It that not the most beautiful bottle of water you have ever seen?  Look all you want but you can’t have it.  In the book The Rime of the Ancient Mariner was the simple line describing life on a boat, “water, water, everywhere , nor any drop to drink”.  Sadly, this line still applies in the modern society of the 21st century where too many people do not have access to safe drinking water. Even more sadly is the simple fact this applies to the first world country in which Boxes In Fields resides. The book written almost two hundreds years ago and our current predicament today have the same issue. Salt water.

Yup, salt water! Not slightly salty, where a Brita filter could be used, no SALTY, SALTY.  Salty as in the well water could have just been drawn straight from the bay itself.  A week has gone by since the well was completed and all progress to Boxes in Fields 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 48 hours. 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. Again, more 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?

With a borrowed salinity refractometer several attempts were measured. Attempts were tried in the morning/afternoon, during high tide/low tide, with/without running the well. All results stated the same, salt. The refractometer does not read the harness of the water.

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. Might as well go play in the bay.