What happened recently to Mason Kenerly, a 6-year-old Walkertown boy, could have happened to anyone. His story points to the necessity of paying attention and taking important precautions when it comes to neglected or abandoned wells.
Mason was playing in the front yard of his home when he jumped onto an abandoned well's concrete seal. It broke and he fell 22 feet into 9-foot-deep water. He was up to his chest in 67-degree water for about 40 minutes until Forsyth County paramedics arrived to pull him out.
Fortunately, he was unhurt. He hit the water feet-first — head-first and he might not have been able to right himself. He was able to cling to a couple of pipes until help arrived.
We don't expect the earth to open up beneath us just anywhere, but a little caution can go a long way.
Before public water systems became common, people typically had drinking wells at their homes or farms. After connecting their homes to public water, most people covered their wells, as the law requires. But a seal can deteriorate over time. And some wells have simply been abandoned.
Brock Turner, an environmental health supervisor with the Forsyth County Public Health Department, told the Journal's John Hinton that in 2011, 60 abandoned wells were reported in Forsyth County. That number was up from 53 in 2010 but down from 63 in 2009.
The best solution is to have wells filled in, but not everybody does that. So children shouldn't be allowed to play on top of well caps. And adults should report any that seem to have been abandoned. While no routine inspections are done, Forsyth residents can ask for a county inspector to check their wells and their seals.
This is not a common problem. Turner told the Journal that Mason was the first person he'd heard of falling into a well in his 24-year career.
But what happened to Mason could easily have been worse. Let his story serve as a warning.
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