By Kari Lucin, staff writer

Rural residents who like clean water are being advised to check their well covers.

Aging cast-iron well covers allow insects and even mice to invade and contaminate wells. New well covers include a rubber seal that prevents pests from getting in.

&8220;It isn’t every well,&8221; said Freeborn County Commissioner Dan Belshan, who first brought the problem to the Freeborn County Board in hopes of publicizing it. &8220;It’s going to be a well that they’d drill a hole and the actual pump is way down in the well.&8221;

Belshan first found out about the problem when he had work done on his own well. The well drillers replaced the old cover on his well, and then told Belshan about the possibility of bugs infesting well water.

&8220;Asian bugs love to get in there, three or four months later when it’s starting to get cold,&8221; said Robert Morrison, the former owner of Morrison Well Drilling Company. &8220;They’ll look for a place to hibernate over winter, and if you don’t have a vermin-tight cap, why they’ll get in there.&8221;

Morrison estimated the cost of a cap to be about $35 to $40. Morrison workers always check to make sure people have a vermin-tight cap as part of any work they do.

Wisconsin has recently had problems with earwig infestations in well water. The inch-long insects can die and fall into well water, contaminating it with bacteria, viruses or disease-causing microbes. Their droppings can also cause bacteria levels to climb, making water unsafe to drink. In particularly bad infestations, earwigs can actually fall out of a faucet.

Multicolored Asian lady beetles &045; the common household pests nearly indistinguishable from ladybugs &045; also invade wells. In the fall, the bugs seek warm places to hibernate throughout the winter, heading inside houses, light fixtures and unguarded wells.

Once a new well cover is installed, it still needs to be checked occasionally for cracks or tampering so that homeowners can be certain their wells are safe.