We don’t know anyone that would LIKE the idea of drinking water containing human waste… except those two girls from that nasty ’2 girls, 1 cup’ viral video that circulated for a while. Nasty. Just plain nasty.

At any rate, people installing a new well should make sure to place it no less than 100 feet from the nearest septic tank and/or septic system. See below.

Most Star Valley residents get their water from a well, flush their toilets into to a septic system and have never tested their groundwater.

That’s a potentially toxic combination, especially if a septic system is within 100 feet of a well or starts to leak. In that case, it could deposit waterborne pathogens and fecal matter into the groundwater.

Because residents are not required to test their well water, “they could be drinking themselves to death and not even know it,” said Vern Leis, chairman of the Water and Sewer Commission. ( source )

Homeowners have sole responsibility for the quality of the water coming from their wells and should maintain an active regimen of well water testing in addition to having their water checked by a certified water testing laboratory at least once a year and definitely after unusually heavy rains, periods of drought, or whenever some other event, natural or caused by mankind, may have affected the source of your drinking water.