contaminated well...

hey folks, got a water test done last week and the well is "heavily contaminated" with coliform and e-coli. DOnt' know how much as I have not received the test analysis breakdown yet.. just the recorded message telling me I should not be drinking it.

I am new to wells. We moved here in the spring. Always had city water. I made a mistake by not taking care of a UV light problem. The health unit said that is the most important piece of equipment. Last June I replaced the bulb but after i plugged in the unit again there was a constant beep indicating a problem. Anyhow, at that time I shocked the well with bleach as per instructions... Some of you might recall my posts from last spring where I complained about the sulphur smell.. this is why i shocked it and it worked at the time. The smell went away.

Anyhow, I did not do anything after that. The UV was just unplugged and I left the system as is.. My wife drinks bottled water 100% of the time and I often do myself as we aren't crazy about the taste of well water. But our baby did drink it often. I wish I didn't give her tap water. Mistake... She's fine though and has never shown symptoms. The problem is, brushing teeth, washing food, etc... puts us at risk. We have stopped using it altogether except to bathe and even that we are doing carefully.

I contacted Water Depot as they are the ones who installed the current filter/uv system (i also changed out the filters last june) and the tech guy thinks it's the ballast that is toast. So, $200 replacement is apparently going to fix this.. I just don't trust these companies as I have heard horror stories about them selling people stuff they don't need. He claimed that the UV is vital to the purification and that the ballast is the "heart of the system". Clearly I don't know anything about this technical stuff, so I have to trust him.

Does this make sense? Is the ballast the problem? What else can we do? I will be shocking the well again and perhaps throwing a chlorine puck down there (it's drilled BTW). We will have it tested again this week after the Water Depot gets the ballast in stock as they didn't have it on Friday. Also, my neighbour will test his water tomorrow to compare.


Thoughts? thanks...

A lot of wells in "cattle farm country" are susceptible to contamination over time as large amounts of manure break down and leech into the water table….no way around that, just the way it works. I've been on well water for about 20yrs and had some issues. The UV ballast does have a life span (I believe my last one was 4 yrs) so it will need replacing. You did not mention that you had a filter b4 the UV…this is a must….EColi etc etc can hide behind large particles suspended in the water and as it passes through the UV it will NOT be "killed"…we used a "20" big blue 5 micron" filter from that the water line went into the UV. If water taste is a problem you can always try a charcoal filter at the end of the system….Do you use a water softener as well to take out heavy metals?????? For now the "bleach shock" is a good start and I hope your service people are ethical and don't try to soak ya(no pun intended) best of luck to the family, clean safe water is a must.

I started out on well water then moved to town, back to country, back to town, etc. Some wells taste great, others taste worse than GTA treated water. I won't spend my money on bottled water....
Your daughter will probably be one of those people who can travel the country and drink the water anywhere with no problems while her parents spend their time on the throne. During my life I have probably taken a drink from most lakes I have fished or any streams I have waded.

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Originally Posted by Plog

A lot of wells in "cattle farm country" are susceptible to contamination over time as large amounts of manure break down and leech into the water table….no way around that, just the way it works. I've been on well water for about 20yrs and had some issues. The UV ballast does have a life span (I believe my last one was 4 yrs) so it will need replacing. You did not mention that you had a filter b4 the UV…this is a must….EColi etc etc can hide behind large particles suspended in the water and as it passes through the UV it will NOT be "killed"…we used a "20" big blue 5 micron" filter from that the water line went into the UV. If water taste is a problem you can always try a charcoal filter at the end of the system….Do you use a water softener as well to take out heavy metals?????? For now the "bleach shock" is a good start and I hope your service people are ethical and don't try to soak ya(no pun intended) best of luck to the family, clean safe water is a must.

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Yes, i got those blue filters that filter before going through UV. Ballast last only 4 years? Geez that sucks... they're 200. Thought I was going to be saving money by not having to pay for city water... between the hydro used to pump it and all this other stuff, it's not free!

Anyhow, thanks for the input.

This is something that you have to take seriously, "Coliform bacteria can make you sick , however some strains of E-COLI bacteria are DEADLY ! , remember what happened in Walkerton.

Sep 9, 2014 - Some strains of E. coli bacteria (such as a strain called O157:H7) may also cause severe anemia or kidney failure, which can lead to death. Other strains of E. coli can cause urinary tract infections or other infections

Coliform bacteria are a commonly used bacterial indicator of sanitary quality of foods and water. They are defined as rod-shaped Gram-negative non-spore forming and motile or non-motile bacteria which can ferment lactose with the production of acid and gas when incubated at 35–37°C.^[1] Coliforms can be found in the aquatic environment, in soil and on vegetation; they are universally present in large numbers in the feces of warm-blooded animals. While coliforms themselves are not normally causes of serious illness, they are easy to culture, and their presence is used to indicate that other pathogenic organisms of fecal origin may be present. Such pathogens include disease-causing bacteria, viruses, or protozoa and many multicellular parasites. Coliform procedures are performed in aerobic or anaerobic conditions.

if you have UV intensity sensor on your filter and it faulty, this could be the issue. Also check the quartz tube around your Lamp this may be dirty and restricting the UV transmittance, this would give you a UV intensity alarm via the sensor. you can check the lamp itself (BUT NOT WITH THE NAKED EYE OR YOU WILl BURN YOUR RETINAS) use a good pair of UV resistant sunglasses and a welding mask to ensure the lamp is lit.

The E-Coli could be coming from your septic tank if you have one - sometimes the pipes get crushed and the output of the tank never gets to the leach field - I had that problem at one time years ago - the pipe got crushed after ground settled around the tank - the other thing I did was get a reverse osmosis system put under my kitchen sink - it suppose to remove 99% of impurities including heavy metals from the water - fixing the septic system pipes did away with the E-coli problem -

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Originally Posted by JoePa

The E-Coli could be coming from your septic tank if you have one - sometimes the pipes get crushed and the output of the tank never gets to the leach field - I had that problem at one time years ago - the pipe got crushed after ground settled around the tank - the other thing I did was get a reverse osmosis system put under my kitchen sink - it suppose to remove 99% of impurities including heavy metals from the water - fixing the septic system pipes did away with the E-coli problem -

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We;ve yet to pump our tank. It was pumped a couple of years ago so it would have been premature to do so lat summer.. However, we might do it now since we are concerned. Tanks were installed here in '86. Previous owners maintained it as far as we know. Our current neighbour knew the previous owner well and confirmed when it was pumped. We'll see. But I still think this is coming from farming ops in the region. We have a cattle farm about a mile away..

If its from a neighborhood farm your neighbors should also have problems especially if their wells are near the same depth as yours - the way I was able to find the crushed pipe was when I had the tank pumped we saw the end of the pipe sticking into the septic tank was crushed - it was the pipe coming from the discharge end of the tank - I dug down to the pipe and sure enough about a two foot section of the pipe was crushed and blocked - the out flow from the septic tank was just going into the ground next to the tank -

What happened was when they dug the hole for the tank there was extra room around the tank - then when they backfilled after putting in the tank in time the dirt under the pipe settled and it left the pipe without any support under it - in time the weight of the ground on top of it crushed the pipe

I don't know how deep your well is but having surface water contaminate a well doesn't sound to likely to me - usually a well is drilled into the bed rock and a metal pipe put into the rock so that surface water can't get into the well - you should be drawing water from a source that is clean - I guess it could happen but I don't know how likely -

try shock chlorination and check your septic system. By law it should be 800 feet from your well. Other wise I have used well water for the past 20 years check it all the time but so far no problems. If your well is contaminated then usually the entire aquifer is done so check with your local health authority.

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Originally Posted by The Phoenix

try shock chlorination and check your septic system. By law it should be 800 feet from your well. Other wise I have used well water for the past 20 years check it all the time but so far no problems. If your well is contaminated then usually the entire aquifer is done so check with your local health authority.

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800 or 80 feet?

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Originally Posted by B Wilson

800 or 80 feet?

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80' (25m) makes far more sense.
Most house lots with both septic & wells wouldn't have 800' available.

800? My tank is barely 80' away... I doubt it is even 80. We are on the Oakridges moraine. No clue what's going on... but I am going to change out the ballast then take it from there. I also plan to shock the well either tomorrow or the day after... can't go on too much longer using bottled water and boiling. A real pain in the arse. We are in a subdivision, btw. There's over 100 homes here. If our water is contaminated, I hope others are testing. We've informed our neighbours. They're testing their water.

Hope this is cleared up by mid-week. Thanks

Also, how can I find out how deep my well is drilled? Would there be some sort of number or serial somewhere?

Thanks

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Originally Posted by Splaker

Also, how can I find out how deep my well is drilled? Would there be some sort of number or serial somewhere?

Thanks

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how wide is the well? if it is a pipe (6") or so it could be hundreds of feet... a wider pipe 2-3ft is probably a dug well... could be 20-60+ft... if it's a bigger one you could drop a rope with a rock down. .. and measure the rope...

Sent from my SM-G920W8 using Tapatalk

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Originally Posted by topher

how wide is the well? if it is a pipe (6") or so it could be hundreds of feet... a wider pipe 2-3ft is probably a dug well... could be 20-60+ft... if it's a bigger one you could drop a rope with a rock down. .. and measure the rope...

Sent from my SM-G920W8 using Tapatalk

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6"

Was thinking of dropping a fishing line down with some lead weight.

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Originally Posted by Splaker

Also, how can I find out how deep my well is drilled? Would there be some sort of number or serial somewhere?

Thanks

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Other than the obvious of just measuring the depth with a rope & weight, did you not get a well certificate when purchasing the property? Most banks require one if mortgaging and I would think most lawyers would advise you to get one prior to sale?

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Originally Posted by Bushmoose

Other than the obvious of just measuring the depth with a rope & weight, did you not get a well certificate when purchasing the property? Most banks require one if mortgaging and I would think most lawyers would advise you to get one prior to sale?

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don't believe i did...

Is it just me or should we and my entire community be concerned? Why is there e-Coli in the water? I know it happens but shouldn't this be concerning? I wonder if the Ministry needs to set in to see if there's a trouble spot..

even if the UV is working, what if it fails at some other address? Power outage? Etc... people's health is at risk.. Last thing we need is another walker ton

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Originally Posted by Splaker

Also, how can I find out how deep my well is drilled? Would there be some sort of number or serial somewhere?

Thanks

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You "should" be able to find your well record here: https://www.ontario.ca/environment-a...p-well-records. That is if a well record was submitted, sometimes especially with older wells, the drillers didn't exactly follow the rules.

An ecoli problem didn't come from a cattle farm a mile away, you need to look local and you should have your well and casing inspected, it's likely that there is something wrong with the well seal. Do you have a dog? Is it peeing and pooing around the well head? I've seen dogs chained to a well head, and then they wonder why they have a positive test result. Is there 40 cm minimum of stickup on the casing? Is the ground mounded away from the well head to prevent water pooling around the casing? How far is it from your tile bed? Under the wells Regulation, you are responsible for the upkeep and maintenance of the well to ensure it meets the standards and is safe.

Septic systems are regulated by the Ontario Building Code. In most jurisdictions administration of these regulations is typically done by your local health unit or by your municipal building department. In your case it sounds like the health unit. Here's an illustration of separation distances:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...pskkczmbuq.jpg

Well the Health Unit knows about your situation, its their responsibility from here on out.

I also had issues with coliform and e-coli, so I installed the UV system myself and havent had an issue since. I replace the ballast once a year as per manufacturer instructions.

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Originally Posted by Splaker

Is it just me or should we and my entire community be concerned? Why is there e-Coli in the water? I know it happens but shouldn't this be concerning? I wonder if the Ministry needs to set in to see if there's a trouble spot..

even if the UV is working, what if it fails at some other address? Power outage? Etc... people's health is at risk.. Last thing we need is another walker ton

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Originally Posted by blasted_saber

Well the Health Unit knows about your situation, its their responsibility from here on out.

I also had issues with coliform and e-coli, so I installed the UV system myself and havent had an issue since. I replace the ballast once a year as per manufacturer instructions.

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I hope you meant the "bulb" and not the "ballast"

Roe+

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Originally Posted by Roe+

I hope you meant the "bulb" and not the "ballast"

Roe+

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Yes. Brainfart

How does this become the health departments responsibility?

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Originally Posted by chris1395

You "should" be able to find your well record here: https://www.ontario.ca/environment-a...p-well-records. That is if a well record was submitted, sometimes especially with older wells, the drillers didn't exactly follow the rules.

An ecoli problem didn't come from a cattle farm a mile away, you need to look local and you should have your well and casing inspected, it's likely that there is something wrong with the well seal. Do you have a dog? Is it peeing and pooing around the well head? I've seen dogs chained to a well head, and then they wonder why they have a positive test result. Is there 40 cm minimum of stickup on the casing? Is the ground mounded away from the well head to prevent water pooling around the casing? How far is it from your tile bed? Under the wells Regulation, you are responsible for the upkeep and maintenance of the well to ensure it meets the standards and is safe.

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We don't have a dog. I cannot answer all of your questions with certainty.

"How far is it from your tile bed?" - maybe 10 feet???


I would say the well head sticks out about 2 or 2.5 feet.



Talked to my neighbour.. He think there's a property just east of us (a few house "upstream") that might be the problem, but there could be others. We are on 1/2 acre lots and he thinks these properties wouldn't have been allowed to be constructed today - septics too close. I think he said 2 acre min today.

Anyhow, he claims that the said property stinks badly, especially in summer. He think that the septic is damaged or leaking there.. this chap is about 2 houses away from me, 3 from him.

He also said many folks are not doing their part to maintain the septics or testing their water for that matter.

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Originally Posted by B Wilson

How does this become the health departments responsibility?

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Pretty scary that we leave this responsibility to private households... many of them do not maintain their properties.

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Originally Posted by Splaker

6"

Was thinking of dropping a fishing line down with some lead weight.

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Before you do that (could get tangled in the hoses and wiring) check out this website to see if you can find details of your well here: https://www.ontario.ca/environment-a...p-well-records.

This has records for every week drilled after O.Reg 903 change into effect.

Sent from my Nexus 10 using Tapatalk

Its their responcibility in terms of notifying MOE of mass contamination if needed. Not the homeowners.

But this is hardly an unusual situation. Very common if rural areas.

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Originally Posted by B Wilson

How does this become the health departments responsibility?

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Originally Posted by Splaker

We don't have a dog. I cannot answer all of your questions with certainty.

"How far is it from your tile bed?" - maybe 10 feet???


I would say the well head sticks out about 2 or 2.5 feet.



Talked to my neighbour.. He think there's a property just east of us (a few house "upstream") that might be the problem, but there could be others. We are on 1/2 acre lots and he thinks these properties wouldn't have been allowed to be constructed today - septics too close. I think he said 2 acre min today.

Anyhow, he claims that the said property stinks badly, especially in summer. He think that the septic is damaged or leaking there.. this chap is about 2 houses away from me, 3 from him.

He also said many folks are not doing their part to maintain the septics or testing their water for that matter.

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If suspect there's a failing septic system in the area, notify the health unit. Your complaint is kept confidential and don't view it as "ratting" on someone. Its everyone's groundwater and YOUR health you need to protect. Failing septics are no joke. The homeowner with the failing septic will not get fined or charged; they will be given a short timeline to make it right.

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Originally Posted by ninepointer

If suspect there's a failing septic system in the area, notify the health unit. Your complaint is kept confidential and don't view it as "ratting" on someone. Its everyone's groundwater and YOUR health you need to protect. Failing septics are no joke. The homeowner with the failing septic will not get fined or charged; they will be given a short timeline to make it right.

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So would a foul odour emanating from a particular property be a tail tale sign of septic failure?

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Originally Posted by Splaker

So would a foul odour emanating from a particular property be a tail tale sign of septic failure?

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You said a neighbour has noticed the guy's property stinks badly, especially in the summer. A failing septic has a very distinct smell from anything else. A working septic has no smell at all, ever. You're already dealing with the health unit; if you suspect a source of contamination, they will want to know about it.

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Originally Posted by Splaker

So would a foul odour emanating from a particular property be a tail tale sign of septic failure?

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Quite possibly but not certainly. If the smell is accompanied by an area that is perpetually wet even in the summer than probably.

Regarding separation distances:

- Drilled wells must be 15m (50 feet) from any part of yours or anybody's septic system.
- Dug wells must be 30m (100 feet) from any part of yours or anybody's septic system.
- Stick up above grade must be 45cm (18 inches).
- Grading must direct surface water away from the wellhead.

These requirements are governed by provincial regulation (Reg. 903 of the Water Resources Act).

Regarding your test results. A few questions:

What fixture did you take the sample from?
Did you remove the aerator and gasket if there was one?
Did you disinfect the fixture prior to sampling?

The reason for these questions is that often a fixture can be locally contaminated from the type of use it receives. An example is a kitchen sink where raw meat is handled can return false positives due to splash back onto the fixture.

Also does your well have a vermin proof cap? Many times insects or even mice can cause bad test results when they look for a place to hide out.

Is your well an overflowing artesian well? If it is and it has a flow to waste line this could act as a contamination route during periods of use that cause the well to stop overflowing.

As for your UV without knowing the model and alarm condition indicated the problem could be sensor, lamp or ballast related. Your ballast should last more than 4 years unless plugged directly in (no surge protector or UPS) and it was hit with a brown out or surge.

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Originally Posted by Species8472

Quite possibly but not certainly.

Regarding separation distances:

- Drilled wells must be 15m (50 feet) from any part of yours or anybody's septic system.
- Dug wells must be 30m (100 feet) from any part of yours or anybody's septic system.
- Stick up above grade must be 45cm (18 inches).
- Grading must direct surface water away from the wellhead.

These requirements are governed by provincial regulation (Reg. 903 of the Water Resources Act).

Regarding your test results. A few questions:

What fixture did you take the sample from? Kitchen
Did you remove the aerator and gasket if there was one? No, could not be removed.
Did you disinfect the fixture prior to sampling? Yes, with alcohol

The reason for these questions is that often a fixture can be locally contaminated from the type of use it receives. An example is a kitchen sink where raw meat is handled can return false positives due to splash back onto the fixture. I realize this could happen, but e-coli is feces bacteria, correct? How could this have entered the analysis?

Also does your well have a vermin proof cap? Many times insects or even mice can cause bad test results when they look for a place to hide out. It's covered pretty well, but it's possible something could enter...

As for your UV without knowing the model and alarm condition indicated the problem could be sensor, lamp or ballast related. Your ballast should last more than 4 years unless plugged directly in (no surge protector or UPS) and it was hit with a brown out or surge.

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Should I add the surge protector?

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Originally Posted by Splaker

Should I add the surge protector?

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I would. Cheap insurance and one less variable.

I would try taking a second sample from a fixture that has no aerator. Rubbing alcohol applied to the exterior of an aerator will not penetrate the biofilm that is often present inside an aerator. The best fixtures are often exterior hose bibs or laundry sinks (if fixture is metal). No aerator (or easily removed in the case of laundry) and you can heat them with a torch (metal only) to ensure they are disinfected prior to sample collection.

E. coli is not fecal coliform but it is associated with fecal contamination as it comes from the intestinal tract of many different species. Taking a sample from a kitchen fixture without a removable aerator is a prime candidate for a false positive. When I say false positive I mean that the source of bacteria is not the well. The bacteria comes from years of food preparation and splash back. Raw meat (and even vegetables) is often contaminated with both e. coli, total coliform and fecal coliform during the processing stage. Ground beef is especially bad for this.

Regardless get the UV running. If a second sample confirms the results you may want to test for Nitrate and Nitrite as they could be present in problematic concentrations. You would need a private lab for this analysis (Maxxam in Mississauga does it) as the health unit doe not do this.

In the event that you eliminate all sources other than actual contamination of groundwater than you will probably want to replace your UV altogether as virtually all UV units that are pedaled for residential use are not rated for primary disinfection. If you read the fine print in the manual it will state somewhere that the unit is for use with water that is microbiologically safe in the first place. This is not to say that it won't control some nuisance bacteria but it is not certified to produce microbiologically safe water. If you go this route you will want to find a unit that is certified to the NSF 55a standard.

Another concern is that if the source of bacteria is actually sewage than there will be viruses in the water such as Rotavirus and Adeno virus. These guys are pathogenic and essentially immune to UV at the doses applied by conventional units. Even if your water is testing 0,0 for EC and TC after the UV, these guys will survive and not be detected in the testing.

Now for the good news. My experience has been that a properly constructed (meets the Reg 903 requirements) drilled well with a vermin proof cap is rarely contaminated with sewage. More often it is a well cap issue or contaminated fixture that can be easily resolved.

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Originally Posted by Species8472

In the event that you eliminate all sources other than actual contamination of groundwater than you will probably want to replace your UV altogether as virtually all UV units that are pedaled for residential use are not rated for primary disinfection. If you read the fine print in the manual it will state somewhere that the unit is for use with water that is microbiologically safe in the first place. This is not to say that it won't control some nuisance bacteria but it is not certified to produce microbiologically safe water. If you go this route you will want to find a unit that is certified to the NSF 55a standard.

Another concern is that if the source of bacteria is actually sewage than there will be viruses in the water such as Rotavirus and Adeno virus. These guys are pathogenic and essentially immune to UV at the doses applied by conventional units. Even if your water is testing 0,0 for EC and TC after the UV, these guys will survive and not be detected in the testing.

Now for the good news. My experience has been that a properly constructed (meets the Reg 903 requirements) drilled well with a vermin proof cap is rarely contaminated with sewage. More often it is a well cap issue or contaminated fixture that can be easily resolved.

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Wow, lots of info... now i'm concerned that our UV bulb will be useless once we get the ballast fixed.. Who sells the NSF 55a standard?

I am going to take another sample tomorrow morning. From two sources other than the kitchen without screens.

I hope you're right and its just the kitchen aerator screen that has traces of bacteria. Not sure if I mentioned it but the test said "overgrown" meaning it haas very high levels of contamination.. too high to attach a figure to.

What a headache!

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Originally Posted by Splaker

Wow, lots of info... now i'm concerned that our UV bulb will be useless once we get the ballast fixed.. Who sells the NSF 55a standard?

I am going to take another sample tomorrow morning. From two sources other than the kitchen without screens.

I hope you're right and its just the kitchen aerator screen that has traces of bacteria. Not sure if I mentioned it but the test said "overgrown" meaning it haas very high levels of contamination.. too high to attach a figure to.

What a headache!

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Overgrown often indicates a problem in the sample collection process somewhere as even water collected from known contaminated sources is usually quantifiable. For example samples from Toronto beaches are usually quantifiable.

As for the NSF 55a thing I would wait as I may have been premature in saying "probably replace." Your existing unit may be fine it likely is just not certified to be fine. I would get it running and than chlorinate all the plumbing in the house. If you add chlorine to the well this will not be a true test of the UV unit as you will kill off anything in the well and there will be nothing for the UV to deal with. If possible add the chlorine to a filter housing upstream of the UV and than flush at every fixture until you can smell it. Than continue flushing until the smell is gone. Wait a few days and resample. These results will tell you if the UV is managing any bacteria getting introduced upstream of the unit. If it is not dealing with the bacteria than for the interim start shocking the well regularly and look into an NSF 55a unit.

Any water treatment place should be able to provide you pricing and if they can't or don't know what NSF 55a is than I wouldn't deal with them anyways. A word of warning they are not cheap - 2K and up.

This is a list of approved models published by NSF (Class A and B models shown - A is the class for primary disinfection). Class is on the right. Some of the lower flow models are probably less than the 2K I mentioned above.

http://info.nsf.org/Certified/DWTU/L...?Standard=055&

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Originally Posted by Species8472

Overgrown often indicates a problem in the sample collection process somewhere as even water collected from known contaminated sources is usually quantifiable. For example samples from Toronto beaches are usually quantifiable.

As for the NSF 55a thing I would wait as I may have been premature in saying "probably replace." Your existing unit may be fine it likely is just not certified to be fine. I would get it running and than chlorinate all the plumbing in the house. If you add chlorine to the well this will not be a true test of the UV unit as you will kill off anything in the well and there will be nothing for the UV to deal with. If possible add the chlorine to a filter housing upstream of the UV and than flush at every fixture until you can smell it. Than continue flushing until the smell is gone. Wait a few days and resample. These results will tell you if the UV is managing any bacteria getting introduced upstream of the unit. If it is not dealing with the bacteria than for the interim start shocking the well regularly and look into an NSF 55a unit.

Any water treatment place should be able to provide you pricing and if they can't or don't know what NSF 55a is than I wouldn't deal with them anyways. A word of warning they are not cheap - 2K and up.

This is a list of approved models published by NSF (Class A and B models shown - A is the class for primary disinfection). Class is on the right. Some of the lower flow models are probably less than the 2K I mentioned above.

http://info.nsf.org/Certified/DWTU/L...?Standard=055&

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Thanks for all your help/info

I will be posting an update soon...

So if my my kitchen faucet is "contaminated" from food contact, what can be done about that? does that put us at risk? I'm thinking a regular cleaning regiment whereby I spray a solution of bleach and water (10% bleach?) directly into the screen/nozzle, and in and around the general area.

Have you tried shocking the system, leaving it for 24 hours, and then flushing it out?

I did this several years ago when I bought my place. 120+ft deep drilled well, but nobody had lived in the residence for many years other than the occasional toilet flush or hand washing when the old guy came to putter around his "storage house".

Health unit test showed a failure (I forget exactly what now). Flushed it with two jugs of chlorine, let it sit overnight, and then ran quite a bit of water out to draw the level way down in the well. Pumped right out onto the lawn all afternoon using an air compressor and a second 1" ABS pipe. Moves a ton of water pretty quickly. Let the well rest a couple hours again, then shocked with more chlorine. Let it sit a few days, running the water occasionally until the chlorine smell was gone. Tests came back negative.

Water has been fine ever since.



As for the flushing mechanism... You need an air hose (braided pvc) and a roll of 1'+ ABS. Fasten the end of the air hose inside the ABS pipe, about 1-2' inside. Use a chunk of small copper pipe to make the bend into the pipe if you can find some. Then run the air hose up the length of the ABS pipe on the exterior. Drop the whole thing down the well, routing the ABS pipe out on the lawn where the water won't harm anything. Hook the air pipe to the compressor. Turn on and watch it shoot out. The air gets forced down the tube and into the ABS pipe... that rising air pocket pushes the water up the pipe. That water moving upwards sucks more water up the pipe, which more air pushes up... comes out in bursts. Handy if you've got sediment in the well... jab the bottom of the well with the pipe and pump it out... no damaging your expensive well pump. Needs a good sized compressor to supply constant air.

That comment about being ten feet from septic bed is cause for concern

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Originally Posted by exgunner

That comment about being ten feet from septic bed is cause for concern

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10' from foundation, 80 feet from septic..


and yes we've shocked well... thats only a temp solution... and more for the hydrogen sulphide

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Originally Posted by northernontario

Have you tried shocking the system, leaving it for 24 hours, and then flushing it out?

I did this several years ago when I bought my place. 120+ft deep drilled well, but nobody had lived in the residence for many years other than the occasional toilet flush or hand washing when the old guy came to putter around his "storage house".

Health unit test showed a failure (I forget exactly what now). Flushed it with two jugs of chlorine, let it sit overnight, and then ran quite a bit of water out to draw the level way down in the well. Pumped right out onto the lawn all afternoon using an air compressor and a second 1" ABS pipe. Moves a ton of water pretty quickly. Let the well rest a couple hours again, then shocked with more chlorine. Let it sit a few days, running the water occasionally until the chlorine smell was gone. Tests came back negative.

Water has been fine ever since.



As for the flushing mechanism... You need an air hose (braided pvc) and a roll of 1'+ ABS. Fasten the end of the air hose inside the ABS pipe, about 1-2' inside. Use a chunk of small copper pipe to make the bend into the pipe if you can find some. Then run the air hose up the length of the ABS pipe on the exterior. Drop the whole thing down the well, routing the ABS pipe out on the lawn where the water won't harm anything. Hook the air pipe to the compressor. Turn on and watch it shoot out. The air gets forced down the tube and into the ABS pipe... that rising air pocket pushes the water up the pipe. That water moving upwards sucks more water up the pipe, which more air pushes up... comes out in bursts. Handy if you've got sediment in the well... jab the bottom of the well with the pipe and pump it out... no damaging your expensive well pump. Needs a good sized compressor to supply constant air.

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This is how I was instructed to do it:



Chlorination


Draw off a supply of drinking water for overnight use, before disinfecting the well. See Safe Water Fact Sheet #2 - Emergency Water Treatment.


2. Disconnect the carbon filter on your system, if applicable, since the filter will tend to remove bleach from the water.


3. Add to your well the proper amount of required bleach (see below for Method for Calculating amount of Bleach needed). Note: mix the bleach with several litres of water before adding it. Ensure that the household bleach used contains 5% to 5.25% available chlorine, without additives (e.g. lemon scent).


4. With a garden hose connected to an outside tap, turn on the water until the odour of the bleach is detected. Gradually extend the garden hose into the entire depth of the well to ensure complete disinfection. Circulate for 5-10 minutes.


5. Turn on all inside taps (hot and cold) to disinfect the entire water distribution system inside the home. Close all taps once the bleach smell is detected. Let it sit for 12 hours.


6. Drain the water system using a garden hose until the bleach smell is gone (be careful not to run the well dry). Drain the water into a drainage ditch, not into drains of your septic system.


Method for Calculating Amount of Bleach Needed
The depth of water in the well may be less than the total depth of the well. For the following calculation, use the depth of water, if known; otherwise use the total depth of the well. The total depth may be found on the well record.
Using the table below, estimate the volume of water in the well, and the amount of bleach required.
YORK-#3076566-

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Originally Posted by Splaker

So if my my kitchen faucet is "contaminated" from food contact, what can be done about that? does that put us at risk? I'm thinking a regular cleaning regiment whereby I spray a solution of bleach and water (10% bleach?) directly into the screen/nozzle, and in and around the general area.

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If you shock your well once or twice a year the superchlorinated water running through the fixture will do the trick. As for risk it is minimal but not zero. Most strains of e. coli are harmless and this is even more true when looking at the total coliform count.

As for spraying a 10% bleach 90% water solution this will cause corrosion unless you make sure every thing is thoroughly rinsed with clean water afterwards.

The first time I wanted to test our dug well, I suggested taking one sample directly from the well but was vetoed by the local health office. I had to take them from the tap. Didn't see any point if the well itself had a dead critter in it.... Spring runoff gives us a bit of colour but no problems other than foot valves etc. When we work down there we dump in swimming pool chlorine to finish off.

We severed a lot and drilled a new well. Lots of water ..we had to have a water test before the well was certified. The well driller came out and opened the well head he poured in 5 gallons of muriatic acid then run a pump for two hours. This was to clean all the pipes before the test .thus may be better then clorien .anyways after running the pump right out if the well we got a true test of the water..it was very good .any ways I would try to get a test right from your well head after running some muriatic acid threw it and pumping it for a while. This will eliminate the pipes in the house and give you a true water test.