Did you know that…

Sealing the well consists more watertight against any infiltration of surface water in order to prevent contamination from liquids and bacteria.

Here are the distances to respect to protect your well:

• The installation must be located at 30 m or more from a leaky wastewater treatment system or, if the well is sealed in accordance with section 19, at a distance of 15 m or more from such a system.
• Even if the well is sealed, you still can’t be closer than 30 meters from a leaky wastewater treatment system, If the configuration of the land allows the distance of 30 meters to be respected.
• The well needs to be located 15 meters from a sealed wastewater treatment system (septic tank).
• The well needs to be located at a minimum of 10 meters from a watercourse (lake, river, pond, river, etc.).
• The well needs to be 30 meters from a cultivated plot, a cultivated and fertilized field.

If the natural rock is less than five (5) meters from the natural surface of the ground, your well will need to be sealed. You cannot, under any circumstances, create a mound or raise the surface of the ground at the drilling site to avoid the sealing. If the cementing of the well is necessary, this step will be decided either by the municipality, the driller and/or the septic technologist.

If the dimensions of your land or the proximity of your neighbors’ septic systems do not allow you to respect the distances required by the Regulation on water withdrawals and their protection (chapter Q-2, r. 35.2), you can request the authorization to your municipality to make a sealed well under the supervision of a professional while reducing the required distance. However, the well must be at least 15 meters or more from any leaky wastewater treatment system. The technologist retainer and fees will be the responsibility of the well owner.

The way to proceed to seal a well:

We drill a 10 inch diameter hole in the first 5 meters of drilling downwards and then we fill the space between the wall of rock and the steel casing, with a compound called bentonite which will make this space completely watertight.

Be aware that the well digger cannot ensure the integrity of the sealing material on the first 2 meters of the ground surface, for two reasons.

• Because the bentonite collar can partially sag in the hours following its installation.
• Also, the integrity of the structure is affected on its upper section during the pump connection work by the excavator. The section under the connection point must, however, remain intact and effective with minimum length of 3 meters, because it is that section that is most important to preserve the integrity.

Our company has drilled several thousand wells across Quebec, and we are aware of the laws and standards to respect for the creation of a compliant and safe collection work.