Groundwater (real estate, organic, live)

[coginthewheel]

I came upon some rumor about Selle Valley.

There is a VERY SHALLOW aquifer in this area, amazing amounts of water.

Has anyone heard of any water contamination in this area??

[Sage of Sagle]

I hadn't heard anything like that. What is your source for this info?

[coginthewheel]

Agent for local real estate company.

I checked the Bonner County govt website and there is no mention of Selle Valley aquifer. However they do have a PDF file on the aquifer for Sagle area.

[Publius4]

A rancher who lives in Selle Valley told me that there are a lot of shallow wells in the valley that are contaminated from all the chemical fertilizers used in ag. He said he uses a reverse osmosis for his household's water to remove most of the contaminants.

[coginthewheel]

Originally Posted by Publius4

A rancher who lives in Selle Valley told me that there are a lot of shallow wells in the valley that are contaminated from all the chemical fertilizers used in ag. He said he uses a reverse osmosis for his household's water to remove most of the contaminants.

As a formed Board member of a small water company, I was responsible for the EPA testing of our water for our historical data baseline.

Water tests included SOC and VOC tests. These test established a "where do we go from here" starting point.

The hard thing for the owner of a private well is, to know what to test for, and how often. Since a filtering system is now becoming the norm, like you, a reverse osmosis product is almost a requirement.

A common use aquifer is very hard to protect from runoff. I am a strong supporter of farmers and ranchers since we have always been a hobby farm for our kids growing up.

Over the years we have dropped the use of all chemicals and worked to become organic in order to protect the ground water we use. The challenge is, you can't control your neighbors perception of reality.

[Publius4]

Originally Posted by coginthewheel

Over the years we have dropped the use of all chemicals and worked to become organic in order to protect the ground water we use. The challenge is, you can't control your neighbors perception of reality.

I commend your use of organic practices. Is your farm in the Selle Valley or are you looking to move to that area?

[coginthewheel]

Originally Posted by Publius4

I commend your use of organic practices. Is your farm in the Selle Valley or are you looking to move to that area?

We are seriously looking to move to the Selle Valley area. We raise sheep, a cross of St.Croix and Black Belly Barbados with some Dorper. Yes, they are meat sheep.

We also brew hard apple cider, and cherry cider.

Along with sheep we raise Anatolian Shephards to protect them from the local killers.

If we find a desired property I will most likely use Accurate Testing Labs out of CDA to do a full line
of water tests to see what filtering might be needed.

[Clark Fork Fantast]

You probably know this, since you're seriously looking into moving to the Selle Valley (beautiful country!): There are several alpaca farms (maybe just one, with several fields?) that seem to be doing well. We see flocks of those cute big-headed alpacas whenever we drive down the upper part of Colburn Culver, so I assume everything would be good for raising your kind of sheep, too. (I know squat about sheep, I'm just throwing in my 2 cents' worth!). Best of luck!