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Short story… recently bought a house in NJ in January of this year (well and septic on 3 acres). Old owner did not clean up any of leaves on the property from the fall. Once Spring came around, I cleaned everything up and noticed this green cap in the lawn. I thought it had something to with a well since the well I knew about was the same color green.
Fast forward to last week… our holding tank sprung a leak and had to be replaced. When the well guys were here, I asked them about the green cap. They said it was a well and when they took the cap off… nothing but a hole 149 feet down to the water. They told me it was supposed to be sealed off with cement to avoid any possible contamination to my current water supply or even my neighbor’s water supply.
I contacted my lawyer and he sent the seller’s lawyer a letter last week, basically saying that an improperly closed well is a contamination to the aquifer. I’ve heard nothing back from them until today, when my lawyer was told that their lawyer was too busy to do anything right now and he’ll get to it when he can. So I’m going to send a copy of the letter my lawyer wrote to the sellers myself.
Question is, do you think I’m out of luck and have to take care of sealing this well myself? Thanks.
Wells are sometimes a special case, because of the threat to the water supply you might want to get the proper authorities from the state / county involved. Worst case scenario they force YOU as the current property owner to properly seal the thing and then you end up having to sue the seller for the costs, best case there might be some kind of fund that the state / county can assist you with the costs of properly dealing with and then they go after the seller for non-disclosure.
In either case, now that you know it is has the potential to containment the aquifer you really should NOT delay it getting it properly sealed -- threats to public health / your own safety are generally nothing to drag your feet on!
Short story… recently bought a house in NJ in January of this year (well and septic on 3 acres). Old owner did not clean up any of leaves on the property from the fall. Once Spring came around, I cleaned everything up and noticed this green cap in the lawn. I thought it had something to with a well since the well I knew about was the same color green.
Fast forward to last week… our holding tank sprung a leak and had to be replaced. When the well guys were here, I asked them about the green cap. They said it was a well and when they took the cap off… nothing but a hole 149 feet down to the water. They told me it was supposed to be sealed off with cement to avoid any possible contamination to my current water supply or even my neighbor’s water supply.
I contacted my lawyer and he sent the seller’s lawyer a letter last week, basically saying that an improperly closed well is a contamination to the aquifer. I’ve heard nothing back from them until today, when my lawyer was told that their lawyer was too busy to do anything right now and he’ll get to it when he can. So I’m going to send a copy of the letter my lawyer wrote to the sellers myself.
Question is, do you think I’m out of luck and have to take care of sealing this well myself? Thanks.
Go here and read the rules: http://www.state.nj.us/dep/watersupply/NJAC7_9D.pdf (broken link)
Just curious how long the previous owner's lived on the property. Is it possible they were unaware of it because the folk who sold to them did not disclose?
I'm planning to take care of this within the next week... it is something that needs to be done. We also have a lot things (i.e., multiple filters and water softener) that the water goes though, so I wonder if this other well is causing any other problems. This whole well thing is completely new to us.
As for the previous owners, they lived in the house for about 15 years, so I really doubt they didn't notice it.
Thanks.
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