You Should Regularly Chlorinate Your Well

 It is common practice to “clean” public supply wells on a regular basis. This is often because of an observed decrease or loss of chlorine residual in treated wells which can allow contaminant entry into the well system. This is often caused by sediment or biofilm build-up within the well. Preventive maintenance is to chemically treat and flush the production well.  This need to regularly treat a well to prevent biofilm buildup and mineral encrustation has been well known and practiced for decades in small systems. However, this has not been the practice in private water well. That is beginning to change.

The last time I heard Brad White a groundwater geologist from the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality Office of Ground Water Characterization give a talk on the work DEQ was doing in Fauquier County, he happened to mention that in every well he put a camera down he had observed iron bacteria.

From Penn State Extension: “As a water well ages, the rate at which water may be pumped tends to decrease.” Penn State attributes this decrease in performance of a well to incrustations and biofouling of well screens and rock fractures or borehole, saying: “In severe cases, the obstruction to flowing water can render the well useless. Major forms of incrustations can occur from build-up of calcium and magnesium salts, iron and manganese compounds, or plugging caused by slime producing iron bacteria or other similar organisms (bio-fouling).”

The Provincial Government of Alberta (Canada) says indescribing iron bacteria: “This slime will coat the inside of the well casing, water piping and equipment, creating problems such as reduced well yield, restricted water flow and red staining of plumbing fixtures and laundry. However, all iron- staining problems are not necessarily caused by iron bacteria. The iron naturally present in the water can also cause significant problems.” There are all sorts of odd problems that are caused by iron bacteria. Over time many wells develop these problems. These harmless bacteria can foul a well, damage pumps, stain plumbing fixtures, clog pipes, faucets, showerheads, and produce unpleasant tastes and odors in drinking water. Yet, water is very rarely tested for iron bacteria since very few certified laboratories conduct the test. 

Yet, private well owners typically try to treat the symptoms rather than the cause of the problem. Elimination of iron bacteria once a well is heavily infested can be difficult. Iron bacteria cannot be eliminated by most common water filtration methods or water softeners. Iron bacteria will foul that equipment.  However, though it is difficult to eliminate, it is actually very easy to control – just oxidize the heck out of the well. This is accomplished by chlorine shocking of the well with adequate chlorine concentration and several hours of mixing accomplished by recirculation.  

Thus, routine maintenance of a private water well should include regular chlorination to control biofouling of the well and maintain water quality. Personally, I chlorinate my own well on even number years to prevent the buildup of a biofilm in my well and plumbing system and maintain the aesthetic quality of my water. I drain and flush the hot water heater annually to protect it from biofilm and mineral buildup and keep the temperature above 140 degrees.  If you have treatment equipment like a water softener, you might want to consider chlorinating your well annually and treating your media to prevent a bio mat from forming in the media tanks.

There are so many things that regular chlorination will solve or prevent that you might want to consider it a regular part of home maintenance. Even if you do not chlorinate your well regularly, you should chlorinate your well when:

• the well is new
• the well has been repaired
• the well has been flooded
• the well exposed to bacterial contamination in another manner, such as a crack in the well cap  

In addition, you should test your well for bacteria each year, usually in the spring (or the wet season), and if there is any change in the taste, color or odor of your drinking water. A confirmed positive test for coliform bacteria requires disinfection at the least.

Water Well Basics

from VAMWON

Nationally about 14% of domestic water is supplied from private wells. In Virginia, still a very rural state, about 21% of domestic water is supplied from private wells. If you have a private well you are responsible for making sure that you have water in your home and it is safe and pleasant to drink yet, I’ll bet that no one ever taught you the fundamentals of a well so that when there is a problem, you have a frame work to narrow down the causes and solve it.

Wells are a combination of natural and mechanical systems that serve to move water from fractures or cracks in the bedrock or pore space between grains of sediment or sand in the earth into the well and from there into the house. Generally speaking a modern well should be drilled through the loose “overburden” of top soil, sand and sediment into the bedrock below. In geology that has groundwater, water will flow from any fractures that intersect the open borehole. In wells drilled in areas where the sediment and sand are more than a hundred or two hundred feet deep, water will flow from the pores or spaces into the well. A well should have a casing that extends at east through the overburden and possibly to the water table. In bedrock a well borehole can simply be open, but in sandy soils the borehole will require a well screen liner or slotted casing to prevent the borehole from collapsing or filling with sand and silt. Well casings used to be made of steel, but these days plastic piping is becoming more common.

from VAMWON

For the plumbing system to function properly, the recharge rate in the well would either have to equal the pumping rate or there has to be adequate storage in the system- either a storage tank or the well itself. 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 removed and does not have adequate water reserves then the well, the system would suffer intermittent episodes of severe water pressure loss. The information on your wells performance can be obtained from the water well completion report on file with the department of health. The “stabilized yield” is the recharge rate.

While many wells will last decades, it is reported that 20 years is the average age of well failure. Over time every component of a water system will fail. Older well pumps are more likely to leak lubricating oil or fail. Well casings are subject to corrosion, pitting and perforation. Iron bacteria and scale will build up in fittings and clog pitless adaptors and pipes. A water pressure loss can result from a pump that is too small for demand, inadequate or a failing pressure tank, or a buildup of scale in the pipes. There are a number of reasons why a well might stop producing water, but basically they break down into equipment failure, depletion of the aquifer or other groundwater problems and failing well design and construction.

Sanitary well cap

The essential mechanical components of a modern drilled well system are: a submersible pump, a check valve (and additional valve every 100 feet), a pitless adaptor (a fitting that makes a 90 degree turn to make the connection between the water line in the well and the horizontal pipe that runs below the frost line to the house), a well cap (sanitary sealed), electrical wiring including a control box, pressure switch, and interior water delivery system. There are additional fittings and cut-off switches for system protection, but the above are the basics. To keep the home supplied with water the system and well must remain operational.

The components within the house (usually in the basement) provide consistent water pressure at the fixtures. The pump moves water to the basement water pressure tank, inside the tank is an air bladder that becomes compressed as water is pumped in. The pressure tank moves the water through the house pipes so that the pump does not have to run every time you open a faucet. The pressure tank maintains the water pressure between 40-60 psi. After the pressure drops to 40 psi, the switch turns on the pump and the pressure in the tank increases. Over time the bladder becomes stiffer and water pressure is lost. Also, the pressure tank can lose some of it’s charge or become water logged.

my pressure tank- Goulds made my pump and slapped their label on the pressure tank

Clean Water and Sanitation Should Not Be Taken for Granted

According to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation: “2.5 billion people—practice open defecation or lack adequate sanitation facilities, and the consequences can be devastating for human health as well as the environment. “ In India alone 600 million people practice open defecation which is a major source of the so called “water-borne” diseases, and human suffering and premature death. According to UNICEF, 2.2 million people die each year from diarrhea. Human waste is carried by precipitation to ditches onto streams and into rivers where it enters the water supply. Flies and vermin carry bacteria and disease from feces to food stores and humans.

In addition to those without any sanitation, there are reported to be 2.1 billion people who use toilets connected to septic tanks that are not maintained, back up or use other systems that discharge raw sewage into open drains or surface waters without adequate treatment which degrades the rivers and streams. Drinking water tainted with sewage is the source of “water-related” diseases that are carried from one host to another through water. These diseases included salmonella, schistosomiasis, cholera, crytosporidiosis, campylobacter, giardia, meningitis, shigellois, dysentery, hookworm, roundworm, tapeworms, dengue fever, leptospirosis, hepatitis A, typhoid, scabies and botulism. Overall, 40% of the population of earth lack adequate sanitation facilities and reliable access to clean water. 

from CDC

In the United States access to adequate sanitation facilities and clean water is taken for granted. However, almost 25% of households depend on an individual septic system (also referred to as an onsite system) or small community cluster systems to treat their wastewater. Just having flush toilets to carry the waste from the house does not mean it is adequately treated. Maintenance of these systems is often left to the individual household. Many of these systems are aging beyond their natural lifetimes and many system owners simply do not know how to properly manage their septic systems and have not bothered to learn. Improperly managed septic systems can result in system back-ups and overflows, surfacing sewage in your yard, polluted groundwater and surface water -a risk to public health and the environment. Sixty percent of the households in the United States that have septic systems also have private drinking water wells.

Though responsibility and management of septic systems and private drinking water wells belong to the individual owner, oversight and regulation of these systems falls to the states and local health departments. Virginia like many states has struggled to try to get homeowners to properly maintain their septic systems, both conventional and alternative and to consider routine testing of their drinking water from private wells. Homeowners fail to see or simply ignore indications that their septic systems have failed, do not pump their tanks at appropriate intervals and do not comply with inspection and maintenance regulations or manufacturer recommendations for alternative systems. Homeowners think because they are not required to test their wells, it does not have to be done.

The United States has one of the safest and most advanced water supply and sewage treatment systems in the world. However, we struggle to find the political will to properly maintain our public water infrastructure in our cities and fail to convey to owners of septic systems and private water wells how to properly operate and maintain their systems and the importance of doing so. While the water still flows and toilets flush we would rather spend money on “life style” rather than maintaining essential services like water and sewage.

Under the Clean Water Act the United States has made tremendous advances in the past 35 years to clean up our rivers and streams by controlling pollution from industry and sewage treatment plants. I am old enough to remember taking river water samples before the regulations, so I know how far we've come; however we seem to have stalled out. We've failed to solve the problem of eradicating sanitation failures by reaching the individual household and private system owners how their systems work and the importance of ensuring that they do. Also, our public water and sanitation infrastructure is aging. The distribution systems leak, the treatment plants have often not kept up with growth in volume of sewage that needs to be treated. Finally, the 25% of households that operate their own systems are increasing in absolute number, the systems built in the 1970’s and 1980’s are reaching the end of their natural lives and this has created growing source of contamination to our waters. In order to continue to make progress in cleaning up our rivers and streams we must learn how to control pollution from these diffuse, or non-point, sources as well as maintain our water infrastructure.

Since the advent of the Clean Water Act mandating improved treatment of sewage, outbreaks of disease caused by drinking water are no longer common in the United States, but despite advances in water management and sanitation, waterborne disease outbreaks continue to occur in the U.S. and can lead to serious acute, chronic, or sometimes fatal health consequences. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) collects data from all the states on waterborne diseases. From 1971 to 2002, there were 764 documented waterborne outbreaks associated with drinking water, resulting in 575,457 cases of illness and 79 deaths. The symptoms of water borne disease often include diarrhea, nausea, vomiting and sometimes fever. It is no uncommon to mistake a case of water related disease for “food poisoning” or a “24-hour stomach virus.” Contaminated water can often look, smell and taste fine. Not all water borne diseases are recognized as such or reported to the CDC.

The National Institute of Health (NIH) believes the true impact of disease is much higher. Research done at the NIH indicate that 10,700 infections and 5, 400 illnesses occur each year in populations served by community groundwater systems; 2,200 infections and 1,100 illnesses occur each year from private wells; and 26,000 infections and 13,000 illnesses occur each year in municipal surface water systems. In recent years, the proportion of outbreaks in the federally regulated public water systems has declined, although these still contribute the majority of outbreak-associated illnesses. Inadequately maintained or constructed private wells and plumbing systems continue to cause illness in growing numbers. In addition, the aging water infrastructure and drinking water distribution system are suspected to be a growing source of water borne disease outbreaks, and are the cause of the familiar "boil water notices" which seem to become more common in our cities. We cannot continue to ignore water and sanitation system repair, replacement, maintenance and improvement and expect to have on demand clean water.

Groundwater Awareness Week

It’s National Groundwater Awareness Week (March 10-16, 2014). According to George Harlow at the US Geological Survey (USGS) in Richmond, VA about 34% of all drinking water in Virginia is supplied by groundwater and there are 1.7 million Virginians whose drinking water is sourced from groundwater and supplied by their own private wells. Well ownership comes with the responsibility of keeping the water well in good working order and managing your own water supply. Ensuring that your water is safe to drink, of good quality is your responsibility and should be done annually. Managing your water use is an on-going challenge.

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 living with a well you need to be aware of your water use and water budget. 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 (though equipment problems are the most common cause of well failure). Groundwater supply and quality can and do change because groundwater systems are dynamic.

The National Ground Water Association (NGWA) and most health departments recommend that private well owners test their water annually for at a minimum bacteria and nitrate. When you bought your house in all probability you only tested your water for was bacteria, that is not adequate to ensure your water supply is safe. There are many other contaminants that might be of local concern that you could test for and there are common contaminants that can be health hazard or water quality issue; however, not every contaminant needs to be tested for each year. The quality of your water will be determined by the source of the groundwater, the ability of your local geology to protect or impact your aquifer and the absence or presence of a potential local source of contamination. According to the US EPA actual events of groundwater contamination have historically been rare; however, as population density increases and we use more and more chemicals, pesticides and drugs, there are more opportunities to contaminate our groundwater. The most common sources of pollution to groundwater supplies come from two categories; naturally occurring ones and those caused by human activities. Naturally occurring contamination are produced from the underlying soil and rock geology.

Human activities can also contaminate groundwater. Improperly constructed and sealed wells can allow surface contamination to enter the well. Improperly maintained septic systems containing human waste and any chemical you flush down the drain, horses, and backyard poultry can contaminate the groundwater. Leaks from underground storage tanks, excessive use of fertilizers and pesticides, surface disposal of solvents, motor oil, paint, fuel, or nearby landfills or industrial operations can contaminate groundwater. While a confining geological layer can protect groundwater from surface contaminants, there is very limited natural protection in karst terrain and fractured rock systems that are very common in Virginia. So while we have rich supplies of groundwater our aquifers can be very susceptible to contamination.

The Virginia Household Water Quality Program out of Virginia Tech recommends that wells be tested for 14 chemical and bacteriological contaminants: iron, manganese, nitrate, lead, arsenic, fluoride, sulfate, pH, total dissolved solids, hardness, sodium, copper, total coliform bacteria and E. Coli bacteria. The Virginia Cooperative Extension (VCE) Office will be holding a drinking water clinic for well owners on March 31, 2014 in Prince William County and will perform the 14 analysis listed above analysis for just $49. (The water clinics are subsidized by a grant to the Virginia Household Water Quality Program.) That is enough information to address most water problems and ensure that your water is safe for your family to drink. To sign up for the program please call 703-792-7747 or email master_gardener@pwcgov.org.

If your water is supplied by a well, you also need to be aware of the factors that impact your water supply and respond to them, making sure to live within your water budget. There are dry years and wet years and you need to know which you are in. Direct determination of the groundwater level in your well requires a water level meter which can cost hundreds of dollars, but the condition of the aquifer can 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 at normal groundwater levels. As a matter of fact, all twenty of the Virginia monitoring wells are currently at or above normal groundwater levels, so if you are in Virginia it doesn’t look like there are going to be any problems with water supply this year.

groundwater conditions in Virginia

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. However, deeper wells may be impacted by an extended drought and take longer to recover.

In the fractured rock systems of the Piedmont where I live, most wells draw groundwater from vertical fractures in the bedding plane. Fractures can run dry or become clogged with sediment over the years. In unconsolidated sediments of the coastal plain ground water is pulled from the saturated zone. Prince William County is divided between these two areas. 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 5 gallons per minute during periods of water use or have adequate storage within the well itself. In the typical 6 inch diameter well each foot of depth equals about a gallon and a half. So a 200 foot deep well that recharges at 1 gallon a minute could easily serve a family if the water demand were spread out throughout the day.

Failure of the well itself is rarely sudden, but happens especially in drought. A drought caused well failure may be restored when the drought ends. All problems with private wells break down into equipment failure, depletion of the aquifer or other groundwater problems and failing well design and construction. Though not as common as equipment failure, there are times that the problem is the well and the water supply. If the well cannot recharge at the same rate at which water is being pumped out of the well, you will experience intermittent episodes of severe water pressure loss or possibly loss of water entirely. 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 or a well problem. Knowing the condition of the local aquifer will allow you to know which.

Virginia Extension -Help and Information for Private Well Owners

I spoke with Erin James Ling who is the coordinator of both the Virginia Household Water Quality Program, VAHWQP, and the Virginia Master Well Owners Network, VAMWON, as part of her job in the Biological Systems Engineering department at Virginia Tech. Erin works under Dr. Brian Benham, who re-launched the Virginia Household Water Quality Program in 2007 with a National Institute for Food and Agriculture, NIFA, grant. The VAHWQP uses the grant to sponsor and subsidize drinking water clinics held throughout the state where homeowners can get their well water analyzed for 14 chemical and bacteriological contaminants and cost only $49 (there are locations where the cost of the analysis is fully underwritten by the county extension office). The program consists of two meetings- one to get instructions and test kits, and the other a month later to get results and provide interpretation and recommendations. Samples are dropped off at the Virginia Cooperative Extension Office sponsoring the program and driven to Virginia Tech for analysis. The NIFA grant and trained extension volunteers have allowed Virginia to hold and subsidize the cost of the analysis for the water clinics in a dozen or more counties each year. 

Erin joined the program in 2008 as the coordinator of the programs (which is about half her job) and with additional funding for 2013 will be able to devote more of her time to developing and expanding the programs. The focus has been primarily on training extension agents and running the water clinics, but Erin want to move the program beyond that in the future. Since its inception in 1989 drinking water clinics have been conducted in 87 counties across the state analyzing 16,000 water samples. Since the re-launch of the program in 2008 3,000 household samples have been analyzed and results confidentially returned to participants. The program retains the analytical data on a county by county basis, but all identifying information like address or well owner are not kept with the data. The county water analysis data and questionnaire information is only accumulated to develop a statistical database on groundwater and household water quality by county and may someday be one of the more detailed private water supply quality databases in the nation- a database that can be mined for patterns in water quality, geology and well systems. In addition, the demographic information could help to develop better messaging to reach more well owners more effectively.

The Virginia Cooperative Extension was set up to meet the needs of rural landowners and brings the university knowledge and reliable information resources to rural people through the extension agents. As the rural population has changed, the services offered by the extension programs have evolved beyond the farm agents (like Kimbel, Hank Kimbel of Green Acres) to master gardeners, and protection of groundwater and health of Virginia private well owners. Erin with a master’s degree in Environmental Pollution Control and a second master’s degree in Rural Sociology is uniquely qualified to develop programs to build awareness of the risks and responsibilities of private water well ownership and develop programs to communicate technical information to the public.  The Household Water Quality Program and VAMWON program provide information, education, and tools that you can use to improve the quality of your life, help you determine if you need a water treatment system and if needed what system is right for you. The VAMWON consists of Extension agentsand screened volunteers trained in the proper design, management, andmaintenance of private water supply systems (springs, wells, and cisterns).VAMWON trained extension agents organize and conduct the county-based drinking water clinics and serve as a local resource for clientele with household water quality concerns. The schedule of water clinics for 2013 is available at this link.

The programs Erin coordinates are linking rural health with water quality information. She plans to expand the VAMWON program to increase capacity and reach and include septic systems. Maintaining septic systems and Alternative on-site sewage systems is really important to health. Household wastewater is loaded with disease-causing bacteria and viruses, as well as high levels of nitrogen and phosphorus. If a septic system is well-maintained and working properly, it will remove most of these pollutants. Insufficiently treated sewage from septic systems can cause groundwater contamination that can result in contamination of private water wells which can spread disease and impact household health. Understanding and maintaining your septic system and well and regularly testing your well water quality are the best way to protect the quality of your drinking water and the health of your family.

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

What Can A VAMWON Volunteer Do For You?

The Virginia Cooperative Extension obtained a grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Cooperative Research Education and Extension Service (USDA-CSREES) to restart the Virginia Household Water Quality Program (VAHWQP) originally launched in 1989. and establish the Virginia Master Well Owner Network (VAMWON). Not exactly an acronym that rolls off the tongue, but VAMWON volunteers can help simplify understanding the components of a well and private drinking water system. VAMWON trained VCE agents organize and conduct county-based drinking water clinics and serve as a local resource for clientele with household water quality concerns.

VAMWON volunteers and agents provide education to rural residents about private water system management. To help protect families who obtain their drinking water from private wells, Virginia now licenses water-well installers and has a series of regulations for private wells to make sure that new wells are properly constructed. In addition, the Health Department permits the wells. In Virginia private well regulations date back to 1990 and the Department of Health expanded the regulations 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. However, 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 safe drinking water standards.

Current regulations ensure that a well is built properly, but does nothing to verify that it continues to work properly and the water remains healthy to drink. That is the job of the well owner, and it takes some work and some knowledge which the VAMWON volunteers and agents can provide. Unlike public water systems, private systems are entirely unregulated; consequently, the well location, construction, testing, and treatment are the voluntary responsibility of the homeowner. As a result, many individual water wells have never been tested, and their owners are generally uninformed about water quality issues. The VAMWON volunteers and agents can provide information and resource links for private well owners and inform Virginians dependent on private water systems about water testing, water treatment, and system maintenance.

Poorly constructed and unmanaged water wells are a potential risk to groundwater aquifers that supply wells and the homeowners, farmers, and businesses that access them. Pollution of entire ground water aquifers may occur from failing septic systems, manure and fertilizer applications, mining, or other land uses. Individual water supplies may also be contaminated around the exposed well casing (wellhead) from surface water flowing along the well casing and/or from a loose fitting or absent well cap that allow insects, animals or surface water to directly enter the well. VVAMWON volunteers and agents are available to provide information on how to inspect a well , respond to questions from neighbors, present information at local HOA or township meetings, and hosting a booths at a county fairs. In addition, volunteers also educate neighbors through various media sources (i.e., internet, newspaper, and township newsletter articles). You can find your VAMWON volunteer neighbor through this link by entering your county in the search box.

A VAMWON volunteer or agent can provide guidance for you to verify that your well is properly constructed, functioning properly and your water is potable and of good quality. The VAMWON volunteer or agent can help identify problems with the water system and provide information on suggested treatments. They can provide information on the limitions of various water treatment options and other solutions. Finally, the VAMON volunteers and Agents has information on household water conservation and managing your well during a drought. Consulting with your VAMWON volunteer and agent should be your first step in understanding and managing your private water supply.

Groundwater in Virginia

According to George Harlow at the US Geological Survey (USGS) in Richmond, VA about 34% of all drinking water in Virginia is supplied by groundwater and there are 1.7 million Virginians whose drinking water is sourced from groundwater and supplied by their own private wells. The information below is from a talk Mr. Harlow gave and the Private Water Supply Handbook.

The geology-the underlying types of soil and rocks of an area determines the characteristic and availability of groundwater. To survive over time, a population must live within the carrying capacity of its ecosystem, the most important element of the ecosystem is potable water. Without water there can be no life. Water is needed for drinking, bathing, to support irrigated agriculture and industry. In Virginia, our rainfall is usually adequate and there is limited need to irrigate. Precipitation and soil type determines how much the shallower groundwater is recharged annually. However the volume of water that can be stored is controlled by the reservoir characteristics of the subsurface rocks. Groundwater may be present today that was precipitation months, years or eons ago. Using more groundwater than is recharged through precipitation is unsustainable over the long run.

The nature of the soils and rocks varies across Virginia by physiographic province. The geological regions of Virginia are (from east to west) the Coastal Plain, the Piedmont, the Blue Ridge, the Valley and Ridge and the (Cumberland) Plateau. There is also a limited areas of Mesozoic Lowlands within the Piedmont that is not a geographic region but is a physiographic province and is groundwater rich. I happen to live within the Mesozoic Lowlands. The natural occurrence and availability of groundwater depends on the geological conditions.

The Costal Plain of Virginia is composed mostly of unconsolidated geologic deposits and extends from the Atlantic coast to the “fall zone” a geological line that runs north-south through Fairfax, Fredericksburg, Richmond, and Petersburg. At its widest portion the Costal Plain is over 100 miles wide. Costal Plain deposits consist of alternating layers of unconsolidated sand, gravel, silt, shell strata and clay and slopes generally southeast. There are two groundwater systems, an unconfined aquifer and a lower artesian aquifer both flow in the general direction of the topography slope towards the ocean. In unconsolidated sediments well casings must reach to the water table and the well must be screened in the saturated zone, but just about anywhere you drill a well, you will find groundwater. Water tends to be of good quality for the most part, but there are areas where over pumping has resulted in salt water intrusion and areas where iron and hydrogen sulfide occur. It is very possible with little more population growth that during drought years Fairfax and the Norfolk-Virginia Beach area will have inadequate water.

The Piedmont is bordered by the “fall zone” on the east and the Blue Ridge Mountains on the west. The Piedmont is the largest geological region in Virginia and has a diverse geology largely dominated by igneous and metamorphic rocks, with some areas of sedimentary rocks. The area has limited overburden and the fractures and fault lines formed in the rocks store and transmit groundwater. The size and number of water bearing fractures decrease with depth so significant supplies of water are generally located in the first few hundred feet. There is a wide variation in groundwater quality and yield ranging from under 1 gallon to over 50 gallons a minute. The largest yields are obtained where fracture and fault system are extensive along the base of the Blue Ridge Mountains. In other areas of the Piedmont, disintegration of the granite bedrock forms a zone of granular material with slow recharge and relatively high and annoying amounts of iron and sulfur. To be productive a well must be located within a fracture. Water tends to be hard and in many areas contains high levels of iron, sulfur, and can be acidic.

The Mesozoic Lowlands are within the Piedmont region. These areas consists of an interbedded sequence of sedimentary and basaltic rocks. The rocks of the lowlands are highly fractured and overlain by a thin cover of overburden. The lack of overburden limits natural protection to the aquifer. The sedimentary rocks are productive aquifers. The soils are described by the USGS as Balls Bluff Siltstone with a gravel, sand and clay type bedding plane. In the siltstone bedding plane, the fractures within the rock run predominately north south. Thus while ground water flows generally speaking west to east, water or a contaminant that catches a fracture will carry the contaminant to depth in a north south pattern. Contaminants can enter the groundwater at these fractures spread easily. Groundwater is easy to locate and tends to be hard.

The Blue Ridge province lies to the west of the Piedmont and is a narrow zone (4-25 miles wide) of mountains that runs from North Carolina to Maryland with the highest elevations in Virginia. The bedrock is near the surface and relatively impervious and contains limited amounts of water in joints, fractures and fault zones. Igneous and metamorphic rocks are most common on the eastern slope (and into the Piedmont) and sedimentary rocks are common on the western slope. Water yields are low and limited and typically very high in iron. Water containing fractures can be few and far between and it is very possible not to find water on a home site or to have a well run dry regularly.

The Valley and Ridge region is to the west of the Blue Ridge Mountains and is underlain by consolidated sedimentary rocks of limestone, dolomite, shale and conglomerate. Limestone and dolomite occur beneath lowlands, such as the Shenandoah Valley (also within the lowlands between the Potomac and the Catoctin Mountains) these deposits consistently form productive aquifers. Karst features such as sinkholes, caves, and large springs are found in the Valley and Ridge province. The ridges in the upland area are typically underlain by sandstone and shale with limited groundwater yield. Limestone frequently contains underground channels that store and transmit groundwater. Rapid movement of water in the limestone area makes the pollution potential high. Aquifers are often recharged directly by streams crossing fault zones giving wells in these areas the highest yields. This direct surface water to groundwater recharge can create serious water quality problems. The groundwater in these zones bypasses any natural filtration the soil might have provided. The quality of the groundwater would reflect the quality of the seasonal streams and surface water and tends to be acidic.

The smallest geological region of Virginia is the Cumberland Plateau also called the Appalachian Plateau which includes the southwester tip of Virginia. This region is underlain by sedimentary rocks, primarily sandstone, shale and the coal. It is the presence of coal that has most determined the fate of this region. The groundwater travels in the coal veins. The gentle folding of these formations has created domes and basins and faulting has occurred. Groundwater quality is generally best in the bedrock above the stream level. The groundwater in the stream level contains high concentrations of sulfate, sulfite, nitrate, iron and carbon dioxide. The water improves at 150-300 feet below this area. Groundwater is generally used for small domestic purposes and processing coal. The shallow nature of the groundwater allows for relatively easy contamination.

The quality and minerals in the groundwater are determined to a large extent by the local geology. Virginia is rich in water our actions will determine if we remain so. The process by which water from rainfall, snowmelt, streams and rivers flows into water bearing geologic formation is the groundwater recharge process. The climate change models (as limited and faulty as they may be) predict that Virginia will become a bit wetter and warmer (think North Carolina). A failure of the water supply in Virginia will be due to our own actions and decision. The land surface through which groundwater is recharged must remain open and uncontaminated to maintain the quality and quantity of groundwater of the Commonwealth of Virginia.

Spring, Time to Test Your Private Well

Private water wells provide drinking water to over 1,000,000 Virginians. If you have your own well, then the responsibility for ensuring that your family and friends are drinking safe water rests with you. Just because your water appears clear doesn’t necessarily mean it is safe to drink. It is important to test your well at least once a year for bacteria, nitrates, pH and total dissolved solids. Testing is often the only way to detect possible contaminants in your water. Testing is not mandatory but should be done to ensure your family’s safety. First, make sure that no potential sources of pollution are located near the well, especially uphill and surface water drains away from the well. The best time to do this testing is in the late spring after the snow has melted and there has been a considerable amount of rain. Take your samples on a day after a good rain so that any infiltration problems will be detected. Testing is often the only way to detect possible contaminants in your water. Testing is not mandatory but should be done to ensure your family’s safety.

Coliform bacteria are commonly found in soil, on vegetation, and in surface water. They 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. Coliform bacteria is not likely to cause illness, but coliform bacteria are most commonly associated with sewage or surface waters, the presence of coliform bacteria in drinking water indicates that other disease-causing organisms (pathogens) may be present in the water system. There are three different groups of coliform bacteria; total coliform, fecal coliform and Escherichia coli (E. coli) each has a different level of risk. Total coliform serves as a proxy for fecal coliform and E. coli bacteria in the most basic water test. Coliform bacteria do not occur naturally in most aquifers. Fractured or creviced bedrock aquifers that are close to the surface are the exception and testing for e. coli and fecal coliform and nitrogen will help differentiate the naturally occurring coliform from contamination that might impact your health.

Bacteria can be introduced into a new well during construction and can remain if the water system is not thoroughly disinfected and flushed. Well construction defects such as insufficient well casing depth, improper sealing of the space between the well casing and the borehole, corroded or cracked well casings, and poor well seals or caps can allow sewage, surface water, or insects to carry coliform bacteria into the well. Unplugged abandoned wells can also carry coliform bacteria into deeper aquifers. In an existing well system that formerly was bacteria free look for defects, deterioration in the condition of the well. These include: openings at the top of the well; old, rusty, or damaged well casing; unprotected suction line; buried wellhead; and, close proximity of a well to septic tanks, drain fields, sewers, kitchen sinks, drains, privies, barnyards, animal feedlots, abandoned wells, and surface water.

A good place to get help and information is from the Virginia Master Well Owner Network (VAMWON) which consists of Virginia Cooperative Extension (VCE) agents and screened volunteers trained in the proper design, management, and maintenance of private water supply systems (springs, wells, and cisterns). The trained VAMWON volunteers reach out to private water system owners in a variety of ways, ranging from speaking at local community groups, HOA meeting to informal discussions with friends and neighbors to inform Virginians dependent on private water systems about water testing, water treatment, and system maintenance. The training of these volunteers is made possible by a grant from USDA Cooperative State Research, Extension and Education Service (CSREES). This grant was made to revitalizing the Virginia Household Water Quality Program (VAHWQP) to help the program improve the water quality of Virginians using private water wells.

Should the Health Department Require the Annual Testing of Private Wells?

Annual testing of private drinking water wells is not required or tracked in Virginia. The Virginia Department of Health recommends that private water supplies be analyzed for total coliform at least once a year, but does not require it. Routine testing of private wells takes place during the underwriting of a mortgage, but at no other time. Undoubtedly, when you purchased your home, the well was tested, but that may have been the last time you bothered to test your well. Owners of private drinking water wells are responsible for their own water quality and should monitor it. This spring I used the WaterCheck with Pesticides to test my water quality. This is a test kit you can either buy and take the sample yourself and ship it off to the laboratory in Michigan or you can have a local laboratory do the sampling to ensure that the local laboratory does a same day analysis for Bacteria (presence/absence for coliform and E. coli) and nitrates. The kits are made by National Testing Labs and can be purchased directly from them or from a variety of distributors.

Over 15 million people in the United States receive their water from private ground water wells. EPA regulations that protect public drinking water systems do not apply to privately owned wells. As a result, owners of private wells are responsible for ensuring that their water is safe from contaminants. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, septic systems are a major source of contamination of an underground water supply (well or spring). Inappropriate siting of drain fields, and poor design, construction, and maintenance of septic systems, coupled with improper well construction, can lead to contamination of household water. There has been little data collected on frequency and type of private well contamination, but clearly fecal bacteria present in water from the well could indicate contamination from septic or other animal waste. My home is located in an area of horse and cattle farms in an area with very little overburden to protect the aquifer. I keep and eye on my groundwater quality.

There are also vectors of contamination that may result in the introduction of contaminants into a private water supply that do not impact the groundwater supply. Coliform bacteria are commonly found in soil, on vegetation, and in surface water. They 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. 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. A well pipe that is improperly grouted or where the grouting has been damaged over time may serve as a vector of contamination of surface runoff.

The test for the presence of coliform bacteria is relatively inexpensive and easy to perform. The standard test is called total coliform and it serves as a proxy for other types of contamination. Water samples that contain any coliform bacteria are generally reported as "total coliform positive" and should be analyzed for fecal coliform or E.coli which test specifically for the bacteria found in the digestive system of humans and animals. These fecal bacteria originate only in human and animal waste. It is unacceptable for fecal bacteria to be present in any concentration in a water supply. Bacteria in water cannot be seen, tasted, or smelled and many health-related symptoms are not immediate. Therefore, the only way to reliably determine if water is contaminated is by a laboratory test. Testing a water supply for a specific disease-causing organism can be expensive. Instead, water supplies are usually tested for the presence of coliform bacteria and only if the water tests positive for coliform is further analysis done.

The Center for Disease Control recommends at a minimum, you should check your well every spring to make sure there are no mechanical problems; test it once each year for total coliform bacteria, nitrates, total dissolved solids, and pH levels. If there is reason to suspect other contaminants, you should test for those as well remembering that analysis is expensive. The Virginia department of Health recommends regular testing of your drinking water well when any of the following conditions apply:

• there is an infant in the home;
• a new well is constructed;
• flooding occurs near the well or spring;
• any person or animal becomes sick from a suspected waterborne disease; or
• The water supply system on a well or spring has been disassembled for repairs to components such as the well itself, pump, pressure tank, treatment devices or pipe lines.

The question is should the Virginia Department of Health require the testing of private wells annually? If the data from well testing were collected and plotted, areas where the groundwater had be impacted from septic leakage might be identified in a more timely fashion and the conditions of geologically sensitive groundwater could be monitored. The public and private drinking water wells of the state could serve as a proxy to track the health of one of our most valuable resources. Instead of requiring the annual testing of private wells the Department of Health should continue to encourage and recommend the annual testing and collect the plot the data obtained in that way. Data collected over a period of time can be very revealing.

The groundwater basin where my home is located consists of highly fractured rock, and overlain by a thin cover of overburden. The lack of overburden limits natural protection to the aquifer. The sedimentary rocks are highly productive aquifers, but also subject to fractures that allow contaminants to move swiftly and easily through the system and easily reach depth in the groundwater aquifer. There is no natural attenuation in a fractured system. Any malfunctioning septic system, improper disposal, or spill on any property has the potential to impact the drinking water well of other residents to the south, southeast or east. Thus, as a group our neighborhood has decided to test all the private wells every spring and track the data to monitor our aquifer.

There is Coliform in my Well- What to Do?

1. Retest using proper sampling procedure and verify that E coli is tested for.
2. If the sample still tests positive for total coliform then treat the system with chlorine
3. Retest the water after the chlorine has left the system in about 10 days to two weeks (make sure that the water tests negative for chlorine).
4. If your well water tests positive for total coliform then carefully check the well and water system for points of contamination.

Many instances of total coliform contamination are introduced in the water system and do not originate in the water supply. Washington State is currently investigation the percentage of problems are a result of ground water contamination.

Coliform bacteria are commonly found in soil, on vegetation, and in surface water. They 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. Coliform bacteria will not likely cause illness. However, because coliform bacteria are most commonly associated with sewage or surface waters, the presence of coliform bacteria in drinking water indicates that other disease-causing organisms (pathogens) may be present in the water system. There are three different groups of coliform bacteria; total coliform, fecal coliform and Escherichia coli (E. coli) each has a different level of risk. Total coliform serves as a proxy for fecal coliform and E. coli bacteria. Coliform bacteria do not occur naturally in most aquifers. Fractured or creviced bedrock aquifers that are close to the surface are the exception and testing for e. coli and fecal coliform and nitrogen will help differentiate the naturally occurring coliform from contamination that might impact your health.

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. However, coliform bacteria can persist within slime formed by naturally occurring ground water microorganisms. The slime (or biofilm) clings to the well screen, casing, drop pipe, and pump and may even invade filter systems. Disturbances during pumping or well maintenance can cause the slime to dislodge, releasing the coliform bacteria.

Keep in mind that 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. Before treating, repairing, or replacing the well, it is wise to resample immediately if a positive sample is collected making sure to use proper testing procedures. If you receive a second positive sample for total coli forms, or if the initial sample is positive for fecal coliform, do not consume the water. Bring the water to a rolling boil for one to five minutes (the higher the elevation the more time is necessary) to kill the bacteria. You may also want to consider using bottled water as a temporary drinking and cooking water source.

The different bacterial tests are total coliform, fecal coliform, and E. Coli. The most basic test for bacterial contamination of a water supply is the test for total coliform bacteria. Total coliform counts give a general indication of the sanitary condition of a water supply. Total coliform includes bacteria that are found in the soil, in water that has been influenced by surface water, and in human or animal waste. Fecal coliform is the group of the total coliform that is considered to be present specifically in the gut and feces of warm-blooded animals. Because the origins of fecal coliform are more specific than the origins of the more general total coliform group of bacteria, fecal coliform are considered a more accurate indication of animal or human waste than the total Coliform. E. coli is the major species in the fecal coliform group. Of the general groups of bacteria that comprise the total Coliform, only E. coli is not found growing and reproducing in the environment. Consequently, E. coli is considered to be the species of coliform bacteria that is the best indicator of fecal pollution and the possible presence of pathogens.

Bacteria can be introduced into a new well during construction and can remain if the water system is not thoroughly disinfected and flushed. Well construction defects such as insufficient well casing depth, improper sealing of the space between the well casing and the borehole, corroded or cracked well casings, and poor well seals or caps can allow sewage, surface water, or insects to carry coliform bacteria into the well. These problems are common and the most likely source of the coliform bacteria contamination. Unplugged abandoned wells can also carry coliform bacteria into deeper aquifers. In an existing well system that formerly was bacteria free look for defects. These include: openings at the top of the well; old, rusty, or damaged well casing; unprotected suction line; buried wellhead; and, close proximity of a well to septic tanks, drain fields, sewers, kitchen sinks, drains, privies, barnyards, animal feedlots, abandoned wells, and surface water.

After a confirmed positive total coliform test, check following things to look for as a source of contamination introduction. Any defects in the system should be repaired, the system treated with chlorine and then retested after 10 days to two weeks. Items to look for are:

1. A missing or defective well cap and check seals around wires, pipes, and where the cap meets the casing may be cracked, letting in contaminants.
2. Contaminant seepage 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.
3. Contaminant 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.
4. Well flooding - a common problem for wellheads located below the ground in frost pits that frequently flood during wet weather.

Since bacterial contamination cannot be detected by taste, smell, or sight, all drinking water wells should be tested at least annually for Coliform bacteria. Most state’s well construction code requires all new, repaired, or reconditioned wells to be disinfected with chlorine to kill bacteria that may have been introduced during construction. Testing is required initially to demonstrate that the water is free of Coliform bacteria before the well is put into service. A Coliform bacteria test is also recommended immediately if:

1. A sudden change occurs in your water’s taste, appearance, or odor.
   The water turns cloudy after rainfall or the top of the well was flooded.
2. You suspect a contamination source (e.g., septic system or barnyard) is within 50 feet of your well.
3. Family members are experiencing unexplained flu-like symptoms.

Before implementing one of the solutions listed below, be sure to inspect the well for defects, check the grouting, casing, and clean the water delivery system and filter of slime and flush the system fully. Then retest. If the system passes let a few weeks go by and retest again. If repairing and cleaning the system does not solve the problem then one of the long-term solutions will have to be implemented.

Long-Term Options for Dealing with Bacterial Contamination of a Well

1. Connecting to the regional public water system, if possible
2. Constructing a new well (it is best to determine the source of contamination before a new well is installed)
3. Installing continuous disinfection equipment
4. Using bottled water for drinking and food preparation

Water the Fluid of Life

Environmental awareness began with water. The basis of the Clean Water Act was enacted in 1948 and was called the Federal Water Pollution Control Act. In July of 1970, the EPA was established in response to the growing public demand for cleaner water, air and land. The first actions of the new agency were to significantly reorganized and expand the Federal Water Pollution Control Act in 1972. The Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) was originally passed by Congress in 1974 to protect public health by regulating the nation's public drinking water supplies. The law was amended in 1986 and 1996 and requires many actions to protect drinking water and its sources: rivers, lakes, reservoirs, springs, and ground water wells. (SDWA does not regulate private wells which serve fewer than 25 individuals.)

The waters of the earth are contaminated in numerous ways. Rivers and streams are contaminated by industrial discharge, contaminated run off, contaminants leaching into groundwater aquifers, animal waste polluting rivers and There are a number of threats to drinking water: improperly disposed of chemicals; animal wastes; pesticides; human wastes; wastes injected deep underground; and naturally-occurring substances can all contaminate water supplies. Drinking water that is not properly treated or disinfected, or which travels through an improperly maintained distribution system, may also pose a health risk. In addition as demands for water have increased in cities, waste treatment plants and other facilities release their treated water to rivers and streams and that water is mixed with more pristine water. In California, they inject treated water into groundwater sources to recharge the aquifer.

The New York Times recently published an article highlighting the limitations of the Safe Drinking Water Act. First of all, only public water supplies (those that serve more than 25 individuals) are required to test their water. There are only 91 substances of concern under the clean water act. Private well owners need to monitor their own water quality. The substances of concern under the Safe Drinking Water Act are a series of metals and inorganic compounds, volatile organic compounds, organic compounds and herbicides and pesticides. It is virtually impossible to test for all known chemicals; there are not even good tests to find trace levels of some substances. Analysis costs money. Water purification and disinfection costs money and disinfection may introduce undesirable contaminants into the water. There are more than 57,400 water systems in this country that need to test their water monthly. The regulatory process is impacted by politics, which are in turn controlled by various interest groups, and limitations on knowledge, money and time.

An example would be the EPA experience when trying to lower the acceptable limit on arsenic in drinking water. EPA proposed lowering the acceptable arsenic limit in drinking water to five parts per billion from 10 parts per billion. Arsenic is difficult to remove from water without “wet chemistry” and cannot be filtered out. Water systems and industries that use arsenic complained, arguing that the science was uncertain and the chemical was expensive to remove. Regulators relented and the arsenic limit remained at 10 parts per billion.

Money and the limits of chemical analysis are not infinite. I view the basic list of primary and secondary contaminants as indicators that other related chemicals might be present. For example if you have traces of gasoline, then you would look for the additives to gasoline. Finding any traces of pesticides then a detailed analysis for pesticides and their break down products would be searched for. In order to target your analysis you need to know what to look for. The history of the land and source of the water is a good starting point to know what you are looking for. It really is not feasible to test for everything in environmental investigation or in medicine. The largest municipal water supply systems pull water from so many sources and mix it that exhaustive analysis would be prohibitive. Some municipal water supplies ignore everything but the letter of the law; others try to push for more purification facilities to clean the water further.

In all honesty, mixed source municipal water containing reprocessed water is not water I am entirely comfortable with drinking. Chemicals are a fact of modern life they exist in pharmaceuticals, household products, personal care products, plastics, pesticides, industrial chemicals, human and animal waste; they are in short, all around us. There are estimated to be over 80,000 artificial chemicals in the world today. The structural diversity is enormous and it is not known which of these substances might adversely affect living things in subtle ways. Having worked for the EPA in the pre-manufacturing notice section I know testing for new chemicals is for gross and acute impact, subtle impact is very difficult to identify or predict. However, one thing is certain the growing class of known endocrine disrupting chemicals can disturb a staggering range of hormonal processes. Like natural hormones, some EDCs bind directly with hormone receptors.

When I purchased my home, one of my contingencies was water quality. The house sits on one of the most productive aquifers in Virginia and draws its water from a private well. I had the right to exit the purchase if the water quality was either unacceptable to me or did not meet US EPA Safe Drinking Water Standards. All we could negotiate was 12 day contingency period and in reality I had less time than that. The power needed to be turned on to operate the water pump, the and water tanks drained and the water run to clear out the lines and holding tanks. Though an old friend at the US EPA had identified a reasonably priced informational oriented analysis package, the turn around time was 4-6 weeks plus the analytical limits were higher than I wanted. I was interested in obtaining a water supply as pristine as possible, thus I would refuse any traces of any industrial compounds. I was specifically looking for solvents, hydrocarbon fuels, heavy metals and pesticide traces. So I determined my best option to verify water quality within the transaction timeframe appeared to be to use an US EPA certified laboratory to perform a rush compliance analysis of the water sample for every primary and secondary contaminants listed under the Safe Drinking Water Act while simultaneously researching the history of the land. The good news is the results confirmed that the on-site drinking water well provided water that met the Safe Drinking Water Standards and was free of trace contaminants beyond the small traces (parts per million) of naturally occurring items such as iron, barium, cooper and moderately hard water (the presence of calcium carbonate). The groundwater supplying the house was uncontaminated. To obtain that analysis within the time frame of the contingency period I spent $1,635.00. The house was the most expensive purchase of my life and I did not want to purchase a house with “bad” water. The water also tasted good. There is no guarantee that the water will remain uncontaminated so I need to monitor it regularly as well as keep an eye out for likely sources of contamination.

Private Drinking Well Components

Ground water is ubiquitous. About 15% of American households get their drinking water from private wells the majority of these wells are drilled wells that penetrate about 100-400 feet into the bedrock. 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 5-10 gallons per minute. There are two types of pumps; a jet pump and a submersible pump. Most modern drilled wells are built with a submersible pump so that the ground water is not exposed to potential contaminants before it reaches your home. This is accomplished by utilizing a pitless adapter within the well. This adapter is designed to provide a sanitary seal at the point where the discharge water line leaves the well to enter your home. The device attaches directly to the casing below the frost line and provides a watertight subsurface connection, protecting the well from frost and contamination. In older pump installations, above ground jet pumps were often used, which potentially allowed the introduction of contaminants at the surface concrete well cap.

The essential components of a modern drilled well system are: a submersible pump, a check valve (and additional valve every 100 feet), a pitless adaptor, a well cap, electrical wiring including a control box, pressure switch, and interior water delivery system. There are additional fittings and cut-off switches for system protection, but the above are the basics. To keep the home supplied with water the system and well must remain operational. The components within the basement provide consistent water pressure at the fixtures. The pump moves water to the basement water pressure tank, inside the tank is an air bladder that becomes compressed as water is pumped in. The pressure tank moves the water through the house pipes so that the pump does not have to run every time you open a faucet. The pressure tank maintains the water pressure between 40-60 psi. After the pressure drops to 40 psi, the switch turns on the pump and the pressure in the tank increases. The 40 psi can feel a little anemic.

The submersible pump is a long cylindrical unit that fits within the 6 inch diameter well casing. The bottom portion consists of the sealed pump motor connected to a series of impellers separated by a diffuser that drives the water up the pipe to the plumbing system through the pitless adaptor and a pipe that runs from the well beneath the ground to the basement. Submersible pumps are more efficient than jet pumps and should last longer, but silt, sand, algae and excessive mineral content can impact their life. A submersible pump operating in low-sediment water may have a 15 year life while the same pump in high sediment water and without adequate sediment and check valve protection may fail in 5 or 6 years. The sediment and mineral content in groundwater acts as an abrasive that wears out the pump bearings and other moving parts and causes the pump to fail prematurely. The check valves will protect the water pump from loss of prime and having to work as hard each time the pump is activated.

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 can not recharge at the same rate at which water is being removed than the well, the system would suffer intermittent episodes of severe water pressure loss. The information on your wells performance can be obtained from the water well completion report on file with the department of health. The “stabilized yield” is the recharge rate. Since, water quality and water supply were primary selection criteria in my home search, my recharge rate is huge. I have a very strong well. However, the water pressure in the house is only adequate with either one shower running or the utility sink, tub and shower. A water pressure loss can result from a pump that is too small for demand, inadequate or a failing pressure tank, or a buildup of scale in the pipes. For example, if pressure was reduced when additional demand - turning on the dishwasher when someone was taking a shower that would be an indication that the water supply (either the pump or recharge rate) is inadequate for the household demand. Though, the pressure tank can smooth small flow demands, it cannot compensate for flow greater than the pump or well capacity. So a system that seems to have not quite strong enough pressure at all times, but continues to perform in that range while multiple faucets or plumbing draws are on-going could have a pressure tank problem.

If the system is working properly and there is adequate pressure in the pressure tank possible solutions to a water pressure problems are to install a constant pressure valve between the pump and the pressure tank. This is a relatively simple and cheap solution that may solve many problems, but not flow rate/demand problems. Adding an additional pressure tank capacity could smooth demand somewhat but only to the extent of the additional tank. The final solution is the most expensive; the pump could be replaced with a variable speed pump. The motor of this kind of pump can run up to twice as fast as a single speed pump. The speed of the pump is regulated by the water demand and adjusts the pump’s flow rate. If the well has enough supply a constant higher pressure could be delivered to the house. This is an expensive solution, one I think of as a luxury, but it can result in higher water pressure throughout the house.

Why Test Your Water

If your home drinking water is supplied from an onsite or private well, you are responsible for ensuring that your water is safe to drink. Unlike public drinking water systems serving many people which have experts regularly checking the water quality, no one is looking out for families with their own wells. The US EPA’s Safe Drinking Water Act does not protect private wells; however, public drinking water supplies which serve the vast majority of Americans are tested for the complete list of primary and secondary contaminants .

A drinking water well that is contaminated could significantly impact your health and the value of your property. There is no requirement, but as one of the 15% of American families whose drinking water is supplied by a private well, I feel I should test my drinking water for these primary and secondary contaminants of concern to the US EPA. In this we need to serve as our own watch dogs. Part of the price of your own water supply is maintaining it and testing it. City and county health departments have local rules and regulations for the installation of wells and can often help with testing for bacteria and nitrates which are contaminants from septic systems, drain fields and livestock. The water well test that was performed when you bought your house probably only tested for bacteria and nitrates. Are you certain that the water you drink is safe?

Due to its protected location underground, most groundwater is naturally clean and free from pollution. However, not all groundwater is clean and safe because we as an industrial society have buried and poured out too much waste. The excellent case studies by Rosemary Stephen “Trichloroethylene (TCE) Water Contamination” illustrates this point better than I could here. For twenty or thirty years homeowners in Sterling, Virginia were drinking water contaminated with TCE and its biodegradation products. According to Ms Stephen “In 1988, Loudoun County Department of Health and the EPA started studies on the land fill, testing for hazardous substances. In three residential wells located close to the landfill, they found traces of TCE, its biodegradation products and pesticides. In 2005, Loudoun County Health Department carried out testing on 68 more wells in the area of the landfill. Forty-five wells tested positive for TCE; 17 of these wells contained concentrations of TCE above the maximum contaminant level (MCL) of 5 micrograms per liter (mcg/L) while 28 other wells contained TCE, but below the MCL.” The site was declared a CERCLA (Superfund) site in 2008. Between 1988 and 2005 no testing was done on the individual homeowner wells. The water was consumed by the young and old.

Have you tested your drinking water this year and if so what have you tested it for?