Can neighbours be told to stop fertilizing their lawn near a well?
We’re sorry to say that your neighbours are allowed to fertilize. However, they’re not allowed to contaminate your well water (among other things, run off from fertilizer causes overgrowth of weeds in lakes). Call your local health unit, which will advise you about what to do with your water immediately, as well as the Ministry of the Environment’s Spills Action Centre, at (800) 268-6060, which is where you should report any kind of contamination. If a lawn company is responsible for contaminated water, it could be ordered to do a cleanup. If it applied the fertilizer improperly, it could be charged. Barring some direct connection between the neighbours’ property and your well, though, the fertilizer probably couldn’t get into your water unless a heavy rainfall washed it there after it was grossly over applied.
