Solving Brown Water Problems

A gentleman contacted me through an associate. He seemed to have an unusual problem with his well water and was looking for some guidance on how to solve it. When he used lots of water from the well his water would turn dirty or brown.  The major causes of brownish or dirty water are:

1. Surface infiltration or other contamination 
2. Well collapsing or water level dropping 
3. Iron (and/or manganese) in the water
4. Iron Bacteria
5. Earthquakes
6. Rust or breakdown of the metals in in the well casing or house
7.  Pollution of the groundwater from septic or other source  

In order to solve the problem, we need to figure out what was happening for the least amount of money. A well that was drying out or collapsing bring up brown water, but generally it would stop if you let the well rest for a few hours. This brown water would last for days at a time, but there was always plenty of water. First thing I needed to do was listen to the gentleman who called me. We talked for almost two hours as I heard his story. Slowly the information I needed to help him came out in little bits as he talked. He had gathered lots of information on his well from county files, the well service company, the water treatment company he had dealt with first.

His well was about 21 years old and was 320 feet deep. It was drilled through 150 feet of clay and sand then 170 feet through granite and sand stone. The well had a casing that ran to 180 feet below grade and was properly grouted. At completion the well had a yield of 30 gallons a minute without any measurable drawdown.  I know this geology it is only about 8 to 10 miles from my house. This is fractured rock it is unlikely that the well was going dry. The well was properly built and it was not likely to be collapsing. We would save hiring a company to use a camera to look at the well as a last resort. So what was going on?

As the gentleman spoke, I told him I would need more information. I needed some water analysis. That’s when he told me that he just had his water tested when he had replaced his water softener and the other equipment which turned out to be a neutralizer. This gave me an idea of what was going on. I had him test the water ahead of the water treatment system and after the treatment when the water turned brown again after using lots of water. 

Below are some of the test results (the rest of the test results only eliminated other possibilities and are not pertinent to our discussion): 

The test results tell a story: When the new water softener and neutralizer were installed they were adjusted properly to give neutral water and iron just at the EPA MCL. However, the untreated water has a combined iron and manganese level of 5.366 mg/L, beyond the ability of a water softener to effectively treat iron and manganese and  there is a lot of iron bacteria which could further reduce the effectiveness of the water softener to remove iron. At September the iron was already breaking out. The sample taken after the treatment system and using lots of water shows massive amounts of iron! The water softener became overwhelmed with too much iron and was allowing untreated water through and shedding excess iron. 

 His water is naturally slightly acid and soft. He never needed a water softener. What he needs is to first treat the well for iron bacteria to push it back and start with a "clean slate." Then remove the water softener and install a an iron aeration and filtration system. This system is not effective on water with iron/ manganese bacteria, but is very effective soluble iron and manganese that are present in this well. The neutralizer should be kept to maintain the pH in the operating range for the iron aeration and filtration system. That should solve the problem. I'll see if we can get this straightened out in the next couple of weeks. An iron aeration and filtration system can remove up to 15 mg/L of iron and manganese. 

Iron and manganese exist in many different chemical forms. Dissolved iron and manganese are easily oxidized to a solid form by mixing with air. In surface water, iron and manganese are most likely to be trapped within suspended organic matter particles. Groundwater tends to be an oxygen poor environment; the deeper the aquifer the less dissolved oxygen is present. Iron and manganese carbonates in an oxygen poor environment are relatively soluble and can cause high levels of dissolved iron and manganese to be carried from a deep well. If sulfur is present in the water then the iron will form iron sulfide rather than iron carbonate and the water may have the familiar unpleasant rotten egg smell. 

When the iron and manganese are oxidized reddish brown or black particles form and settle out as water stands. These particles are often found trapped in washing machine filters, water treatment equipment, in plumbing fixtures and on clothing, dishes and utensils. When he sampled the well for me he took two samples of the brown water and put them on the shelf. The next time he checked them they were clear with the brown particles settled on the bottom.

Some types of bacteria react with soluble forms of iron and manganese and form persistent bacterial contamination in a water system. The reaction changes the iron and manganese from a soluble form into a less soluble form, thus causing precipitation and accumulation of black or reddish brown gelatinous material (slime). Masses of mucous, iron, and/or manganese can clog plumbing and impact the functioning of water treatment equipment. They also slough off in globs that become iron or manganese stains on laundry. Over time the bacteria in the well increases and precipitation caused by bacteria occurs faster and the slime tends to concentrate staining making it more annoying.

All systems of removing iron and manganese essentially involve oxidation of the soluble form or killing and removal of the iron bacteria. When the total combined iron and manganese concentration is less than 15 mg/l, an oxidizing filter also called an iron filter is recommended. These filters convert dissolved iron, manganese, or hydrogen sulfide into a solid form and then filters the solid particles from water. The device uses the same casing as other products by the manufacturer, but the media in the oxidizing filter is typically a manganese-treated greensand or manufactured silica gel zeolite coated with manganese dioxide, plastic resin beads, or other trade named media. With lots of dissolved iron it is necessary to have an iron filter with an air bubble or other air blown in. Maintenance typically involves periodically recharging media with an oxidizing agent and backwashing. Iron filters need to be selected to match the pH of the water. If pH is not in the range of any of the iron filters, then a neutralizer needs to be used or it is best to use chemical oxidation if that is undesirable.

Often when there is hard water and low levels of iron and manganese, a water softener can be utilized to remove both the hardness and the iron and manganese. When the iron and manganese present in a combined concentrations are less than 5 mg/L this will work.  It is important to check the manufacturer’s maximum iron removal level recommendations before purchasing a unit as they are more expensive than iron aeration and filtration systems. This strategy should only be used when the water is hard, otherwise it is a waste of money. However, in years past using a water softener to remove iron was standard practice and there are lots of unnecessary old water softeners out there. 

As you can see, turbidity the measure of the degree to which the water loses its transparency due to the presence of suspended particulates is a problem. The more total suspended solids in the water, the murkier it seems and the higher the turbidity. Turbidity can be caused by silica, soil finds, iron or iron bacteria. Generally, iron bacteria and other reducing bacteria are not problems in the first couple of years of a well. It takes time for the bacteria introduced during drilling to spread. Iron bacteria are present in most soils and can be introduced into a well or water system during drilling, repair, or service. The most common causes of turbidity in wells are dirt and colloidal solids like the iron that are too small and too fine to settle out properly. However, after the jars of water sat on the shelf for a while the water became clear. So, it should be okay. 

 

Brown Water after Shocking the Well

 Brownish or dirty looking water can be caused by many things. Practically always after you shock-chlorinate your well the water turns brown. The chlorine used to shock the well reacts with iron, manganese and reducing bacteria in the well and it is pulled into the water chlorine solution. That is the brown you see. Flushing the well by running the hoses for at least 12 hours or upto several day will clear up the problem. Don't panic, it is completely normal. Though the other major causes of brownish or dirty water are:

1. Surface infiltration or other contamination 
2. Well collapsing or water level dropping 
3. Iron (and/or manganese) in the water
4. Iron Bacteria
5. Earthquakes
6. Rust or breakdown of the metals in in the well or house 

What you are seeing is the gunk that had accumulated in your well. During well disinfection, free chlorine is introduced into the well water; there is no one standard for how much chlorine and methods to accomplish this disinfection so what your experience is will vary, but adequate amounts of chlorine will flush the mineral build up, iron in solution in the water and reducing bacteria out of the well.  Based on a survey of emergency disinfection protocols performed by Dr. Kelsey J. Pieper et. al and published earlier this year “Improving state-level emergency well disinfection strategies in the United States”,the scientists found that there were many differences in the protocols for  chlorine disinfection. 

Most protocols recommended that high chlorine doses be introduced into the well, circulated throughout the system, and stagnated for several hours up to 24 hours. The scientists point out that it is important that residual chlorine be measured because if too much of the chlorine solution reacts with iron or organic substances present in the well the effectiveness for disinfection is reduced. This is key because when iron or iron bacteria or other reducing bacteria react with chlorine (are oxidized) and are flushed out of the well into the water. If there is enough chlorine, the well will shed brown water, and be disinfected. 

Chlorination properly done can not only disinfect, but also rehabilitate the well. As a water well ages, the rate at which water can be pumped (commonly referred to as the well yield) tends to fall. This can be caused by:

• Incrustation from mineral deposits (including iron and manganese) or 
• Bio-fouling by iron bacteria 

The most common methods to rehabilitate a private water well are: acids or chlorine to dissolve the encrusting materials and bacterial slime from the well. This produces the brown water observed in a newly chorine shocked well. The chlorination  dissolves the encrustations and slime build up. These days regularly treating a well with chlorine is the recommended strategy to extend the life of a well and equipment and can improve the taste of the water. See well maintenance tips from Penn State University Extension or Alberta Provencal Government.

When I recently replaced my pump and pressure tank, I used a heck of a lot of chlorine in the powder form (a couple of cups or more of high-test calcium hypochlorite) to sanitize the well. Unfortunately, I was not able to mix the chlorine adequately. Mixing the chlorine  is accomplished by recirculating the water for a couple of hours. The result was that after running the hoses for about 12 hours the water appeared clear, but still had a measurable but low levels of chlorine. So, I need to keep diluting the chlorine solution by pumping the well to rid my well of it. Pockets of discolored water kept appearing for several days. Though I cannot run my well dry-it recharges faster than I can pump, I only ran the hoses only about 6-12 hours a day whenever a pop of rust colored water appeared.  It would still be almost 5 days before all trace of the chlorine was flushed from the system, and the water remained consistently clear,  but we were good with filtered water for coffee until then.

This was the longest it has ever taken to flush all the gunk out of the well which I attribute to not mixing the chlorine adequately. My husband, was briefly worried that I had somehow ruined the well or water supply because it seemed to go on and on. No worries, by the next week the water was clear and tasty. It takes patience to clear a well. 

What to Do About Discolored Well Water After Heavy Rain

 In Virginia where I volunteer with VAMWON as part of the rural household water quality program run by Virginia Tech, it is estimated that 34% of the population obtains their drinking water from private groundwater wells, more than twice the national average. The most frequent call I get is for well water that turns suddenly brownish or discolored after a heavy rain. If you own a well, then the responsibility for ensuring that your family and friends are drinking safe water rests with you. While you cannot taste bacterial contamination from human and animal waste, nor nitrate/ nitrite contamination, brownish water after a heavy rain storm is an indication that you likely have one of two contamination problems with your well. Brownish or “dirty” water always associated with rain, is likely the fast infiltration of rainwater from the surface, but could also be caused by a nearby failing septic system that is overwhelmed by the rain.

After rust in the household fixtures there are five causes for well water to be discolored or brownish: surface infiltration, well collapsing or water level dropping, iron – iron bacteria and/or manganese in the water, pump system or well casing rusting and worst of all contamination from a nearby septic system. The likely causes of dirty looking water after heavy rains is surface infiltration, but contamination from a failing septic system is also possible and should be investigated. A bacterial test will confirm what your problem is. I would recommend taking a water sample to a local certified laboratory, and have the water tested for coliform bacteria and if positive e-coli and fecal coliform bacteria. However, there might not be a laboratory near your home in which case you could consider a home test. If your water is discolored after a heavy rains, take your sample while the water is discolored. If this is a local infiltration problem, the water will clear after several hours and could be bacteria free (but the bacteria could have infected the plumbing system and if you have it the water treatment system in the house. Event caused coliform bacteria do not always show up in every sample. They can be sporadic and sometimes seasonal when they occur in a water supply. Be concerned but do not panic if coliform bacteria are detected.

Coliform bacteria are commonly found in soil, on vegetation, and in surface water. Coliform bacteria also live in the intestines of warm-blooded animals and humans. Some coliform bacteria strains can survive in soil and water for long periods of time. Most coliform bacteria will not cause illness. However, because coliform bacteria are associated with sewage or surface waters, the presence of coliform bacteria in drinking water may indicate that other disease-causing organisms (pathogens) may be present in the water and the water supply is not sanitary. There are three different groups of coliform bacteria; total coliform, fecal coliform and Escherichia coli (E. coli) each has a different level of risk. Coliform bacteria do not occur naturally in most aquifers, but are mostly harmless. Fractured or creviced bedrock aquifers in Karst terrain that are close to the surface are the possible exception. Testing for e. coli and fecal coliform and nitrogen will differentiate the harmless coliform from contamination that is from surface infiltration of water from bacteria contamination that might impact your health and is from sewage or animal feces.

If your well tests positive for coliform bacteria and negative for fecal coliform and E. coli bacteria, you have an infiltration problem that may be persistent, but can be addressed and dealt with by the suggestions below. If your well tests positive for fecal coliform or E. coli your water is not safe to drink. Boiling the water will concentrate nitrogen that is commonly present with fecal contamination and can be lethal to infants. Call the Health Department. You are drinking water impacted from a septic system and the water is unsafe especially for children and the elderly. To make this drinking water safe the septic system must be repaired and/or a new well drilled. Public water systems routinely recycle water, but they have entire water treatment plants and constant water testing to address the problem.

From Penn State Cooperative Extension

Occasional impact from surface infiltration is a much more pedestrian problem. Bacteria washed into the ground by rainfall or snowmelt are usually filtered out as water seeps through the soil, so properly constructed water wells do not typically harbor Coliform bacteria. Surface infiltration of water is due to impaired pump, casing or well seal system. Often what fails in the typical 6 inch diameter pipe well with immersion pump is the grouting. Look at your well. A properly build and functioning well should not be impacted by rain, but wells get old and systems deteriorate. Items to look for and fix are:

• A missing or damaged well cap would allow rain to enter the well. Make sure to check seals around wires, pipes, and where the cap meets the casing may be cracked, letting in contaminants. A new sanitary sealing well cap can be purchased on-line or from a well driller. 
• Contaminant may be seeping through the well casing. Cracks or holes in the well casing allow water that has not been filtered through the soil to enter the well. This seepage is common in the wells made of concrete, clay tile, or brick. This can also happen to a steel pipe well that was hit by a piece of equipment such as a car, snow blower, lawn tractor or mower or that has rusted. A well driller can often install a sleeve to line the well casing. Wells installed in Virginia after 1992 (or in Prince William County since 1980) should have at least 40 feet of steel casing to protect the well from collapse and infiltration of shallow groundwater(less than 20-40 feet deep that may contain coliform bacteria. 
• Contaminants can enter the well by seeping along the outside of the well casing. Many older wells were not sealed with grout when they were constructed or the grouting has failed. Check the grouting carefully especially if water seems different after severe rains. Also, make sure that rainfall does not puddle against the well, but drains away. Repacking the soil might help.
• Well flooding is a common problem for wellheads located below the ground in frost pits that frequently flood during wet weather. Wells that are located in pits are commonly impacted by rain water pooling in the pit and entering the well. This can be corrected by having a well driller install an extension on the well pipe to raise the top, or create a drain for the pit. 

Hopefully, one of the simple items above will turn out to be your problem and can be quickly and easily resolved without need to drill a new well or install disinfection equipment. To use your well that has been impacted by coliform bacteria from storm related infiltration you need to chlorine shock your well after each rainfall until the problem is solved by one of the above suggestions, or you drill a new well. Yeah, I know what that costs, so temporary fixes are often necessary. Look, this is not the best idea, but it will disinfect your well each time it is impacted by surface infiltration. Water that looks dirty after a storm is a gross infiltration problem- there is a big leak somewhere, not the invisible coliform problem that is more easily addressed by an in-house disinfection system using either UV light or chlorine. Coliform bacteria are associated with warm-blooded animals, so they are normally found in surface water and in shallow groundwater (less than 20-40 feet deep). Most bacteria (with the exception of fecal and e-coli) are not harmful to humans, but are used as indicators of the safety (sanitary condition of the water.

The instructions below are standard procedure from various state department of health and the US EPA:

Run your hoses (away from your septic system and down slope from your well) to clear the well. Run it for an hour or three and see if it runs clear. If not let it rest for 6-12 hours and run the hoses again. Several cycles should clear the well. What we are doing is pumping out any infiltration within the well area and letting the groundwater carry any contamination away from your well. In all likelihood the well will clear of obvious discoloration. Then disinfect your well. This is an emergency procedure that will kill any bacteria for 7 to 10 days. After 7 to 10 days you need to test your well for bacteria to make sure that it is safe.

Determine what type of well you have and how to pour the bleach into the well. Some wells have a sanitary seal which must be unbolted. Some well caps have an air vent or a plug that can be removed. On bored or dug well, the entire cover can simply be lifted off to provide a space for pouring the bleach into the well.

Take one gallon of bleach of non-scented household liquid bleach and carefully pour the bleach down into the well casing using a funnel if necessary. Wear rubber gloves, old clothes and protective glasses to protect you from the inevitable splashes. After the bleach has been added, run water from an outside hose into the well casing until you smell chlorine coming from the hose. You can also use chlorine test strips for swimming pools to test for chlorine, but usually, the smell method works. Then turn off the outside hose. Now go into the house and one bathroom and sink at a time, turn on all cold water faucets, until the chlorine odor is detected in each faucet, then shut it off and move on to the next sink, or bathroom (if you have an automatic ice maker and water in your refrigerator dump the ice and run the water on the refrigerator also. If you have a water treatment system, switch it to bypass before turning on the indoor faucets. Once the inside system has been done, go back to the outside spigots and run the hoses until you smell chlorine coming out.

Wait 8 to 24 hours before turning the faucets back on. It is important not to drink, cook, bathe or wash with this water during the time period it contains high amounts of chlorine whose by products are a carcinogen. After at least 8 hours, run the water into a safe area where it will not kill your lawn, your trees or plants pollute lakes, streams or septic tanks. Run the water until there is no longer a chlorine odor. Turn the water off. The system should now be disinfected, and you can now use the water for 7 to 10 days when the effects of the disinfections wear off at that time test your well to make sure it is still safe to use. It is important not to run all the treated water into your septic system because the chlorine will kill all the bacteria in the septic system and the system will not function. This is the one time I might recommend adding bacteria to the septic system to account for any kill off that might occur from the minor amounts of chlorine treated water that was run through the plumbing system.

Final note. In the March 2012 Good Housekeeping magazine they evaluated home water testing kits. To test the home contaminant-detection kits, the Good Housekeeping Research Institute worked with the Water Sciences Laboratory at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln. Lab researchers spiked water samples with measured concentrations of contaminants the kits claimed to be able to detect, including two herbicides, nitrate, copper, lead, and bacteria. Then after following the kit's instructions, evaluated its performance at detecting the known contaminants. They found the PurTest kit to be the most accurate and easiest to use, but the second ranked First Alert test kit and the was also good and significantly cheaper. Make sure you test for both coliform bacteria and fecal coliform bacteria.

Is My Well Running Dry?

USGS Daily Groundwater Data Prince William County 49 V1 

The most common reason a well stops producing water is a pump failure or other mechanical component. Failure of the well itself is rarely sudden, but happens especially in drought. If your water supply has lost pressure, and seems to be drizzling out of your faucet your problem could simply be a loss of pressure in the pressure tank or damage to or a leak in the bladder in the pressure tank. If your water pulses as it comes out of the faucet, the most likely cause is short cycling of the pump, which could be caused by inadequate water supply or another faulty component in the pump system. However, there are times that the problem is the well and the water supply. For the plumbing system to function properly, the recharge rate in the well would have to equal at least the pump rate. The recharge rate or the well recovery rate is the rate that water actually flows into the well through the rock fissures. If the well cannot recharge at the same rate at which water is being pumped out of  the well, the system would suffer intermittent episodes of severe water pressure loss or possibly water loss. If you have water first thing in the morning and again when you get home from work, but the supply seems to run out especially when doing laundry or taking a shower. Then you may have a groundwater problem.  

If your water is supplied by a well, you need to be aware of the factors that impact your water supply and regularly practice household water conservation to live within your water resources. There are dry years and wet years and water will vary, though it is not always obvious. The groundwater aquifer you tap for water is not seen so you have to be aware of your water budget and live within it, something that transplants from the suburbs and city are not always aware of. Many who are on public water on the east coast are very accustomed to thinking of water supply as unlimited. Your well is not unlimited and you need to be aware of your water use. The US Geological Survey collected and compiled daily water use data for the nation and there are tremendous differences regionally and even from state to state. We have the most control over the amount of water we use in our homes and weather alone does not explain the different water usage rates. In Maryland average domestic water use was reported to be 109 gallons/day per person while here in Virginia the average water usage was 75 gallons/day per person. Pennsylvania to the north uses an average of 57 gallons/day per person. Ironically enough, in Nevada, an arid state, the average daily water use is 190 gallons/person.  When I interviewed Jeanne Bailey of Fairfax Water she confirmed that based on the regional drought response plan, per capita water use is higher in Maryland than Virginia. I do not know the causes of the variation beyond the weather, but the age of the water fixtures can contribute to the differences. There are tremendous differences in water consumption of appliances and fixtures based on their age and design. For example we all know about low-flush toilets which use 1.6 gallons per flush versus 5 gallons per flush for the older toilets. The same is true for washing machines, dishwashers and even showerheads.

The information on your wells performance and location can be obtained from the water well completion report on file with the department of health. Be aware though, that private well construction was not regulated inVirginia until 1992 and is still not regulated in many places.  The “stabilized yield” is the recharge rate at the time of installation. However, groundwater can change over time and it is commonly reported that the recharge rate falls over time from the initial recharge rate. Of course a drop in water pressure could just be caused by increased demand, if your pump is undersized for the number of plumbing fixtures in the house then using more than one bathroom at a time or doing laundry while taking a shower will cause a noticeable drop in water pressure. Laundry is the single most demanding water use in a home. Though the total number of gallons used for flushing typically exceeds laundry, the flushes are spread out during the day.

In the well, a diminished water supply can be caused by drop in water level in the well due to drought or over pumping of the aquifer, or the well could be failing (do not forget that equipment problems are the most common cause of well failure). Groundwater supply can change because groundwater systems are dynamic. In the Valley and Ridge of Virginia (west of 95 and before the Appalachian Plateau) the geology is characterized by unconsolidated overlay underlain by fractured rock. In the Piedmont region the fractured rock tends to be sedimentary rock and is carbonate rocks within the areas of karst terrain. Fractured rock systems tend to be water rich areas of Virginia, but not uniformly so. In the fractured rock systems of the Valley and Ridge wells draw groundwater from fractures in the bedding plane which is parallel to the strike (vertical fractures). Fractures can run dry.  In unconsolidated sediments of the coastal plain ground water is pulled from the saturated zone. In the Appalachian Plateau which is a flat layered rock system with horizontal fractures, the coal seams are typically the aquifer and groundwater is typically shallow. Coal country is the location of many shallower dug wells.

The water level in a groundwater well usually fluctuates naturally during the year. Groundwater levels tend to be highest in the early spring in response to winter snowmelt and spring rainfall when the groundwater is recharged. Groundwater levels begin to fall in May and typically continue to decline during summer as plants and trees use the available shallow groundwater to grow and streamflow draws water. Natural groundwater levels usually reach their lowest point in late September or October when fall rains begin to recharge the groundwater again. The natural fluctuations of groundwater levels are most pronounced in shallow wells that are most susceptible to drought. Older wells tend to be shallower. However, deeper wells may be impacted by an extended drought and take longer to recover. Land use changes that significantly increase impervious cover and stormwater velocity preventing recharge from occurring over a wide area and can make existing wells more susceptible to drought. Significant increases in groundwater use for industrial purposes like fracking can overtax and aquifer. Unless there is an earthquake or other geological event groundwater changes are not abrupt and problems with water supply tend to happen slowly as demand increases with construction and recharge is impacted by adding paved roads, driveways, houses and other impervious surfaces.  If your well tends to dry out during the summer when you try to do a load of laundry, you might want to address the problem before there is a drought when your well is likely to go dry. Addressing the problem could be as simple as implementing waterconservation strategies and measures, or could require replacing water fixtures, lowering a pump or deepening or replacing the well.   

The majority of wells are drilled wells that penetrate about 100-400 feet into the bedrock. The shallower dug wells are most useful in layered rock systems where you can use the coal seam to find water. Older wells in areas near springs and rivers tend also to be shallow, because they were installed before modern equipment in the shallow first aquifer.  In my neighborhood built in this century,  the deepest well is 450 feet below grade and the shallowest is 100 feet below grade. To provide a reliable supply of water, a drilled well must intersect bedrock fractures containing ground water and recharge at a rate greater than the typical domestic demand of 6-10 gallons per minute. In addition the pump must be in the saturated zone. The groundwater level can drop below the pump level as things like changes in demand, land use and drought change groundwater recharge. A temporary fix might be to lower the pump. Direct determination of the groundwater level in your well requires a water level meter which can cost hundreds of dollars, but a less direct indication of the status of your well might be obtained from a proxy well. The U.S. Geological Survey, USGS, maintains a group of 20 groundwater monitoring wells in Virginia that measure groundwater conditions daily and can be viewed online. One of the Virginia wells is just up the road from me in the same groundwater basin and is currently measuring below normal groundwater levels. It has been a dry spring so far I am keeping an eye on groundwater levels because one of the 100 foot wells in my neighborhood is mine and I am the last house before the river.

If you need help with a well problem, the wellcare® Hotline is staffed by the Water Systems Council (WSC), the only non-profit organization solely focused on private wells and small well-based drinkingwater systems. The Hotline operates Monday through Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Eastern Time, and can be reached at 888-395-1033. Also, if you are in Virginia you can call or email the Virginia Master Well Owner’s Network for help. My name and email are near the bottom of the list with the volunteers and I am happy to help anytime.  http://www.wellwater.bse.vt.edu/contact_mwo_table.php

Brownish or Dirty Well Water after the Earthquake

Brownish or Dirty water is a common occurrence after earthquakes. An earthquake can cause water wells to become turbid, which is when the water is cloudy or more commonly dirty looking, and well water quality have become degraded as a result of earthquakes. Earthquakes can affect the water level in your well. To see if your well has been impacted, you will have to empty your pressure tank and see what pumps out of the well. Turbidity could move through the system and pass in a short period or not depending on the specific geology, soil type and hydro geology. Aquifers are water-bearing subsurface soil and rock formations that can be effected by seismic activity. In bedrock formations, for instance, the well will be drilled until it hits a fracture or crevice that holds water. Earthquake shocks can increase the permeability of the aquifer rocks and cause the water level to fall with gravity through the more permeable materials and the water will fall to a lower level leaving the well dry. http://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/fs-096-03/

There are also plumbing problems that can cause brownish water and do not forget that earthquakes can cause the fittings to the septic tank to fail and a well could become impacted by a leaking septic tank (or several leaking tanks in the neighborhood). First, check your plumbing, check the screens and aerators in your sinks and then verify that both the hot water and cold water are both discolored. If the hot water only is discolored then the problem might be with rust the hot water heater that was shaken loose, simply drain it. After determining that the brown water is coming from the cold water tap also, it is still possible that there is rust in the plumbing fixtures or the piping, but it would typically manifest in only one sink or tub and not uniformly throughout the house (unless the rust is in the main water pipe from the well).

After rust in the household fixtures there are four likely causes for well water to be brown or brownish, surface infiltration, soil fines having shaken loose are being pulled into the well, water level dropping or iron (and/or manganese) in the water. Earthquakes can cause a change in water, either by loosening fine grains of silt and soil, loosening minerals or lowering the water level. According the US Geological Survey there is no rhyme or reason to which wells will be impacted by an earthquake, but time might restore your well. Run your well thought your hoses to the yard for a couple of hours. Let the well rest for a couple of hours and then run the hoses again. See if there is sediment or only color with the water. If no sediment appears, you probably are only pumping fines and the well should clear after several rounds of pumping and rest. If you are pumping sediment, it might be a loss of water level. Wait and see if the well recovers. According to David Helms of the US Geological Survey in Richmond, who is still analyzing the data, USGS monitoring wells have shown significant impact. The example he gave me was the Reston well which experienced a sudden drop in groundwater level yesterday and though it recovered by this morning, the water level was lower than the pre-event level. It is unknown if the groundwater level will recover fully and a lowering of the water in a well can cause the well to basically pump mud.

Surface infiltration of water is due to impaired pump and casing system, but is unlikely to be the cause of sudden brownish water after an earthquake. A leaking septic system could also impact water quality. Testing the well for bacteria would determine if the water were safe to drink. A bacteria test checks for the presence of total coliform bacteria and fecal coliform bacteria. These bacteria are not normally present in deeper groundwater sources. They are associated with warm-blooded animals, so they are normally found in surface water and in shallow groundwater(less than 20-40 feet deep). Most bacteria (with the exception of fecal and e-coli) are not harmful to humans, but are used as indicators of the safety of the water. An inspection of the well and pump system might visually locate any obvious flaws but the presence of coliform surface bacteria would certainly identify where to begin looking. The most likely source of brown water after the earthquake is from the well itself. It is typical in Virginia not to have well casing beyond 40-50 feet deep. The Balls Bluff Siltstone and red clay common to this area does not typically need a casing. The most common modern well installation is to have a pump that installed in the well and looks a little like an outboard motor on a stick. While the most common source of brown water is soil fines shaken loose in the earthquake, there can be other causes. Changes in water level or supply could result in the pump pulling up a bit of mud or the pump could have wracked a bit and is hitting the side of the well hole. So that water that suddenly turns brown may indicate a problem with the well structure or water level. Turn on your hoses and put your hands on the well cap, if you feel any vibrations or hear a sound you probably have a pump problem. Also listen at the well pipe into the house.

The final source of brown water is iron (and/or manganese) in the water. As rain falls or snow melts on the land surface, and water seeps through iron-bearing soil and rock, iron can be dissolved into the water. In some cases, iron can also result from corrosion of iron or steel well casing or water pipes. Iron can occur in water in a number of different forms. Iron is harmless, but can affect taste and use of water. The earthquake might have shaken loose minerals or rust in your system. This source of brownish color might pass through the system like soil fines, but could require a greensand filter.

Water became Cloudy or Dirty Looking–VAMWON Notes from the Field

The Virginia Master Well Owner Network (VAMWON) is an organization of trained volunteers dedicated to promoting the proper construction, maintenance, and management of private water systems (wells, springs, and cisterns) in Virginia. The Cooperative Extension Services in Virginia manages the program and have numerous publications and fact sheets that can help homeowners make educated decisions about their drinking water. The volunteers can help homeowners interpret their test results and make educated decisions about what treatment might be appropriate and desirable or appropriate solutions to problems..

VAMWON Notes from the Field are a series of stories of the questions and sometimes the solutions I’ve encountered as a VAMWON volunteer. The VAMWON volunteer or Agent can help you identify problems with the water system and provide information on suggested treatments options and other solutions. You can find your VAMWON volunteer neighbor through this link by entering your county in the search box.

A private well owner located in the Manassas area of Prince William County contacted me through the Master Well Owner Network. I received the following request by e-mail “I am wondering if you can help me in regard to my well. I have concerns regarding the set up/layout of my current well and I would like to become a more educated and responsible well owner. Could you please let me know what assistance if any you may be able to provide.”

I received the e-mail while I was on vacation, but it sounded like a simple request for information and I assumed that I could just send a couple of basic articles to a new homeowner and have handled the inquiry promptly. People rarely contact the VAMWON out of the blue, there is usually a precipitating event. A home purchase, or a change in their water quality. So I called the homeowner to ask why he called. Turns out he had owned the home for several years and suddenly at the end of winter (when the snow melted) his water looked dirty. The homeowner had only tested his well when he purchased his home several years ago. The well test performed at purchase is typically a total coliform bacteria test. Passing is finding no bacteria present. So, either the well had been free of bacteria a few years back, or the seller had chlorine shocked his well ahead of the purchasers water test. Yes, it is easy hide a water problem if all that is being done is a test for total coliform bacteria.

I asked the homeowner, some basic questions to narrow down the problem. The home was an older home and the well was more than 20 years old. I asked him if he had a septic system and he told me no, he was on county sewer r the conversion reportedly happened when the school up the street was built. I confirmed that he was still on well water and that he knew the location of his well. I asked him to describe his well and what the homeowner described to me was a large pit made of cinderblocks or bricks with a well in the center and a metal hood on the well pipe.

In Virginia private wells were first regulated in 1990. The regulations were expanded by the Department of Health in 1993. Prior to that only public water supply wells and private wells constructed during the installation of a new or repaired septic system were regulated by the Department of Health. The vast majority of the private wells in Virginia were constructed before the regulations and there is no requirement that these older private wells comply with current regulations. If your home drinking water is supplied from a private well, you are responsible for ensuring that your water is safe to drink. Unlike public drinking water systems, no one is ensuring your well water is safe to dink but you. Groundwater, the source of well water is a dynamic system and subject to change, if your water tested fine in the past is no guarantee that is free from contaminants now. In addition, several water tests can provide clues to what is happening to your water system.

The old well at my parent’s house was built in an earthen pit with a lid. I used to hide in it when we played hide and seek. Historically, it was common practice to construct a large diameter pit around a small diameter well. The pit was intended to provide convenient access to underground water line connections below the frost line. Unfortunately, wells pits tend to be unsanitary because they literally invite drainage into the well creating a contamination hazard to the water well system. Not having a sanitary cap on a well head was the most obvious problem described to me by the homeowner and remedying that problem might eliminate the infiltration. A second step would be to eliminate the well pit by extending the casing above grade and installing a pitless unit. There are adaptor units available for this and this has been successfully done at many sites. This will only work if the well itself is sound and the water supply unimpaired. If the homeowner’s well cannot be adapted and a sanitary water supply obtained, then in his case it may not make economic sense to drill another well, but instead the better choice might be to connect to city water since the water main runs to the end of his street. Before making a decision the water should be tested to make sure that the only contaminants appear to be from infiltration.

The water should not be consumed until it is tested. In truth infiltration problems are typically happen after snow melts or in the heavy rains of spring and often clear up later in the season. The dirty cloudy appearance of the water might clear up on its own, but the well must be disinfected and at the minimum a sanitary seal well cap installed. After any problems, or work on a well-installing a cap or even an extension to bring the casing above grade, you need to ensure that the well is treated with chlorine to disinfect it, then wait two weeks and test the water again to make sure that the water supply is sanitary without the chlorine shock. Testing your water, chlorine shocking and retesting wells to make sure that your water supply is potable are your responsibilities and essential to your health and the health of your families especially infants.

When I called to follow up, a few weeks later I discovered that the water had “cleared up” and the homeowners were too busy with their new baby to deal with that problem. I did not ask if they were still drinking bottled water, but I did something I do not like to do, I gave him the name, phone number and contact person to speak to at the well driller I use these days. I told him what to ask about and offered to come out to his house and check things out and include his home in the batch of home tests I am taking for an HOA. I negotiated a discount from the laboratory for the group. It is irresponsible as a parent to ignore a water problem.