DEP press release on exterior building cleanup, July 2002

NYC 9/11 Public Portal Document V

vOoi-k/. ■ fa will conduct periodic flow tests. and that should be enough for an av- ' Continued From Page 5 One test uses compressed air to erage household.” blow out any water that has accumu­ In most cases, Ms. Hawk-Baldwin tom 20 feet into bedrock. lated in the well. Once the well is said, well water is pumped into an in­ Once the casing has been installed, empty, the driller times how long it door pressure tank that has an ex­ Mr. Assante said, it is “pressure takes to fill up again. “With a six- pandable bladder that keeps the wa­ grouted” to further protect against inch well, if the water comes up one ter under about 50 poimds of pres­ infiltration of surface water. “We foot in one minute, the well would be sure, thereby providing a constaitt run a pipe down to the bottom of the producing 1.47 gallons of water per pressure at fixtures. A 200-foot well, casing and pump in grout to fill the minute,” Ms. Hawk-Baldwin said. she said, with the required pumping space around the casing from the A more precise test, she said, is and pressure-tank equipment, would bottom to the top,” he said, adding performed after the driller believes cost as much as $5,500. that an average well in northern New he has drilled deeply enough to James Grossman, a Rochester Jersey is about 200 feet deep. produce sufficient quantities of wa­ real estate lawyer, said that anyone Richard deBruyn, general man­ ter. “We put a test pump down into buying a house with an existing well ager of Casola Well Drillers in Mas­ the well and start pumping,” she should have the well tested. “You ab­ tic, said that on Long Island, where said, adding that, ideally, a well solutely have to test for potability the sandy soil is permeated with should produce at least five gallons and flow,” Mr. Grossman said. abundant water, wells average be­ of water per minute for four hours. Potability, he said, refers to wheth­ tween 100 and 200 feet in depth and Once the well has been drilled deep er the water is fit to drink. Most typically do not extend into bedrock. enough to produce the appropriate states, he said, have established “We use casing all the way and flow rate, there are basically two standards for potability and most then install stainless-steel screens at ways to get the water out of the hole home inspection companies will have the bottom,” Mr. deBruyn said, add­ and into the plumbing: by installing water samples tested by a certified ing that while there are as many as a “jet pump” in the house or a sub­ testing lab to ensure that the wat^r 40,000 private wells on Long Island mersible pump in the well. meets those standards. t for drinking water, an increasing With a jet pump, which is typically Flow, he said, is the amount of wa­ number of homeowners are install­ used in very shallow wells, Ms. ter that the well will produce. And ing wells to water their lawns. Hawk-Baldwin said, water is basical­ while seven gallons per minute “The big thing now is irrigation ly sucked into the house. A submersi­ would be acceptable for an average wells,” he said, referring to the rela­ ble, used in deeper wells, pushes wa­ household, buyers with larger-than- tively shallow wells — generally ter through plastic piping that runs average households — or big lawns about 50 feet deep — that are used through the casing and into the and lots of cars — might want a bet­ for watering lawns but which may house. “We encourage people to use ter flow rate. not be used for drinking water. submersibles,” Ms. Hawk-Baldwin “You want to get a written repre­ “For drinking water we have to said, explaining that with such a sys­ sentation from the seller in the con­ have at least 40 feet of water in the tem, the pump itself is lowered to the tract that the well is adequate in size well,” Mr. deBruyn said. So, for ex­ bottom of the well. and volume for its intended use and ample, if the driller hits water at 60 “The size of the pump will be de­ that it will be so at closing,” Mr. feet, he has to continue drilling to at termined by the depth of the well, the Grossman said. least 100 feet. distance from the well to the house, Additional information about wa­ Janice Hawk-Baldwin, president of and how many gallons per minute ter wells is available on the Environ­ the Empire State Well Drillers Asso­ you want the pump to produce,” she mental Protection Agency’s Internet ciation and a co-owner of Hawk Drill­ said. “So if you have a 200-foot well a site at www.epa.gov/safewater/ - ing in Ballston Spa, N.Y., said that in short distance from the house, a one- pwellsLhtml. The site of the National order to determine when a drinking- half horsepower pump should pro­ Ground Water Association is water well is deep enough, a driller vide about seven gallons per minute. www.wellowner.org. - ■

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