It that not the most beautiful bottle of water you have ever seen? Look all you want but you can't have it. Sailors used to say, "water, water everywhere and not a drop to drink". Yup, salt water! Not slightly salty, where a Britta filter could be used, no SALTY. As in it might as well be drawn straight from the bay itself. A week has gone by since the well was completed and all progress to Plan473 has been put on hold. Who knows what this will mean for rescheduling, but without water, there is nothing.
Phone calls have been made to various local government officials, health departments, state resources, water filtration companies both local and national, other drill companies, and people you think would be able to offer assistance. Let me tell you right now that these people all refer to one another, yet not one person has an answer. Many hinted at in a non-supported basis to run the well for up to 48hours. Sometimes it takes a while for the well to clear out from being drilled. With the use a borrowed generator, the well was flushed again. Once again, water was wasted in attempts to produce drinkable water.
When this didn't resolve the issue calls were made again to these same people on what should be done next. The closest we came to a next step, not even a solution, was made by a nationwide water filtration company. It was suggested to have the water tested to show A) exactly how salty the water is and B) what other minerals were involved. Salt water was one issue but having hard salt water was another whole level of complexity. HARD WATER! Are you kidding me? We live less than a mile from the bay in the sandy soils of the coastal plains. There is not a natural rock to be found for miles!
After more frustrating phone calls, a third party testing lab was found an hour away. Having the water tested is no simple process. The well had to run for several more hours, one gallon of water was collected in an approved, secured transport container, and once collected it had to be delivered to the testing facility within 24 hours. The lab is testing for a wide variety of minerals and should have the results within ten-twelve days. Ahh....the waiting place.