Hello from North of the Border!

Hey all,
Just joined this forum about a month ago.
I'm not a winemaker, but for the past few years I've been working with Ontario wineries to help them become more sustainable and reduce costs and risks associated with resource management. Primarily water and wastewater.

I'm looking forward to learning more from everyone on this forum and happy to answer any questions that I can. I'm not here to sell anything. I do manage a website (www.waterandwine.ca) through the not-for-profit company I work for (Bloom Centre for Sustainability) but it's a free resource for wineries to improve water management practices.

Happy Harvest!
-Jay

Welcome to WMT, Jay!

Welcome to the forum!

Your website is very informative. As a homeowner with a deep (800 foot) well that does not always maintain a usable level of water, I am always looking for information that can possibly solve some of my water issues. Thank you!

hardworkin said:

Your website is very informative. As a homeowner with a deep (800 foot) well that does not always maintain a usable level of water, I am always looking for information that can possibly solve some of my water issues. Thank you!

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Thanks! It's nice to hear that people are finding it useful.
The site is focused on Ontario wineries, but most of the information and tips on water management are applicable anywhere.

And that's a seriously deep well. I think it's pretty rare to come across wells much more than 100' deep up here.

Welcome aboard!

My one neighbor drilled a 900 foot well and had very little success. He ended up having a company come in and frack his well. That produced a semi-positive result.
That same neighbor has just recently requested a zoning approval to construct a distillery on his property. A week ago, we (all my other neighbors and I) attended a township meeting to discuss his plans on the distillery. The main topic was where was he planning on coming up with the water source. He claimed that he was going to use his current well and filtered rain water collection. Needless to say... his proposal was denied. I had no problem with the distillery idea, but I can't afford to take the risk of his water usage affecting my water source.
I was thinking about sharing your website with him.

@hardworkin

Is it possible to run water lines below the ground to keep the circulation of water cooler instead of watching the water go down the drain ?
Or refrigeration unit ?

That will help cut the water down hopefully enough

Steve... I'm not sure if I understand your question. I currently have a geo-thermal heater in my home that uses that water cooling theory by using the ground temperature to preheat the fluid that is then heated by a compressor to provide heat (and cooling) throughout my home.
I know several people that live on the ridge that I am on use a cistern system with the rain water that they capture that is stored underground. That may be the reason why they bury their tanks.

I took Steve's question to mean that he assumed that the primary use of the water in the distillery is to cool the condenser (or worm) of the still.

Oh.... Got ya. That's possible. He was willing to truck water in, if needed. That answered my concerns. I was just hoping that he didn't plan on drilling a second well.

There's an apple processing plant that opened near here. Drilled some wells but couldn't get enough water for production. They ended up putting in a full closed-loop water recycling system so all (well...90% or so, there's some bleed off) the water used in cleaning and flumes gets treated back up to potable standards and reused. That was a pretty big system though, think it cost about $600k.