All is Well
This is a document to guide you in the cleaning and maintaining of your local well:
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Fresh primary source water is like a precious gift. We should use do everything in our power to share and protect it for future generations. When we maintain our water, we are helping the planet, our land, our community, our families and ourselves. Water is telling us to take a much deeper look at our selves. When we do look at our selves through the mirror of water, the message becomes crystal clear. We know that human life is directly connected to the quality of our water, both within and all around us.
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-CLEANING AND MAINTAINING OF WELLS-
Wells require regular maintenance to ensure adequate water flow and optimum water quality. According to The University of Minnesota, clear well water can still contain bacteria in large amounts. These bacteria are responsible for the smell that can emanate from the well.
PRECAUTION: Do not allow anyone to use the well during the cleaning process. Wells should be allowed to rest for at least 24hrs after cleaning
-CONTAMINATES IN WELLS-
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Bacterial contamination: is a more persistent problem even in clean well water, and especially so if there is a risk from nearby sewage and waste leakage. Not all bacteria cause an offensive taste and odor, but these are still harmful to one’s health—thankfully there are many water filters which effectively kill bacteria and other parasites for safe consumption
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SOLUTION: Hard Wood Ash, Copper vessels
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Lead: is tasteless, odorless, and usually contaminates water because of old, rusted municipal pipes. Nevertheless, for health reasons, lead should be avoided. Boiling water does not remove lead.
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SOLUTION: Carbon based filter such as Coconut Charcoal, Tomato and Apple Peelings
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Sediments: Sand and iron may be common sediments which affect the water as visible particles in your glass. This sediment makes wonderful plant food.
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SOLUTION: Physical cleaning, Sand and gravel at base to keep silt down, Hard wood ash
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Dissolved Gases: in your water from a nearby farm or plant, or even just from a natural local source, Aeration can remove dissolved radon, methane and carbon dioxide which may make your water smell or taste unpleasant. Aeration can also remove dissolved iron and manganese through precipitation. It is also effective at removing many common industrial solvents.
Aeration involves the process of passing air through water, and subsequently venting that air out. The air acts to force the dissolved gases or contaminating compounds to be released from the water, essentially ensuring that those contaminants released from the water are vented out along with the air. Aeration raises the pH level of water, making it less acidic and safer for human consumption.
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SOLUTION: Draw water from the well regularly
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Algae: While not a contaminant, it can clog the well and encourage microbe growth
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SOLUTION: Clean well with copper vessels, Seasalt/Rocksalt
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Plastics and debris: Simply put the well should be clear of all but the structure and water in the well
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SOLUTION; Remove all debris
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Money for Wishes: In olden times when coins were made from pure metals, the coins actually gave health to the well (copper, silver and gold.) Today's coins contain to many alloys and of contaminate drinkable water sources. They can also clog up well channels
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SOLUTION: Remove all coins and donate to local charity, Use banana peel, Apple and tomato (recipe below), Charcoal
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-ENGINEERING-
There are many unique and diverse engineering of wells within Ireland. Generally there is an inflow channel and out flow channel. There sometimes can be multiple channels. A successful well rehabilitation will maximize the flow of water from the well. Often you will see bio-dynamics principals built into a well with central depressions in the well to keep the water flowing
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-HISTORY-
Determine the history of the well: from the older people in the area generally can tell you much –
how deep it was originally, who built it, the cure associated (investigating the cure can help determine the mineral content of the well). The library or websources such a duchas can provide information. Often wells or the trees around them have associations with Irish Legends. When you start asking, you'll find everyone has a tale of a well-often with directions!
The rag trees besides wells often tell thier own story as people who have received the cure have often left thier ailment aids on the tree
-HOW YOU KNOW IF YOUR WELL NEEDS CLEANING-
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Following are some signs that may indicate a need to clean your well:
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The well water is turbid, which means it is cloudy or has suspended matter in it.
There has been a decrease in the well’s capacity—that is, the well is not filling or flowing as well
The water has developed an odor or taste problem.
It is overgrown
There is visible debris
-CLEANING METHODS-
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Remove all debris/plant material/plastics: from around and inside the well.
Use large buckets (ideally copper) to bale the water out manually.
Depending on the speed of the water flowing into the well, it may or may not be possible to completely empty the well of water.
Clear all silt accumulated on base of the well. The silt can encourage microbes to breed and develop. If a well is serving up cloudy, muddy water, it may have too much silt at the bottom.
Send an intrepid digger down there with a shovel to dig out the silt and debris, then put a layer of clean sand then gravel at the bottom of the well. The sand and gravel will keep the silt down and also help filter the water. This is a good time to lime wash the well.
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Copper Vessel for Baling the water:
Copper ions help in killing the germs and also charging up the water. Storing water in a copper vessel creates a natural purification process. It can kill all the microorganisms, molds, fungi, algae and bacteria, present in the water that could be harmful to the body and make the water perfectly fit for drinking. In addition, water stored in a copper vessel, preferably overnight or at least for four hours, acquires a certain quality from the copper. Copper is an essential trace mineral that is vital to human health. It has antimicrobial, antioxidant, anti-carcinogenic and anti-inflammatory properties. It also helps neutralize toxins. Copper is known to be oligodynamic in nature (the sterilizing effect of metals on bacteria), and can destroy bacteria very effectively. It is especially effective against E.coli and S.aureus,
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Limewash: Lime softening has also been proven to disinfect water by removing pathogens and viruses by sorption and/or high pH, including cryptosporidium. This purifies the water for consumption, provides better tasting water.
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Alum: Alum also helps in killing germs and it also attracts residue which otherwise would float on the water.
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Hard Wood Ash: The high pH is part of why wood ash can make water safe to drink. Dramatically altering the pH of a substrate detrimentally with most microbes, while we multi-celled creatures can tolerate it to an extent.
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Sunlight: It’s essential that well water, or any drinking water for that matter, sees sunlight. UV rays kill bacteria and I also believe it charges water which can help synthesis Vitamin D. Sunlight gives water life. How ever too much can encourage algae growth. Algae is a living organism. Under the right conditions, such as warmer water, lots of sunlight, algae can grow and multiply fast. Make sure to draw water manually daily. Water circulation decreases algae growth.
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Seasalt/Rocksalt: Algae can cloud the water and/or it can develop into string-like algae. This needs to be removed with a net or by hand if you can reach it; You can get rid of these algae spores naturally by adding salt to the well. Add 1 lb. of non-iodized salt to the pond every 12 hours up to three times. As the algae floats to the surface, it must be skimmed off.
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-WATER PURIFICATION FROM AROUND THE WORLD-
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Charred Coconut Shell: Activated charcoal commonly used for the treatment of poison, water purification. Because of its adsorption quality, it helps in trapping impurities. Charred coconut shell would be tied in a muslin cloth or mesh cloth and dipped inside the well water for few days. The charcoal should be replaced every few months.
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Rubbing Alcohol with Tomato and Apple peelings: One of the recently utilized water filtration techniques was laid out by a research associate from the National University of Singapore, Ramakrishna Mallampati. His method combined rubbing alcohol with tomato and apple peelings—by soaking small strips of these fruit peelings in rubbing alcohol and drying them out, he was able to create a no-fuss fruit water filter that when placed in dirty groundwater for several hours, would absorb many toxic substances, such as pesticides, heavy metals and commercial dye. Once the peel is removed, the water is safe to drink.
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Recipe:
Peel your apples and/or tomatoes and place them in a rubbing alcohol solution
Let the peels soak well in the solution
Remove the peels from the solution and let them dry out.
Place the peels in a container of water
After two hours, remove the peels from the water
The water is ready to drink.
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Banana Peels: These can be used up to an astounding eleven times when dried then minced, to filter out any murkiness and pollutants. keep them in a muslin sack. Compounds in banana peels contain atoms of nitrogen, sulfur and organic compounds such as carboxylic acids. These acids are charged such that their negatively charged electron pairs are exposed, meaning they can bind with metals in the water that usually have a positive charge. The researchers found that minced banana peel performed as well or better at removing copper and lead than many other filtering materials, quickly removing both from water in the Paraná River in Brazil.
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Solar disinfection with basically any citrus fruit to infuse the water has also been highly recommended. You just slip in a few slices of lemon or lime into a clear water container, leave it out in the sun and come back for your nice, bacteria-free water. This method has proven particularly useful against the common E.coli.
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Cilantro/Parsley: More recently, scientists have also found a way to purify water with crushed cilantro—grind it up and pass water through it, or make tea bags that will absorb heavy metals just as effectively as a charcoal filter.
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Seaweed: If fruits are not readily available, another exciting trend in water purification involves seaweed. Seaweed needs nutrients like nitrogen and phosphorous in order to survive, so it absorbs them. Some scientists, including University of Connecticut biologist Charles Yarish, have theorized that seaweed could help clean polluted coastal waters and rivers.
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Rushes: These can be placed in the well and changed regularly (as soon as there is decomposition). Rushes have antibacterial and filtering properties
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Clay Filters: The filters have been shown to remove common pathogens including E-coli. Unlike other water filtering devices, they are simple and inexpensive to make
Tests with the deadly E-coli bacterium have seen the filters remove 96.4 to 99.8 per cent of the pathogen — well within safe levels. Using only one filter, a litre of clean water can be produced in just two hours.
The production of the filters is extremely simple.
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Take a handful of dry, crushed clay, mix it with a handful of organic material, such as used tea leaves, coffee grounds or rice hulls, add enough water to make a stiff biscuit-like mixture and form a cylindrical pot that has one end closed. Dry the pot in the sun, then surround them with straw, place in a mound of cow manure, light the straw and then top up the burning manure as required. In less than an hour the filters are finished.
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Shungite: has the ability to clean water from almost of all organic compounds (including pesticides), metals, bacteria and harmful microorganisms. It was also proven that shungite water can be used without any prior boiling! The water has strong antibacterial ability. During the experiments, water was contaminated with streptococcus of groups A and D. Experiment showed that only after half an hour in Shungite water the concentration of streptococcus group D decreased by the factor of 100 and group A by the factor of 900! Shungite cleans water of various chlorine compounds, nitrates, copper, magnesium, iron, cleans up visually dirty water, eliminates sour taste. Shungite removes heavy metals, chlorine, enriches drinking water in potassium. Not only does water infused with Shungite becomes ultra clean, it also becomes a colloidal solution of hydrated fullerenes. One of the examples is the antihistaminic effect of Shungite water. After the use of Shungite water there is a dramatic decrease of histamine in blood stream which corresponds with alleviation of an allergic response. It is recommended to drink at least 2-3 glasses of Shungite water a day to heal or prevent digestive, muscular or nervous system illness and to increase circulation of blood.
Daily use of Shungite water to wash face or body improves elasticity of skin, gives it a healthy look. Also it helps the drinker to get rid of acne, skin redness and other skin problems. Shungite water helps with hair loss. It strengthens hair roots and heals the scalp.
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OTHER METHODS:
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Masaru Emoto is a Doctor of alternative medicine and has carried out worldwide research into the resonance or vibration of water and how it affects humans and the environment. His own intense curiosity, love, gratitude, and respect for the environment have inspired his research into water. What his findings have shown is that the crystalline structure of water can be influenced by feelings, intentions, sounds and vision. To interact with your well in your community and as a indiviual will help purify the water. To sing, dance, eat,pray and meditate by your well will only enhance the water quality.
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AFTERCARE:
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Protect the top: Ensure that nothing falls into the well easily by adding a cover. It will prevent the formation of algae from too much sunlight.
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Beautify the well: Place dreamcatchers, create a rag tree, Build benches, put up windchimes
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Plant Wildflowers and Herbs: Wells love being care for and surrounded by life. Planting plants to attract bees, placing bug hotels, planting fruit trees/bushes
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Visit often: Continue to visit your well, bring your family and friends
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Keep Clean: Remove any rubbish and leave the well better each time you visit
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This information has been complied by the ALL IS WELL Project. Any information used is at your sole discretion and risk.
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