Water, water everywhere!

It is raining cats and dogs here today.  I wish I'd brought my Grundens, as my pants are soaked up to my waist from a wee walk down to the not-so-babbling brook!  I think I'll invest in one of their coats, as the quality can't be beat!



The brook is running higher than yesterday.  The house is so far up hill from the brook that it can't possibly ever flooded by it's flow (never say never!).  The spring-fed pond from which the brook originates does not put forth a ton of flow, and even with the rain it's quite manageable. Couple that with the fact that we are on the top of North Mountain (basically a giant caterpillar of rock which runs north and south along the Bay of Fundy shore, and separates the Annapolis River from the Bay of Fundy), and I'm not sure we'll ever see flooding - the water will flow either east to the river or west to the bay.

We also have many inches of gravel and drains under the foundation.  It was a relief to see the water coming out the drain pipe this morning - meaning the water is flowing down, under and out from the house.

The other thing I was thinking about today was our well water.  Laur and I have spoken briefly about the water testing, and the other day I spoke with our GC about it.  There are two things they test for, when doing a water quality test - ecoli and total coliform.

From the Nova Scotia Agriculture - Bacteria Water Analysis for Homeowners

To check the bacterial quality of your water, it undergoes a presence/absence test for
total coliform and E. coli.
Coliforms are a group of bacteria commonly found in soil and in the intestines of animals and humans.
The ABSENCE of either coliform or E. coli bacteria means that the water is suitable for drinking {PASSES}. The PRESENCE of either indicates that it is unsuitable {FAILS}. 

Interestingly, we only have livestock (cattle) below our homestead.  This bodes well for us, as livestock are one of the major polluters of well water.  The other thing is that there is a water bottling plant (Spa Springs Mineral Water) located less than a mile from our home.  Historically, Spa Springs has had many resorts and bottling enterprises spanning over 100 years.

Of course we'll have the well tested, but things continue to be quite positive.