If water is not available, how difficult is it to have a well and what is the ground water quality at various depths? 

You can also call county and pay some postage and they will send you flood maps and flood zones for your hosue- by mail.Of Course--Florida or any one near ocean is lot differnet then in Georgia or Tennessee-- In low lying areas like Florida with high ground waters and no deep creeks or rivers - flood zones every where - Problem is USGS / Army Corps and USGS have not upgraded flood info in 50 years - and there is lot more developments in last 30-50 years - which increases runoffs and chances of flooding goes up every where.

I personally don't think we're contributing to global warming, but as you say here, there are lots more great reasons why we should stop burning fossil fuels -- everything from contributing money to terrorism to destroying our ground water.

Originally posted by @David Doyle:Brother J ScottIt sounds like hydrogen sulfide in the ground water We're on public water and sewer, so I don't believe that's the issue.  

Is there any possible contamination of the soil or ground water?

Principal risk is vapor intrusion (vapors from groundwater migrating into buildings) or contaminated groundwater if used onsite.

The tenants had been pouring liquid waste in the yard, so they had to put ground water monitors out. 

I believe the old basement walls are just in too bad of shape or its ground water coming up from below.

.), but it is quite another thing to prevent it from permeating up through the ground.Even a sump pump will be of marginal use, as you would have to pump off the first few feet of the ground water that will be immediately replaced by new water via gravity.I have building like this, and it ain't fun. 

The restrictions can range from not using groundwater, to not digging dirt, limiting the use to the current use, maintaining the cap that covers the contamination such as parking lot or building foundation. there also may be certain periodic inspection and reporting obligations. the particular restrictions will be recorded and you can see them in the title work.