Bye Old Well

The old well is being removed today!  It's such an eyesore now that the shed is gone and it's in the way of construction.  We're happy it's finally being decommissioned.  

We walked the property with the builder this morning and marked the area we want cleared.  It's very hard to make the decision to drop some of the trees, but for safety they need to come out.  We don't want to worry about a big fir dropping through our house some windy day, so now is the time.  They'll get started on the first round of clearing probably Wednesday or Thursday, then we'll do another walk through to see if there's more we want or need to drop.  

The property is about to look drastically different.   Lots more sunlight too.  We're going to try to pop by and watch them work from a distance.  And we'll definitely take end of day pics as long as the daylight holds out.  

County Games

Today's episode of Dealing with the County:  The form I submitted to the Recorder's Office was mailed back as missing information.  I looked it over carefully again, comparing it to other neighbor's forms that were successfully recorded.  I don't see the problem.  I email the office.  They tell me a "Grantee" must be listed on page 1.  I look at the form again.  There's no place for a Grantee to be listed.  I email again, and ask where the Grantee information should be filled in on the form.  She responded, "You're going to have to write it in."  Excuse me?  This is the form provided on your website!  And you're telling me it isn't asking for information you require?  I should have consulted my crystal ball before submitting so I'd know the county's form doesn't ask for all the information the county requires?  To top it off...the Grantee is King County.  THEIR form doesn't list THEIR name, and I should have somehow known that.  So now I've edited THEIR form and will resubmit.  We lost a week due to this.  The recorded form is due by July 16th...to another office within King County.  I can't even make this stuff up.

Arsenic

The water analysis report came back today showing the arsenic levels in our new well are a bit higher than what's allowed.  The current limit is .01 p/b and we're at .026.  Several years ago this wouldn't have been an issue because the limit was .05.  But they reduced it not too long ago, so here we are. 

Our options are to 1) Do a 4 hour pump test and re-test the water at the end, hoping the levels would be less, or 2) Hire a water engineer to design a filtration system.  

I talked it over with our builder and have opted for the water filtration system.  It means a bit more expense up front,  but it's a guaranteed fix.  It means our water will be filtered, so no arsenic, hard water, or any other water quality issues down the road.  Our water will be perfect.  Also, if we sell someday, having the filtration systems means no matter how they adjust legal limits for things, our house will be compliant.  No re-sale issues.  

Luckily our builder just went through this with another family,  so he knows who to contact and what to do.  He's reaching out to a water engineer to get started on the design.  Hoping they can get it ready before our July 16th deadline.  If not, we'll submit everything else and ask for a little time to wrap up the filtration plan.