Home Oil Spill
By Philbo
@Philbo (578)
Canada
May 1, 2010 8:06pm CST
My five year old has this way of creating astronomical problems for us to solve. Somehow he got his hands on a half quart of thankfully clean motor oil. He used it to anoint several items in our yard. Unfortunately one of those things that he annointed was the concrete lid for our dug well. Of course a good bit of it went into the well. I spent a great deal of time skimming with a weighted pail and managed to get almost all of it. We have also sent for some absorbent material that will absorb oil but not water to try and finish the job. Thankfully oil floats on water and because this is the wet season here there is a lot of water between the intake and the oil. My only real concern at this point is the little bit that is going to cling to the concrete wall. We've researched the subject to death on the internet and wonder about what else we can do without further fouling our water supply. Any useful information would be appreciated.
1 person likes this
2 responses
@Youreyes4Today (2356)
• United States
2 May 10
Well that is a problem oh my goodness.
I was watching the news the other day about the oil spill in the gulf. They are thinking of burning the oil that is setting on top of the water, because there is so much they can't keep up with it. I am wondering if you could do something like that?
1 person likes this
@Philbo (578)
• Canada
2 May 10
That crossed my mind but burned oil still leaves toxic residue as far as I know in the well and worse it might sink to the bottom. The other problem is that the oxygen down there might run out before the oil is done burning. Good thought though because if the problem were simple I wouldn't be bothering anyone with it.
1 person likes this
@Youreyes4Today (2356)
• United States
2 May 10
Listening to the news they said that residue floats after it burns. Isn't there away to keep it open a bit for oxygen to get it to burn. I can see your concerns doing that, but if there isn't anything else I probably would consider it.
A thought, maybe call an environmental organization in your area, see if they have away that can help clear this.
1 person likes this
@Hatley (163781)
• Garden Grove, California
2 May 10
hi philbo I would go to the net and find out what else you could do to make your well water safe to drink oh sorry I see you have already done that. A thought , contact a University close to you and ask for someone in the science department that might know how to get oil out of concrete and see if they have some ideas that are known to work. I do not know myself, that is a real problem as most concrete is a bit porous and the oil will stick in the pores,.Maybe there may be some well experts in your area that could tell you what to do too.Maybe the p eople who dug your well and put in the concrete wall surely they mnight know about oil and concrete.
@Philbo (578)
• Canada
2 May 10
I will contact my nearest University. That sounds like a good idea. I know there are products you can use to get oil residue out of concrete garage floors but I really doubt if it is safe to use in a well. The stuff in the concrete pores is the long term issue here. Because the water right now is at or near it's highest normal level. If I clean up the water surface for most of the year the fouled concrete will be a ring several feet above the water. I know the oil will get a chance to dry out at that point and future contamination will be very minimal. I would just like to get rid of all of it permanently.
