I have a question regarding the well that servces my home. I noticed during the winter that the well casing (located about 15 to 20 feet outside my house) had developed a constant dripping. Now that the weather has gotten a little warmer here in Michigan, the dripping has proceeded into almost a steady stream of water. Although it is not a big stream, it is about the same amount of water if you were to open the faucet just enough to change from intermittant dripping into a steady stream.
I have not noticed this issue causing my well pump to run any more often than normal and in fact the water continues even when I turn off the powr to my well pump.
The well casing sticks up out of the ground about 15 inches and looks like a big round pipe (approx 6" diameter) with a smaller pipe (about 1" in diameter) on the front of it. It has a gray cap on it that is held in place by nuts & bolts. It appears that if you look at the section near where the cap covers the little pipe (from the bottom side of the cap), there is a screen about the size of a quarter. I think it is from this screen where the water is coming, but it is hard to tell for sure.
I was going to take the cap off the well and take a look, but I read if you remove the cap from your well casing, you need to shock chlorinate your entire water system.
Could the leaking be caused by a bad seal?
The water level seems pretty high in this area. We have lots of clay and it seams like the sump pum for my house is running very often (approx every 15 minutes or so).
There is enough water so that the whole area is saturated and muddy. I will not be able to take my riding mower near this area with the ground this wet.
Does anyone have any ideas on what my problem could be or any suggestions on how to go about fixing it.
I was a little hesitant to call a well professional only to have them come out and tell me I am on an Artesian well or something similar.

Thanks in advance for any help.