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New water source

Medwayman

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I have a stream opposite the house and have been noticing the drive getting wetter and wetter for several months it can not be from that
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stream so had a little dig around and found this, never ending just keep coming out.
 
Best guess is that it's groundwater run off, maybe from a blocked land drain system. If the land has had livestock or fertiliser applied then it would be best not to drink it even after boiling.
Springs are usually marked on hiking maps such as the OS landranger maps.
 
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A. video would be interesting Med. I was going to get the water tested in my woodland Well when I first bought the Wood, but some firm wanted a fortune. ( £ 100's ). I didn't have any luck finding a kit likes yours at the time.
 
A. video would be interesting Med. I was going to get the water tested in my woodland Well when I first bought the Wood, but some firm wanted a fortune. ( £ 100's ). I didn't have any luck finding a kit likes yours at the time.
Watersafe are pretty reasonable at £20-£30 but you still don't get much for your money.
 
It's 10+ years ago now Mike, but I approached a local Company connected with Agriculture and water supply to farms etc:
If I remember correctly they also said that if their findings revealed anything " Notifiable" they were duty bound to report it to the local Health Authority. I fully understood that of course, but visiting the Wood , taking samples and testing it was going to cost something like £400 ish.
I filtered and boiled tiny amounts initially, gradually increasing consumption over time, but always careful to filter and boil.
Never had any ill effects. The surrounding area was mostly Forest and very small Dairy Farms, so very little or no Spraying or Top Dressings used anywhere nearby.
 
I would also be wary of Weils disease (often spread via the urine of small rodents) which most tests won't detect, but boiling should take care of that.
(I know that most of the people on this forum have experience of filtering water before using it but for any first time visitors; it is wise to treat any unknown water source as suspect and filter it. What can appear to be a spring may not be. Also, just because someone else can drink water with no apparent ill effects it does not necessarily mean that you can. We build up a resistance to certain bacteria in our water over time...new water source, new set of bacteria...resulting in a case of the squits or worse)
 
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