Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Water Sources
Become familiar with the source of your water. Does it come from a city or municipal
source or is it from your own well? If the latter, where is the watershed that feeds your well
and other surface water on your land? Are there waste dumps or landfills nearby? Are there
industrial pollutants in the air, water, or soil? Private landowners are sometimes eligible for
a government cost-sharing, rural, clean-water program.
Well water.
If you have your own well, it should be located uphill and away from live-
stock areas. Most wells are drilled holes 6 to 8 inches in diameter and from 50 to 400 feet or
more into the ground. The hole is lined with steel casing to a depth dictated by your health
department, but usually about 100 feet. The well casing extends about 18 inches above the
ground and has a watertight cap. The soil around the exposed steel casing should be graded
to carry surface water away from the well.
Cistern.
You might want to consider installing a concrete or plastic cistern, 1000 gallons
or larger, uphill from the barn to provide water to hydrants by gravity flow during a power
failure. If you have a well that produces a very low flow, you can rig your well pump with
a timer so water is pumped into the cistern for short intervals throughout the day. A float
valve in the cistern can be used to turn off the well timer when the cistern is full. That way,
when you need a lot of water to fill troughs or give horses baths, you won't pump your well
dry, because you'll be drawing water from the cistern. The cistern will refill at the pace you
set the timer at for your well's capacity. A cistern can also supply firefighters with extra
water should they need it.
The bottom of the cistern must be located higher than the faucets in the barn in order for
water to flow by gravity alone during a power outage. Be sure to install a filtered air vent in
the top of the cistern to keep it from collapsing when water is drawn out or from straining
the pump when water is being pumped into the cistern.
You will need to test your well water and cistern at least annually for bacterial contamin-
ation and quality. Your county health department laboratory usually performs bacterial con-
tamination testing. Your state agricultural university or a private laboratory often provides
water quality testing.
Community-supplied water.
If your acreage's water comes from a community source, it
should arrive at your property in an acceptable form. Community-supplied water must ad-
here to EPA guidelines and be analyzed at regular intervals throughout the year. The results
are usually printed and made available to the public. It would still be a good idea to test the
water for purity, as contamination can occur anywhere along the way or on your property.
Also, baseline mineral and pH values provide important reference in the event your young
or pregnant horses experience problems that may be attributed to water chemistry imbal-
ances.
