce Newton has been decommissioning wells for a decade with his father and brother at Newton Landscaping in Yorkton. For him, there are two important safety improvements to consider as part of well decommissioning.

“A lot of these old wells don’t have proper lids, and you don’t see them unless you know what you’re looking for,” he says. “In some of these areas, it wouldn’t be hard if someone walked around to fall into the well.”

Open or poorly sealed wells pose a serious fall hazard for people, livestock and equipment. Sealing them eliminates this danger and reduces the risk of accidents on the farm.

Using abandoned wells for waste disposal can lead to soil and groundwater contamination.

“The other thing is closing them up, so people aren’t throwing garbage down them and ruining the water around that well. We do see from time to time at old farmyards where they’ve used an abandoned well as a garbage pit and you find all kinds of stuff in there.”

Along with reducing the risk of accidents and preventing contamination, decommissioning wells can also enhance the land use of your property as abandoned wells can obstruct farming activities, interfere with equipment and create weak ground that could collapse.

Decommissioning your unused water wells creates a safer environment for your family, employees and animals, reducing your liability while protecting vital water resources and your property value.

What does the process look like?

It begins by disconnecting the power and equipment from the well, then gathering as much information as possible. The Saskatchewan Water Security Agency (WSA) maintains a database of driller’s reports and e-logs. These reports have valuable information about the well’s construction and local geologic conditions. You can request copies of water well driller reports and e-logs by contacting WSA at 306-694-3900 or groundwater@wsask.ca.

If no water well driller report or e-log is available for the well, or if you need help starting the process, you can contact your local agri-environmental specialist. They can assist with any measurements, identify the cribbing material and the amounts of materials needed to properly seal your well, and fill out the necessary paperwork including the WSA Well Decommissioning Worksheet.

In Newton’s experience decommissioning wells, the WSA worksheet simplifies the process.

“The [worksheet] tells us exactly where the well is, who owns it, depths and everything. It gives us everything we need to know—how much bentonite chips to use, how much granular material, how much water is in there that needs to be pumped out first. It takes all the guesswork out of it, and they do that for us.”

Once you get the measurements, you can find a certified contractor to decommission the well. The form has all the information needed to complete the project. The contractor will call in line locates for the well site and then get in touch with you to complete the project.

When the contractor gets to your well, the first thing they will do is pump out water and add bleach if necessary, removing any possible contamination. After that, the contractor will dig down about eight feet and cut off the cribbing before fully sealing the well. Wells are usually sealed using layers of granular material such as coarse sand and bentonite chips, which expand and harden over time, fully sealing the well. The project can take as little as three hours and a maximum of one day.

“It’s quite a simple process,” Newton says. “In our experience, homeowners are happy to get it done. There are thousands of old wells that should be looked after and decommissioned if they’re not in use.”

What about the cost of the project?

With the Farm and Ranch Water Infrastructure Program (FRWIP), well decommissioning projects are eligible for a rebate of 90 per cent of eligible costs to a maximum rebate of $10,000 per project.

For producer Jordan Kutz, the funding provided by FRWIP was the reason he decommissioned his wells. He told a local RM councillor about his home renovation plans, which included sealing the well underneath his basement. The councillor mentioned the program and in the words of Kutz, “I just phoned, and it worked out for me.”

With two other wells on his property that weren’t usable and had no purpose, utilizing FRWIP allowed him to decommission those as well.

“[FRWIP] saved me huge money on decommissioning those wells,” Kutz said, “I was glad that the costs were looked after, it could be done right, and it wasn’t a huge expense out of my pocket. I think it’s good that they’re trying to make sure things get done right.”

To learn more about FRWIP and well decommissioning, visit our FRWIP page, contact your local agri-environmental specialist or call the Agriculture Knowledge Centre at 1-866-457-2377.