contaminated well...

[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.

[exgunner]

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

[Splaker]

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

10' from foundation, 80 feet from septic..


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

[Splaker]

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.

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-

[Species8472]

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.

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.

[patvetzal]

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.

[dutchhunter]

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.