# Oil in my friend's well water. Is she rich?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oil-in-my-friends-well-water-is-she-rich/369488
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [August 20, 2006, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oil-in-my-friends-well-water-is-she-rich/369488 "2006-08-20T20:54:21Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)
#### Post date: [August 20, 2006, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oil-in-my-friends-well-water-is-she-rich/369488/1 "2006-08-20T20:54:21Z")
A friend has a cabin with a well. Thing is, whenever you wash the dishes there, an oily film is left behind on the plates, no matter how carefully you wash them. The oil, it seems, is coming from the well water itself.
So should my friend contact Texaco and start shopping for a Beverly Hills mansion? (We _are_ hillbillies, after all.)
Or is this phenomenon not unusual?
There is shale in the area, and iron ore, if that’s any help.
Cue banjo:
_Come and listen to my story 'bout a man named spoke-
And his hillbilly friend who was nearly always broke
But then one day they were washing off some food
And next thing they knew it was coated in crude
…oil, that is
Black gold
Texas tea_
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### Author:  [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)
#### Post date: [August 20, 2006, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oil-in-my-friends-well-water-is-she-rich/369488/2 "2006-08-20T21:04:26Z")
No, she’s poor. Or she will be after having to drill a new well.
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### Author:  [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)
#### Post date: [August 20, 2006, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oil-in-my-friends-well-water-is-she-rich/369488/3 "2006-08-20T21:18:14Z")
Hope she can afford bottled water.
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### Author:  [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)
#### Post date: [August 20, 2006, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oil-in-my-friends-well-water-is-she-rich/369488/4 "2006-08-20T21:37:34Z")
Odds are that somebody else owns the mineral rights under her land.
Or at least _will_ own them, after people find out there’s oil there, & the records get tampered with.
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### Author:  [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)
#### Post date: [August 20, 2006, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oil-in-my-friends-well-water-is-she-rich/369488/5 "2006-08-20T21:40:15Z")
> [@Bosda Di'Chi of Tricor](#):
>
> Odds are that somebody else owns the mineral rights under her land.
That is not the case, I assure you.
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### Author:  [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)
#### Post date: [August 20, 2006, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oil-in-my-friends-well-water-is-she-rich/369488/6 "2006-08-20T21:41:18Z")
> [@spoke-](#):
>
> That is not the case, I assure you.
That’s nice.
Now, see to it that your friend gets a lawyer to assure **her**.
You’d be suprised…
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### Author:  [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)
#### Post date: [August 20, 2006, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oil-in-my-friends-well-water-is-she-rich/369488/7 "2006-08-20T21:45:32Z")
> [@Bosda Di'Chi of Tricor](#):
>
> Now, see to it that your friend gets a lawyer to assure **her**.
_Ahem_
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### Author:  [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)
#### Post date: [August 20, 2006, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oil-in-my-friends-well-water-is-she-rich/369488/8 "2006-08-20T21:48:24Z")
> [@spoke-](#):
>
> _Ahem_
You’re a lawyer?
Well.
Learn something new…
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### Author:  [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)
#### Post date: [August 20, 2006, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oil-in-my-friends-well-water-is-she-rich/369488/9 "2006-08-20T21:49:30Z")
> [@Bosda Di'Chi of Tricor](#):
>
> You’re a lawyer?
>
> Well.
>
> Learn something new…
I meant “I learn something new every day”.
That was an easily misinterpeted post.
No malice was intended.
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### Author:  [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)
#### Post date: [August 20, 2006, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oil-in-my-friends-well-water-is-she-rich/369488/10 "2006-08-20T21:51:16Z")
I don’t like to bring it up on the boards. 🙂
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### Author:  [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)
#### Post date: [August 20, 2006, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oil-in-my-friends-well-water-is-she-rich/369488/11 "2006-08-20T21:52:23Z")
And no offense was taken, my friend.
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### Author:  [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)
#### Post date: [August 20, 2006, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oil-in-my-friends-well-water-is-she-rich/369488/12 "2006-08-20T23:26:38Z")
There’s oil all over the place under the ground. There’s more oil in canada and venezuela than in the middle east. The problem is that it isn’t as easy to get it out of the ground in those places. Your friend probably has the same problem. Unless there’s a huge amount of oil in her well, and it is easy to get to, it ain’t worth diddley right now.
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### Author:  [@MLS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MLS)
#### Post date: [August 20, 2006, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oil-in-my-friends-well-water-is-she-rich/369488/13 "2006-08-20T23:32:04Z")
Knowing nothing about the locale where your friend lives, is it possible that the water is contaminated by oil leakage from somewhere else? In which case it may be very difficult to drill a new well that is not also contaminated.
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### Author:  [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)
#### Post date: [August 20, 2006, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oil-in-my-friends-well-water-is-she-rich/369488/14 "2006-08-20T23:32:42Z")
Has this been the case ever since she dug the weel? Is it new?
My first thought would be a nearby leaky underground pipeline, or toxic waste dump. Or some industry in the area just dumping its waste right out on the ground in a rural area.
But I’m a pessimist.
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### Author:  [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)
#### Post date: [August 20, 2006, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oil-in-my-friends-well-water-is-she-rich/369488/15 "2006-08-20T23:40:58Z")
> [@engineer\_comp\_geek](#):
>
> There’s oil all over the place under the ground. There’s more oil in canada and venezuela than in the middle east. The problem is that it isn’t as easy to get it out of the ground in those places. Your friend probably has the same problem. Unless there’s a huge amount of oil in her well, and it is easy to get to, it ain’t worth diddley right now.
That’s sort of what I figured. I figure the oil might be seeping in from the shale in the area and might not necessarily be indicative of pooled oil. Which is why I’m asking my friends on the SDMB.
The location is very rural. No nearby pielines or possible sourse of contamination, to answer your question, **Boyo Jim** and **MLS**.
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### Author:  [@David\_Simmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David_Simmons)
#### Post date: [August 20, 2006, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oil-in-my-friends-well-water-is-she-rich/369488/16 "2006-08-20T23:57:16Z")
> [@Bosda Di'Chi of Tricor](#):
>
> Odds are that somebody else owns the mineral rights under her land.
Or as Woody Allen said, “The meek shall inherit the earth, but not the mineral rights.”
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### Author:  [@boytyperanma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boytyperanma)
#### Post date: [August 21, 2006, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oil-in-my-friends-well-water-is-she-rich/369488/17 "2006-08-21T06:10:51Z")
What type of well does she have? If it is a dug well, wash well or driven point, they are very succeptable to surface contamination.
I’d recomend testing the water and keeping your fingers crossed it doesn’t have oil.
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### Author:  [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)
#### Post date: [August 21, 2006, 11:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oil-in-my-friends-well-water-is-she-rich/369488/18 "2006-08-21T11:56:27Z")
It is a drilled well. And there is zero chance of surface contamination in this location.
I can get the water tested, but given the sheen on the dishes, there’s no question it has oil in it. (And yes, my friend uses bottled water for drinking, ice, etc.)
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### Author:  [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)
#### Post date: [August 21, 2006, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oil-in-my-friends-well-water-is-she-rich/369488/19 "2006-08-21T12:43:49Z")
You don’t need the SDMB, you need an Environmental Engineer, with a full lab.
Commission an analysis, before you do anything else.
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### Author:  [@Bewildebeest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bewildebeest)
#### Post date: [August 21, 2006, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oil-in-my-friends-well-water-is-she-rich/369488/20 "2006-08-21T12:46:22Z")
You’ve only mentioned a sheen on the dishes. Is there also a petroleum smell?
How close is the well to the septic tank? It could be oil from there. :eek:
By all means get the well checked.
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