There are many households in the United States that obtain their drinking water from a private well. That is a good thing especially since people are able to save money out of it; they no longer have to pay for a water to drink, just as long as the water well that they get is safe.
Private wells are not covered by the Environmental Protection Agency or EPA of the United States; they are the ones who set regulations to make sure that the water coming from the systems that is delivered to our home is really safe to drink. So this means there is really no guarantee that the water that you get from the private wells is actually safe.
Even though United States actually has one of the safest water supply in the world, the sources of the drinking water can still get affected and contaminated by a lot of things, like a naturally occurring mineral like arsenic or other kinds of chemicals, a malfunction in wastewater treatment system and the use of pesticide near the water source could also get the water contaminated.
What’s bad about a contaminated well is that it could affect a lot of people from different households that rely on it for a drinking water.
Is My Well Water Safe to Drink?
Whenever your drinking water originates from a private well, you ought to get it tested by a laboratory or an authorized research facility to know whether the drinking water is safe for you and your family. Harmful bacteria, parasites, and infections cannot be seen to the bare eye, so water which looks and tastes great may not really be safe to drink. Regardless of the possibility that you are not becoming ill, your well water may not be protected. A few contaminants found in well water can cause long haul health issues. These microorganisms can exist in surface and groundwater supplies, and can cause quick illness in people if not appropriately treated.
Certain chemical contaminants that are once in a while found in a water source can cause long haul health issues that take a very long time to grow. Constant water testing will determine hazardous water and guarantee that the treatment system is treating the water to a satisfying level.
Provided that your neighbor’s well has been tested and observed to be safe, this does not mean yours is safe. The security of your well water, relies upon surface and underground geology, the depth and development of the well, and different variables. Well water quality can change regularly, after some time, or upon revive/refilling because of dry season. You have to test your well water on a continuous basis, and keep all testing outcomes for future reference.
Various aspects should be addressed so as to keep up a healthy private well, that is, a well which gives ‘safe’ water:
1. Construction – How strong was it constructed? In the event that it wasn’t constructed well, there might be issues at any time.
2. Location – Where is it located? What issues have your neighbors stated? What is adjacent that could cause an issue?
3. Maintenance – How well has it been kept up or the years? Has the water quality been checked regularly?
4. Water Source – What is the nature of the aquifer from which your water is drawn?
5. Human activities – What is going ahead in your general vicinity that could affect your well?
It is considered the more deep-seated your well (ideally 800+ feet), the cleaner the water. In any case, the CDC suggests having your well water tried for coliform bacteria, nitrates, and other neighborhood contaminants of worry in any event once every year.
Also, as indicated by freedrinkingwater.com it is vital to have your well water tested for pesticides, substantial metals and inorganic mixes before utilizing it out of the blue.
Natural and Unnatural Contaminant and Your Well
As indicated by the CDC more than 15 million Americans get their water from private wells. Also, most well water is protected to drink and cook with.
In any case, well water purity can be influenced by the following relying upon your area:
- Naturally- occurring chemicals and minerals, (for example, arsenic, copper, calcium, and radon).
- Pesticides, herbicides and other cultivating works on, are including runoff from confined animal feeding operations (CAFOs).
- Industrial contamination and fuel drilling can present risky levels of VOCs (Volatile Organic Compounds) into well water.
- Heavy metals from adjacent mining or mishandled waste.
- Malfunctioning sewers or despicably manufactured/kept up septic systems (the EPA prescribes septic tanks be introduced no less than 50 feet far from wells).
Getting Private Wells Checked
The owners of the private wells are the ones responsible in making sure that the water from the well is not contaminated with anything, that it is really safe for consumption.
This is why it was recommended that private wells need to be checked every year for presence of different kinds of problems, either with the cleanliness of the water, the presence of coliform, nitrates, bacteria and other contaminants or to look for a mechanical problem.
Around 15% of Americans depend on well water for drinking, as indicated by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Polluted well water can cause nausea, diarrhea, and vomiting and the presence of harmful contaminants in the water could lead to serious health issues, like cancer, neurological problems, reproductive problems and gastrointestinal illness says Dr. Gochfeld. Contaminants known as nitrates are particularly unsafe for newborn children since they can disorganize oxygen flow in the blood of infants, as per the EPA. Standard testing for contaminants alongside different safety measures will help guarantee that well water is totally safe to drink.
If you are an owner of a private well, then you can check with the local health department or with the professionals when it comes to water well systems to help you make sure that your well can still deliver water that is of good quality.
One of the evident steps to take to preserve well water from contamination is to keep human exercises some range or distance from the well. EPA proposes the accompanying least division distances to the well head:
Septic Tanks | 50 feet |
Livestock Yards, Silos Septic and Leach Fields | 50 feet |
Petroleum Tanks, Liquid-tight Manure Storage, Pesticide and Fertilizer Storage and Handling | 100 feet |
Manure Stacks | 250 feet |
A few point of supply of contamination are anything but obvious to distinguish just by standing at the well-head and looking, listening and smelling what is adjacent. Be that as it may, numerous difficult issues can be discovered just by testing your water. Knowing the probable dangers in a location will enable well owners to choose the sort of tests required.
Well Water Testing
When testing for the quality of well water, there are several indicators and a list of contaminants that the tester looks for. The Water Quality Indicators or the WQI test will test and measure the presence of germs and other contaminants in the water.
In most of the cases, the presence of these water quality indicators does not necessarily mean that your well water will cause sickness, but authorities test for them because it is easier to test their presence and because it can also indicate the presence of other disease causing bacteria and sewage that come from animal or human feces.
So when should you have your well tested for presence of contaminants or other problems? You have to check your well for to ensure that it does not have any mechanical problems every spring. You need to have it tested every once a year, like I mentioned above, for pH level, total dissolved solids, nitrates and for total coliform bacteria.
If you are suspecting that you well may have other contaminants, then you have to make sure and get a test for that as well. But you have to make sure that you have identified a potential problem since the testing will cost you money. Before getting your well tested, you can consult with a local expert first about the local water contaminants that should concern you.
Why Disinfect?
Ground water isn’t 100% pure water. Since it gathers in the modest pore spaces inside sediments and in the cracks inside bedrock, ground water dependably contains some broke down minerals. Also, in light of the fact that there is some living thing involving for all intents and purposes each geological slot, there are many normally appearing microorganisms in ground water.
As indicated by the National Ground Water Association (NGWA), most waterborne microorganisms are safe and many are really useful. A few, be that as it may, are pathogenic. Microbes, for instance, from the intestinal tracts of individuals and warm-blooded creatures, for example, E. coli, can cause ailment and death. These pathogens may enter ground water through septic tank flood or through contaminated runoff from forests, fields and feedlots. Routine testing of private well water and, when required, chemical disinfection are basic to keeping up a safe private water supply— and maintaining a strategic distance from the damage of pathogenic organisms. Disease with E. coli, for instance, can bring about stomach distress, diarrhea, serious sickness and even death.
Did you know?
- Ground water serve as the gathering of rainwater, melted snow and ice that filters down through soil, sediments and bedrock to settle beneath the Earth’s surface.
- A watershed is a sewerage area from which the waters of a stream are drawn; it incorporates the ground water in the drainage area.
- Around 98% of the accessible fresh water on Earth is ground water.
- Consistently, the U.S. utilizes around 83.3 billion gallons of ground water.
Treatment of Well Water
If ever you find out that your well water is contaminated, then don’t worry that much because there are a lot of treatment options for that. But you have to bear in mind that there is not a single treatment option that will be able to address all kinds of problems.
Water treatment is not only because of contaminants, some people just opt to treat their well water for it to have a better taste or because they want to take an extra precaution for the sake of the health of the people drinking from the well.
– A Filtration System
A water filter is a device that you can use to remove many kinds of contaminants and impurities from your drinking water. A water filtration system could either use a chemical, a biological process or a physical barrier to filter your drinking water and make sure that it is safe to drink.
If you choose this as a method to treat your well water, then you will also have to choose from the many kinds of water filtration systems, find one that will suit you and your family’s needs.
Some of the examples of a water filtration system are the under sink filtration system, a countertop water filter, faucet attached water filter and a lot more.
Berkey Water Filters can be your best option for treating well water as it can remove most common contaminants from water better than any other gravity filters.
– Water Softeners
A water softener is also a sort of a device that is used to reduce the hardness or the amount of the minerals of the water. Usually, sodium or potassium ions are used to replace the calcium and the magnesium ion in the water because those are one perceived to create the hardness of the water.
– A Distillation System
The distillation is a process where water with impurity is boiled, the steam is then collected and then condensed on a separate container, and this process will remove and then leave a lot of solid contaminants behind.
– Disinfection
Disinfection could either be a physical or a chemical process, this is where the pathogenic microorganisms are killed or are deactivated. This is the process used by a lot of cities to clean their water supplies.
The most common chemical disinfectants are ozone, chlorine dioxide and of course, chlorine. Some of the physical disinfectants that are used these days are heat, electronic radiation, and ultraviolet light.
Our Recommendation
Filters and other private purification systems can help expel contaminants in well water. Those that utilize carbon channels expel lead and some substantial metals. Others, for example, reverse osmosis systems, strip out contaminants not certainly taken via carbon channels.
One effective and most cost effective purification system and well water treatment is using the Berkey Water Filter. It can be used in the kitchen, for outdoor activities, and even for traveling as well.
The Berkey Water Filtration Systems have built up a progressive system that removes all the awful stuff; however leave the entire well done (without using reverse osmosis). They have a specific filtration system that is equipped for cleaning even the dirtiest water, stripping out the greater part of the bacteria, chemicals, toxins, and so on yet leaves the minerals!
The system utilizes a gravity filtration strategy. This is an exceptionally fundamental idea and makes it exceedingly viable at expelling contaminants. No power is required and the system is convenient, so you can bring it with you and furthermore utilize it if there should be an occurrence of a catastrophic event.
Nevertheless, regardless of whether kept up by experts or the property holder who approaches certified systems, there are critical duties related with private well possession. Well owners ought to embrace a multi-obstruction way to deal with to protect their drinking water from contaminants that incorporates standard monitoring for waterborne pathogens and raise disinfection when required. It’s a duty that can mean the distinction amongst sickness and wellbeing for families depending on private well water.
EcoBlueLife.com is a replacement water and air filter company located in the United States. The views and opinions contained herein are solely those of the original author and do not represent Eco Blue Life or its affiliates. This article was originally published on TheBerkey.com
