Rockingham County resident fights to drill well

ROCKINGHAM COUNTY, Va. (WHSV) — For many people, clean drinking water is easy to obtain, but it’s not that simple for Leelee Breeden and her husband.

The couple has to take biweekly trips to a nearby spring to collect the water they use for drinking and cooking.

They wanted a well built to alleviate that effort, but it’s been a tough process, and the job hasn’t even started yet.

Breeden said the well driller she’s been in contact with has seriously delayed the project.

“It’s been two years, and we had contacted a well driller who actually came out and gave us the price, told us that he would be here within a few months,” she said. “A few months went by. He didn’t come, so we contacted him again, and that time he said, again, another few months, and he would get here.”

Breeden said the ambiguity is frustrating, and they continue to make trips to the spring for water.

The cistern that came with the house could be an option, but the fact that it was built in 1903 brings its own set of issues.

“Over time they get cracks in them, so your water can leak out, but also other things can leach in; and therefore, it becomes very questionable to drink,” Breeden said.

For that reason, they only use it for their farm needs.

Breeden told WHSV the reason the driller gave her for the delays is that the recent drought has caused wells to dry up and they’ve had to be redrilled as a result.

However, that is not entirely true.

Jeff Ishee with On the Farm Radio said that groundwater levels are right where they are supposed to be.

“We’re actually in better shape than we were over the past two years when it comes to groundwater levels because of the snow. Snow was very helpful in establishing that base of groundwater, but again, that groundwater is good for anyone who has a rural well,” Ishee said.

The good news is that Breeden has found another driller and is hopeful this will get the job moving and her water flowing.

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