Buying Good Water- a House with a Well

For most of the first 25 years of our marriage we lived in rental apartments. We talked about someday owning a house. My husband wanted a big house on lots of land in Virginia, his home. I generally dreamed of a house of more modest size near whatever city we were living in at the time.  After living a decade and a half in California with constant water restrictions and crisis, water became the number one item on my list (followed by high-speed internet). So, we ended up in Virginia in his someday house with a well with my water supply.

There is a whole lot beyond being clear and tasting good that makes water satisfactory.  The first thing to verify is that the well is constructed properly. That is fairly simple, though there are no national standards for construction of private water wells, in Virginia the Department of Health well construction regulations went into effect in 1992. So, buy something with a well drilled after that.  A simple trip to the local health district allowed me to get the well completion report for all the houses we were considering.  Well built to current standards-check.

The well completion report  tells you how old the well is, how deep, what the well yield was at completion. I was also looking for a well with a stabilized yield greater than 6 gallons a minute in the right kind of geology because geology impacts how a well ages. If you are buying an older well (still built after 1992) check the water level and yield - yield diminishes over time. You will have to hire a well driller to do this. 

There are three considerations for a private well- the well and well system, the water quality and the water quantity. Failure in any of these can impact your life and the value of your home. The well is essentially a hole in the ground. Shallow wells (those less than 50 foot deep) are  dug or bored into the ground and have larger diameters (2-4 foot). Shallow wells are more prone to contamination and drought and bored wells have the shortest life. Deeper wells are called drilled wells because they are drilled into the ground to depths from 50-450 feet or more and because of the need for drilling rigs cost much more to build. The diameter of a drilled well is 6-8 inches. 

Only buy a home with a drilled well. Generally, drilled wells provide a safer source of drinking water, and are less often impacted by drought. In igneous and metamorphic rock systems like the Piedmont of Virginia, the fractures and fault lines formed in the rocks store and transmit groundwater. The size and number of water bearing fractures varies and there is a wide variation in well yields from under 1 gallon per minute to over 50 gallons a minute depending on location and specific site geology. Fractures can become fouled with mineral deposits or iron bacteria or simply go dry over time. 

Aquifers can go dry unexpectedly, but all wells will fail over time. The lifespan of a drilled well is assumed to be 20-50 years, but varies tremendously based on site specific conditions. I personally know of a drilled well that lasted 65 years, but if you are buying a home with a well over 20 years old you will need to budget for drilling a new well. Make sure that the cost is considered and that the property has another location to drill a well.  

The well system consists of the well, the well casing, the inlet for water, and the pumping system. The casing is the structure around the well hole to prevent its collapsing. It could be a steel or plastic casing or an open hole in the bedrock. In this part of Virginia, the Piedmont, the top of the well is lined with steel for 50 feet and then the well is open in the bedrock allowing the water to flow into the well. A steel well casing will rust over time and eventually collapse. The well casing should be 1-2 feet above the land surface to make sure that during storms and flooding that nothing washes down the well. There should be no holes or cracks in the visible portion of the casing and the well cap should be tightly bolted closed.

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 and each and every component must work properly for your well to function properly.

The pumping system includes the pump, piping and electrical connections to pump water from the well into the house and a pressure tank to maintain constant water pressure in the house. Shallow wells usually use centrifugal pumps and are often located in a pump house or the basement. Drilled wells have submersible pumps. The pump and pumping systems are the most likely components to fail in a well. The average life of a submersible pump is variously reported as 12-15 years, but many pumps fail in the first few years. 

In addition, in order for a well to keep supplying water to your home the components within the basement must all continue to work. These components provide constant water pressure at the fixtures in the house and the electrical switch that turns on the pump. For a drilled well if there is any other equipment beyond the pressure tank, it is a water treatment system, and you need to test the water before and after the treatment. 

The pump moves water to the basement water pressure tank, inside the tank is an air bladder that becomes compressed as water is pumped into the tank. The pressure in the tank moves the water through the house pipes so that the pump does not have to run every time you open a faucet. Bladders and electrical switches will fail over time and valves and switches and impellers on the pump can break, foul or find any number of ways to fail. You have to assume that pump systems that are older than 12 years are on borrowed time. It does not mean that a pump system cannot last 25 years or more, but I would not bet on it. 

When buying a home with your own water supply you need to consider the construction, condition, age and location of the well in addition to water quality and quantity. Geology plays an important role in the water quality and quantity.  Clay loams or silty clay soils filter pollutants and protect an aquifer. A shallow water table and fractured bedrock may provide larger quantities of water, but the shallow fractured rock systems are susceptible to contamination from the surface. 

The specific geology and water quality will determine the life span of a well. So pick your desired geology. Within the three counties around here there are significant variations in the geology. There is an area in Loudoun County that is high in iron and an area nearby that is karst terrain. The groundwater in karst terrain is easily impacted by surface contamination and is potentially subject to sinkholes. No. There are areas with very high natural iron and manganese content, areas of extremely hard water and areas with soft or aggressive water. No, no and no.

Within Prince William County Virginia there are several distinct geologic provinces that will have different groundwater characteristics. The northwestern part of Prince William County down the hill from Bull Run Mountain, consists of sedimentary rocks of the Culpeper Basin. The predominant rock types are conglomerates, sandstones, siltstones, shales, and argillaceous limestones. This geology tends to have moderate to excellent water-bearing potential because it is a fractured rock system with very little overburden. The highest reported yields in the county are from wells in this geology. In other parts of the county there are deep wells in the diabase that tend to have reliable lower yields. I choose fractured siltstone as my targeted geology. 

The issue of whether water is safe to drink is separate from whether the water is free of unpleasant contaminants like iron, manganese, chloride, and low levels of hydrogen sulfide or the groundwater has been contaminated. The well must be tested. Before you buy test the water for all primary and secondary contaminants in the Safe Drinking Water Act. In addition to testing the water for any nearby likely sources of contamination. I was only interested in purchasing a home with water that did not need any treatment. There is a big difference to me between fixing a problem that develops over time and buying that problem. 

Water chemistry is a tough category to give rules of thumb. Your best option is to do a broad scan of the well water quality. There are screening packages available from U.S. EPA certified laboratories like  National Testing Laboratories that screen water wells for all the primary and secondary contaminants in the Safe Drinking Water Act.

The WaterCheck with pesticides package from National Testing Laboratories is a broad stroke test, testing the water for 103 items including Bacteria (Total Coliform and E-Coli), 19 heavy metals and minerals including lead, iron, arsenic and copper (many which are naturally occurring, but can impact health); 6 other inorganic compounds including nitrates and nitrites (can indicate fertilizer residue or animal waste); 5 physical factors including pH, hardness, alkalinity; 4 Trihalomethanes (THMs) and 47 Volatile Organic Chemicals (VOCs) including Benzene, Methyl Tert-Butyl Ether (MTBE) and Trichloroethene (TCE). The pesticide option adds 20 pesticides, herbicides and PCBs.  This testing can be done for a few hundred dollars.    

The report they produce tell you if the contaminant was detected, if detected if it was below or above the EPA standard under the Safe Drinking Water Act, and finally if the contaminant was above the standard if it was above an enforceable MCL (maximum contaminant level). If sodium is present it should be under 10-20 mg/L. Any higher and you have salt water infiltration or the well system might have a water softener that is obscuring many of your results and you need to test again ahead of the water treatment. The nitrate level should be well below the EPA standard of 10 mg/L closer to the background level (around 2 mg/L in northern Virginia). Higher than 5 mg/L tends to be related to septic performance either at your house or a neighbors but can also indicate historic use of fertilizers or animal waste storage. If these problems exist, it will only grow worse with time.

I like hard water so anything between 100 mg/L and 180 mg/L is fine by me. Higher though, could be difficult to live with and should be avoided. Too low and you might have aggressive water (slightly acidic) which has a whole bunch of other problems or once more a water softener is installed and you need to retest.  

All trihalomethanes, solvents (organic volatiles) and hydrocarbons should be non-detect. None of these are naturally occurring and even low levels are an indication of a source of industrial contamination. A trace of TCE in a well was the first symptom of what turned out to be a Superfund site in Loudoun County. Run away. Same is true for the pesticides and other organic analytes. 

Metals (inorganic analytes which are naturally occurring) should all be on the low end of the allowed range, except for lead which should be non-detect after the first flush. There is no safe level of lead and it is not naturally occurring in groundwater. Cadmium, lead and mercury are metals that are found at relatively low concentrations in the environment. Lead is nearly immobile in soil so it does not enter groundwater by any natural pathway. It generally appears from the deterioration of metal plumbing and well equipment that contains low levels of lead. Lead in groundwater can also be a result of industrial contamination. Run away very fast. 

You are Responsible for Your Well Water

Although the majority of the United States' population gets its drinking water from pubic systems, the Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, estimates that more than 23 million households rely on private water supply system (i.e. wells, springs, and cisterns) for drinking water. Most of these are private wells. My own home is supplied with water from a drilled well. EPA does not regulate private drinking water systems- your on your own in making sure the water in your home is safe to drink.  Many states have well regulations, the vast majority of which are construction standards for new wells.

The concentration of private wells is not evenly distributed throughout the country, obviously private wells tend to be in rural or semi-rural areas. The Census Bureau stopped collecting information specific to private well use in 1990, so much of the national data is extrapolated from 1990. Virginia Tech reports that over 22% of the Virginia’s population or 1.7 million people are dependent of private drinking water wells for their drinking water.

The quality and safety of private domestic wells, are not regulated under Federal or, in most cases, state law. In Virginia only the construction is regulated and wells are only required to demonstrate the absence of bacteria, the most basic form of potability at the completion of the well construction process. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) does not regulate individual households.

As a result, individual homeowners are solely responsible for maintaining their domestic well systems and for any routine water-quality monitoring that may take place. Just because your water appears clear doesn’t necessarily mean it is safe to drink. You cannot taste bacterial contamination from human and animal waste, nor taste nitrate/ nitrite contamination. Many chemical contaminants cannot be tasted or smelled at levels that can impact your health. Since bacterial contamination cannot be detected by taste, smell, or sight, all drinking water wells should be tested at least annually for Coliform bacteria and E Coli. Testing is the only way to detect contamination in your water.

In the past it was not recommended to test your well, it is now widely recommended (by the department of health and University Extension programs) that private well owners test their wells annually (at least for bacteria), yet the vast majority of well owners still do not. Private well owners often lack a basic understanding of the groundwater that supplies the wells and the mechanical components of their well systems and turn a blind eye to maintaining their water systems.  

Groundwater comes from rain, water and snow melt percolating into the ground. Typically, the deeper the well the further away is the water origination and the older the water. The groundwater age is a function of local geology, the amount of precipitation and the rate that water is pumped out of the aquifer. Geology also determines the ease with which water and contaminants can travel through an aquifer; microorganisms in the soil and from wildlife and spilled chemicals or contaminated runoff can travel into groundwater supplies through cracks, fissures, and other pathways of opportunity like fractured rock systems. The land surface through which groundwater is recharged must remain open and uncontaminated to maintain the quality and quantity of groundwater.

The quality of your water will be determined of 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. First of all let me say that according to the US EPA actual events of groundwater contamination have historically been rare and typically do not occur at levels likely to pose significant health concerns. This fact is the basis of the EPA and state health departments’ acceptance of private and unmonitored use of groundwater for drinking water purposes for a significant portion of the United States. However, as population density increases and we use more and more chemicals, pesticides and drugs, there are more opportunities to contaminate our groundwater. Because I am a retired environmental engineer I tend to focus on threats to the groundwater and worry about my groundwater quality more than most.

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. Microorganisms in the soil can travel into groundwater supplies through cracks, fissures, and other pathways. Nitrates and nitrites from the nitrogen compounds in the soil can also enter the groundwater. From the underlying rocks radionuclides and heavy metals can enter the groundwater. There are areas with natural occurring arsenic, cadmium, chromium, lead, selenium and fluoride. While many natural contaminants such as iron, sulfate, and manganese are not considered serious health hazards, they can give drinking water an unpleasant taste, odor, or color.

Human activities can also introduce contaminants into the groundwater. Bacteria and nitrates can be caused by human and animal waste. 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, surface disposal of solvents, motor oil, paint, paint thinner, or nearby or historic landfills or industrial operations can contaminate groundwater. A confining geological layer can protect groundwater from surface contaminants more effectively than a fractured rock system or sand and gravel, and there is very limited natural protection in karst terrain. In Virginia, where there are rich supplies of groundwater our aquifers can be very susceptible to contamination in certain locations.

Often well owners lack access to objective information and a framework for understanding problems and help in solving the problems with their wells.  Because private drinking water wells serve more than a fifth of its population, Virginia  has taken steps to assist private well owners monitor, understand and maintain their wells. The Virginia Household Water Quality Program (VAHWQP) was created by the Virginia Cooperative Extension to provide affordable water testing and education about private water wells to residents of the Commonwealth. For $65 samples are analyzed for: iron, manganese, nitrate, lead, arsenic, fluoride, sulfate, pH, total dissolved solids, hardness, sodium, copper, total coliform bacteria and E. Coli bacteria. These are mostly the naturally occurring contaminants and common sources of contamination: a poorly sealed well or a nearby leaking septic system, or indications of plumbing system corrosion. Though this is not an exhaustive list of potential contaminants, these are the most common contaminants that effect drinking water wells. Though Prince William's clinic was in the spring, Loudoun, Fairfax, Culpeper and Fauquier Counties are are all having clinics this fall. You should make a point to participate in the program. It is an easy way to check your well every year.

The Wells of Virginia 2021

Private drinking water wells serve more than a fifth of Virginia’s population or 1.7 million residents.   Virginia created the Virginia Household Water Quality Program (VAHWQP) to provide affordable water testing and education about private water wells to those residents of the Commonwealth. Extension Offices hold drinking water clinics and provide information to assist private well owners in understanding and maintaining their wells. 

The quality and safety of private wells are not regulated under Federal nor, in most cases, state law. In Virginia regulations control only construction and the absence of bacteria at the time of a well’s completion. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Safe Drinking Water Act does not regulate individual households. As a result, individual homeowners are responsible for maintaining their own water supply and ensuring the quality of the water for their family.

The Virginia Household Water Quality Program was, originally created in 1989, was relaunched in 2007 with a USDA grant. In 2011 the program was expanded under another USDA grant to subsidize testing, quantify bacteria, add metals, and begin research out of Virginia Tech. Now the program is self-sustaining with clinics held in 91 of the 96 counties in 2021. The analysis is done by the Virginia Tech laboratory and research utilizing the data is being pursued by graduate students.

In all the Virginia Household Water Quality Program clinics the water samples are analyzed for: iron, manganese, nitrate, lead, arsenic, fluoride, sulfate, pH, total dissolved solids, hardness, sodium, copper, total coliform bacteria and E. Coli bacteria, and last year cost $65 in Prince William County. These are mostly naturally occurring contaminants and common sources of contamination: a poorly sealed well or a nearby leaking septic system, or indications of plumbing system corrosion. Though not an exhaustive list of potential contaminants, these are the most common contaminants that effect drinking water wells.

Though about 600,000 of Virginia households with 1,700,000 residents or 22% of the Virginia population have private wells, only around 2,785 households chose to participate in the Virginia Household Water Quality Program clinic in 2021 and may not be representative of all private drinking water wells in the Commonwealth. Nonetheless, the data collected over the past 15 years is the one of the largest databases on private drinking water wells available. Well water quality is driven by geology, well construction and condition, nearby sources of contamination, and, within the home, water treatment devices and composition of plumbing materials.  

from Virginia Tech: contaminants found above the SDWA limit

Overall, the statewide sampling last year found that just under 40% of the wells have coliform bacteria present, and almost 6% have E. coli bacteria. Though 22% of wells were found to have acidic water (low pH) about 6% of homes have first flush lead levels above the EPA safe drinking water standard maximum contaminant level for lead and copper. Lead and copper leach into water primarily because of corrosion of plumbing and well components but can also result from flaking of scale from brass fittings and well components unrelated to corrosion. Copper and lead predominately come from the pipes. Over time older pipes and fixtures corrode or simply wear away and the lead and other corrosion material (like rust) is carried to the drinking water. Time and water do cause corrosion, but this can be aggravated by the pH of the water or other changes in water chemistry. The amount of lead corroded from metal plumbing including faucets with brass interiors generally increases with increasing water corrosiveness.

About 36% of households have elevated sodium exceeding the EPA Safe Drinking Water Act limit. This could be a result saltwater infiltration from natural or man-made sources (like road salt) or could indicate that water softeners are adding too much sodium to the water. Of the 2,785 participants in 2021, 41% report that they NEVER tested their water before and 32% had tested only once (presumably at purchase). About 43% of participants have participated in the VAHWQP clinic before.  Virginia Tech recommends annual testing of well water to make sure it is safe to drink, and you have the appropriate treatment system(s).

Dug Well Design to Safely Access Shallow Groundwater

 The following is from a news release from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS):

There are three basic styles of modern well construction: Drilled Bedrock Wells or Fractured Rock Wells, Sand and Gravel Wells, Large Diameter Dug and Bored Wells. How you should build a well is determined by type of well (dug or drilled), the local geology (sand, gravel, fractured rock, bed rock, etc.) local precipitation and environmental conditions.

The drilled bedrock or fractured rock wells have become the dominant well in most of the country. Dug and bored wells are generally around three foot in diameter and are less frequently used today because they are very susceptible to contamination.

According to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS): Dug wells typically have problems with well yield (having enough water for a modern household) and bacteria (contamination). “Traditional dug wells did not produce a lot of water and often ran dry in the summer or in drought, leaving the owner without water. Also, because the older dug wells had many joints in them, bacteria were able to get into the water, and people sometimes got sick. The new drilled wells that went deeper to the bedrock aquifer didn’t have these problems, so people switched (to drilled wells).” 

Joe Ayotte , the Chief of the Environmental Hydrology Section at the USGS New England Water Science Center and  his team have patented a new design for a dug well to solve these problems with supply and contamination. They call their new design a “Novel Dug Well.” The USGS was not trying to revive a quant old well, instead they were trying to solve a newly discovered problem.

Joe Ayotte, the Chief of the Environmental Hydrology Section at the USGS New England Water Science Center has been studying groundwater throughout New England for much of his career. He has found that certain contaminants, like arsenic and uranium, is in the groundwater that many New Englanders use for drinking water purposes. Turns out, the bedrock in much of New England has naturally occurring arsenic and uranium, both of which are elements that are linked to negative health conditions like kidney disease and cancer and negative birth outcomes. I am interested in his work because in many areas Virginia bedrock has naturally occurring uranium and the Virginia Rural Household Water Quality Program has been collecting data looking for arsenic in our groundwater.

Since the problems with the shallow aquifer stemmed from the lack of water in traditional dug wells and the bacteria introduced by the older design, the team from the USGS lead by Mr. Ayotte set out to redesign the dug well to solve these issues.

With colleagues throughout the USGS, Mr. Ayotte came up with  a design for a “Novel Dug Well,” as he called it, that successfully combined a large area of inflow with ample storage to provide sufficient water yield needed by well owners. The well has even proven to be drought resilient. Furthermore, the casing he uses has no joints and is sealed with a sanitary cap to prevent bacteria from gaining access. This enables well owners to access shallow aquifers that avoid the arsenic and uranium problems from the bedrock aquifer.

Once the redesign tested successful, the USGS team received a patent for their new well design. The technology is available for licensing to entities or persons who can manufacture and make use of the research. This could enable well users to reduce exposure to potential deep aquifer contaminants and providing an alternative water supply.

Depending on geology there are other designs available today for shallow wells. More traditional large diameter shallow wells are constructed by machine and are generally of one of two varieties; a bored well with concrete collar or a bored well with a buried slab. In the concrete collar construction the casing is generally 4 or 5 foot sections of precast concrete that are placed on top of each other and allows water to seep into the well through the joints between these sections. Because of the possibility of surface infiltration near the well, the upper 10+ feet around the well is grouted with concrete or has a bentonite seal, but frankly the USGS design seen below appears to be a better option.

from USGS public domain

Prince William Well Water Clinic Coming Soon

There is still time to register for the Prince William County Extension well water clinic this month. To keep everyone safe the kit pick-up and drop off with be a drive by at the Extension Office. Introduction and sampling instructions will be presented by an online video and results and interpretation will be by Zoom meeting. You have until March 22, 2021 to register pre-pay online. For registration and pre-payment go to https://tinyurl.com/PWVCE-2021VAHWQP. Be aware they will send multiple email confirmations- a receipt and confirmation of registration from the VCE Programs email and a payment receipt from the Bursar at Va Tech.

Water samples will be tested for: iron, manganese, nitrate, lead, arsenic, fluoride, sulfate, pH, total dissolved solids, hardness, sodium, copper, total coliform bacteria and E. Coli bacteria. This is a bargin since sample kits will be $65 this year.

The Prince William Drinking Water Clinic has 4 parts:

1. Watch Kick-Off Meeting PowerPoint & How to Collect Water Sample using links below:
Kickoff Meeting PowerPoint and How to Collect Water Sample

2. Sample Kit Pickup- on Saturday, March 27th from 9:00am-12:00pm (noon) at the VCE Office, 8033 Ashton Ave, Manassas 20109. This is a drive-through pick up (remain in your car, masks are required. There will be a VCE tent and signs with directions in the parking lot)

3. The Sample Drop Off on Wednesday, March 31st from 6:30am-10am ONLY at the VCE Office, 8033 Ashton Ave., Manassas 20109. (Physical distancing measures will be in place and masks are required). THeVCE tent and signs with directions will be in the parking lot)

4. Results Interpretation Meeting (Zoom)-on Monday, May 10th, 7:00pm-9:00pm, 
there will be a live Zoom interpretation meeting which will explain the report, include a discussion, and answer questions on dealing with water problems. Zoom link and details will be emailed to everyone who registers.

Household water quality is driven by geology, well construction and condition, nearby sources of groundwater contamination, and any water treatment devices and the condition and materials of construction of the household plumbing. To ensure safe drinking water it is important to maintain your well, test it regularly and understand your system and geology. If you have water treatment equipment in your home you might want to get two test kits to test the water before and after the treatment equipment to make sure you have the right equipment for your water and that it is working properly.

The house has a well, should I buy it?

Private wells are not regulated in most states. Here in Virginia only the construction of a well is regulated, and that only went into effect in April 1992. Virginia is a "buyer beware" state. Any problem with a well, the groundwater or septic problems not detected by the buyer during the sale inspection process becomes the home buyer's problem. There is no legal recourse back to the seller. Well inspections are not part of the home inspections and testing for the presence or absence of coliform bacteria as required by mortgage lenders is not enough to know what you are buying.

Well owners are responsible for managing their water supply and may have little understanding of the quality and sustainability of their water supply.  Without testing a well might seem completely fine when in reality it is going dry and contaminated. Some contaminants are colorless, odorless and tasteless, while others effect taste and/or smell. They can all have health impacts.  Private wells can be safe and great tasting, or problematic and only research and testing before you buy a home with a well will enable you to tell the difference.

Start in the house. Look in the basement. If you see more equipment than a blue pressure tank you need to know what water treatment equipment is being used, why it was installed and if it is working properly. It is not always obvious what a particular piece of equipment is just by looking at it because manufacturers tend to use the same casing style for all their products. You will need to test the water before the treatment equipment and after the equipment and determine if you can or want to live with the findings.

my pressure tank

Home treatment is typically either Point of Use (POU) or Point of Entry (POE). POE treatment is at the point where water enters the home and provides whole home treatment. This type of treatment is generally more expensive because you are treating more water. It’s necessary, however, if you are treating for a contaminant that impacts health or renders the water aesthetically unusable (E. coli, hydrogen sulfate, radon come to mind). POU units are typically used to treat water for drinking and cooking at a specific tap or faucet. These systems are used to treat a contaminant that is a health risk if ingested, or that might cause taste issues. They only treat a portion of the water coming into your home. Look under the kitchen sink and attached to the faucet for POU systems. Household water treatment equipment has improved and changed over the years, but it does not fix water, it treats water and must be maintained and occasionally replaced. Often treating water for one problem creates other issues that must be ameliorated with additional equipment. Wells get old and sometimes need to be replaced, too. The life of a well is dependent on the geology and design. Rule of thumb is 30-50 years.

What you can live with in terms of water treatment equipment is really a personal decision once you understand the condition of the aquifer and the effectiveness of the treatment. When we bought our home I tested the heck out of the well, spending a lot of money. Still, I didn’t test for everything. I wanted to make sure that the well was drawing from a groundwater aquifer that was not contaminated. In addition, I wanted a well that was fine without any need for water treatment to address naturally occurring contaminants. I ended up testing for all the contaminants in the Safe Drinking Water Act and for a group of common pesticides because the home was on the site of a former farm.  There was no treatment equipment in the house, so I was able to do only one set of water tests. There are packages available from National Testing Laboratory and others to test your water.   If you are buying a home, you should test the raw, untreated water for all the primary and secondary contaminants in the Safe Drinking Water Act as well as nuisance substances like iron bacteria and tannins in certain geologies the water should be tested for both dissolved and total iron. The treated water should be checked for the same contaminants.

Water chemistry is a tough category to give rules of thumb. However, do not buy any home where E. Coli is present in the raw water. If there is E. coli, there is a failed septic system nearby (probably the home’s own) and it needs to be repaired and potentially the well replaced. That should all be taken care of before you purchase the home. You do not want to buy someone else’s problem.  Water with nitrate significantly above the background level (around 2 mg/L in northern Virginia) is also problematic and tends to be related to septic performance. 

The Safe Drinking Water Act maximum contaminant level (MCL) for nitrate in public drinking water supplies in the United States is 10 mg/L as nitrate-nitrogen (NO3-N). This concentration is slightly below the World Health Organization (WHO) guideline of 11.3 mg/L NO3-N. The regulatory limit for nitrate in public drinking water supplies was set to protect against infant methemoglobinemia, but other health effects were not considered. In 2018 Dr. Mary Ward was lead author on a review of more than 30 epidemiologic studies on drinking water nitrate and health outcomes. According to their study, the strongest evidence for a relationship between drinking water with elevated nitrate concentrations and adverse health outcomes (besides methemoglobinemia) is for colorectal cancer, thyroid disease, and neural tube defects. “Many of the studies observed increased health risks with ingestion of water nitrate levels that were below regulatory limits.” So, having nitrate concentrations below 10 mg/L is no protection against increased cancer risk or birth defects.

 The most common contamination problem for a well is an adjacent septic system. Most septic systems do not remove nitrate and studies performed in New York and North Carolina found that overall average density of traditional septic or alternative septic systems should not exceed one unit per 2-3 acres for an average size house to ensure water quality and recharge in groundwater supplies. Adequate dilution, soil filtration and time are necessary to ensure sustainable water quality. Note that nitrate was used as the tracer of contaminants, many traces of household cleaners, soaps, pharmaceuticals, and other contaminants present in septic waste water. You need to make sure that these issues have been corrected and the water quality issues resolved by the homeowner since total costs to address these problems can be tens of thousands of dollars.

You do not want to buy a home with very corrosive water because of the possibility of lead exposure from the well components ahead of any neutralizer you can install.   During periods of stagnation, in water that is corrosive (with a pH less than 6) a chemical redox reaction occurs that dissolves and leaches lead into the water. Lead present in well and plumbing components is leached into the water. This lead comes from brass fittings and galvanized pipe (which has a lead- zinc coating), and plumbing components produced before 2014 when "lead-free" fixtures could have up to 8% lead. In Virginia, the Blue Ridge, Piedmont and shallow wells in the Coastal Plain have a high risk for corrosive water and lead contamination in their water. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Lead and Copper Rule action level for lead of 15 μg/L. However, there is no safe level of lead exposure, as even low water lead levels-those less than 5 μg/L- can increase a child's blood lead level. Most of the eastern seaboard states has areas at high risk for corrosive water.

In Virginia these are the rules for buying house with a well (and septic system).  These rules should help you to avoid properties that are potential big problems before you close on a house.

1. The house must have 2-3 acres of land.
2. There must be a well completion report on file with the county health department
3. The well stabilized yield should be greater than or equal to 6 gallons/minute
4. The well should be drilled and more than 100 feet below grade (deep)
5. The well should be a 6 inch diameter pipe with a bolted cap sticking at least a foot out of the ground
6. Do not buy a home with a shared well
7. The well was drilled after April 1, 1992 (under the current regulations).
8. The well head must be at least 100 feet from the nearest edge of the septic drainfield and at least 50 feet from the nearest corner of the house.
9. Health Department records show regular septic pump outs at least every 5 years. Annual inspections for alternative septic systems should be on file.
10. Don’t buy a house with a well in Karst terrain.
11. Don’t buy a house with a well that found E. Coli is present in the water or nitrate at more than three times background levels (of 2mg/L).
12. Don’t buy a house that found lead present in a flushed sample.
13. The well water must have a pH > 6.0
14. Draw a glass of water from the cold tap in a bathroom sink and taste it.

Figuring Out Why there is No Water from the Well

There are a number of reasons why a well might suddenly stop producing water, but basically they all break down into:

• Equipment failure,
• Piping Leak
• Depletion of the aquifer or other groundwater problems
• Failing well,
• Frozen pipes or well

Equipment problems are the most common so we will start there. The first thing to check for an electrical problem:

• Circuit breaker tripped
• Burned out fuse
• Short, broken or loose wire in the well (may have caused the problem)

If your well stopped working right after a thunder storm, check to see if the well was struck by lightning. This is fairly common in the south and Texas. If there is a short in the pump electrical system it will blow the circuit and if there was a power surge as the pump was turning on a circuit could have blown. To make sure a circuit breaker is not tripped, turn off and on the pump’s circuit breakers or change the fuses. Pumps generally have two circuits tied together because an immersion pump draws a lot of power (240 volts). Make sure both circuits are on- a small water drizzle is one sign of a 240 volt pump getting only 120 volts. If the pump keeps turning off and it is not because of dry well, then there might be a short. A trickle of water or no water could also be frozen pipes. If it’s really cold outside (below zero) check that first.

Intermittent episodes of severe water pressure loss or even no water is usually a sign of a problem with the water supply. 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 the well may be drying out. Diminished flow that is not related to use can be caused by reduced flow through pipes either due to a blockage or cracked pipe. If the water suddenly stops completely that is usually a sign of a mechanical problem.

There is a lot of parts of well system and well design does vary depending on geology, weather, local custom, and age. These days deeper drilled wells are more common, to be less impacted by drought and contamination. The essential components of a modern drilled well system are:

• a submersible pump,
• a check valve or foot valve (and additional valve every 100 feet),
• a pitless adaptor,
• electrical wiring including a control box if the starter is not in the pump itself
• pressure switch
• a pressure tank unless you have a constant pressure pump
• and interior water delivery system.

To keep the home supplied with water each component in the system and well must remain operational. The most common equipment failure to cause sudden loss of water are:

• Failed motor on the pump
• Failed starter for the pump (can either be part of the pump or a separate unit in the basement)
• Defective pressure switch

The components that are usually in the basement are the pressure tank and pressure switch and potentially the starter. These provide consistent water pressure at the fixtures in the house and the electrical switch that turns on the pump. Most water treatment equipment will also be in the basement, but does not usually affect whether or not you have water. The pump moves water to the basement water pressure tank (unless you have a constant pressure pump), inside the tank is usually an air bladder that becomes compressed as water is pumped into the tank. The pressure in the tank moves the water through the house pipes so that the pump does not have to run every time you open a faucet. Reduced water pressure could be due to a water logged or leaking pressure tank.

Read the pressure gauge on your pressure tank. If it is not showing a pressure of 40-60 psi (or 30-50 psi) that could be a sign that the pump is not turning on. The question is why. The pump could have failed, the well could be dry or not have enough water to operate (there is a cut off on the pump to protect it when the water level is low), the pressure switch could have failed. Pressure switch problems are easy to fix. Many models have a manual bypass lever. If yours does you can force the pump on using the lever. If the pressure starts to rise when you press the lever then you need a new pressure switch. The last one I bought was $25.

If the pressure on the gauge was in the desired range, it could be several things. First let’s make sure the pressure gauge is actually working- tap the gauge with the back of a screwdriver (gently) and see if the gauge moves. Both the gauge and pressure switch can clog with sediment. Yes, the gauge on my last pressure switch failed and I did not see it until I was looking for another problem.

If the pump cannot be heard or measured with a voltmeter to turn on when you manually turn on the pressure control switch, then it is either the starter or the motor. The pump is the piece of equipment subject to the most wear and tear and most likely to fail.

There are two types of pumps; a jet pump and a submersible pump. Most modern drilled wells are built with a submersible pump. In shallow wells and dug wells, above ground jet pumps were often used. Dug wells tend to be older and have concrete lids or other large lid. The pump for a dug well is sometimes in a pit next to the well, a well house, or it will be located in the basement. Jet pumps are easier to check since they are not in the well and you can pretty much see if they are running. A jet pump can lose its prime. So if you have a jet pump check that first. You need water to prime the pump. If you do not have a hand pump you can connect to your system and draw water up, run a hose from the hot water heater. If a jet pump continually looses prime, you probably have a leak either in the foot valve, check valve or a line. Look for it.

Most modern well installations are drilled wells with a submersible pump. A drilled well generally has a 6 inch diameter pipe sticking out of the lawn somewhere. A submersible pump can be checked for in the basement with a voltmeter if you cannot hear it operating. The safety switch and control box for the pump should be in the basement on the wall near your pressure switch.

The submersible pump consists of the sealed pump motor connected to a series of impellers separated by a diffuser that drives the water up the pipe (a flexible tube) to the plumbing system through the pitless adaptor and a pipe that runs from the well beneath the ground to the basement. The starter can be either part of the pump or separately housed in the basement. Either the motor or starter can fail. Submersible pumps should last 14-17 years or more, but silt, sand, iron bacteria and excessive mineral content can impact their life. Any impact to the well -hitting the well pipe with a car or lawn tractor, or a bit of gravel broken loose from the formation can damage the pump.

If you can hear or measure that the pump turns on, yet you have no water or only a little the problem might be a failure of the pipe leading from the well to the house. Depending on the distance to the house this can involve quite a bit of excavating to dig up the pipe and replace it. Look for a waterlogged area. Replacing this pipe has to be carefully done and should not be pieced. If the horizontal well piping between well and building does not slope continually upwards or if it has a high spot, an air lock can form in the piping.

If the temperature outside is below zero and you turn on a faucet and either get nothing or just a trickle comes out, suspect a frozen pipe, first. If your well supply line or the water main is not frozen, you may have water in part of the house, but not others. The most likely pipes to freeze are against exterior walls of the home, or are exposed to the cold, like outdoor hose bibs, and water pipes in unheated interior areas like basements and crawl spaces, attics, garages, or kitchen cabinets. Pipes that run against exterior walls that have little or no insulation are also subject to freezing. In sub-zero weather wells with separate well houses can freeze. Keeping the temperature in a well house above freezing will prevent this.

There is no quick way to fix frozen pipes and calling a plumber does not help until the pipes warm up and you can see if any pipes burst. Make sure you know how to turn off the water in case you have a burst pipe (cutting the well power switch will do it). Turn the heat up, open cabinets under the sinks in the frozen bathrooms and kitchens and use ceramic heating cubes if you have them to warm up the area where the pipes are frozen. Plastic piping is considerably more tolerant of freezing than copper pipes. There is a real shot that a plastic pipe can freeze without bursting if all the connections and elbows are sound.

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 drinking water 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.

The Well Went Dry.

How long will it take to refill?

A common question I get from people who think their well has gone dry is how long will it take to refill. Depending on why it went dry, the answer could be tomorrow, when the drought is over, or never. First, make sure that your well has gone dry. The  problem could be:

1. Equipment failure,
2. Well failure, or
3. Diminished aquifer

Check the equipment and power first. Then actually measure the water level (a well service company can do it with a sonic sounder gun or electric probe) recharge rate  in your well should be done before you spend money replacing equipment or thinking of drilling a new well. The recharge can be estimated by water level recoveryafter pumping. It is best to use the recovery yield rates to compare to the rates from previous recovery tests since the recovery yield rate tends to decrease logarithmically as the water level rises because the decreasing difference in head between the well and the adjacent aquifer. However, in fractured rock aquifers as seen around here, the water-level recovery is a straight line in the early period because most of the inflow is from discrete exposed fractures discharging freely above the water level. The well yield may be estimated from this straight-line portion of the graph.

In a 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 itself could be failing in several other ways. Even if an aquifer is sound a well may go dry due to encrustation of fractures in a bedrock well or collapse in a well drilled in sandy soils.

I have occasionally gotten a call from someone new to well ownership who watered their lawn and did several loads of laundry and found the limit of their well supply when their well ran out of water. (A top loading washing machine uses about 51 gallons of water and a front loader uses 27 gallons.) What is happening is the well recharge is often less than the pumping rate and they simply kept pumping the water stored within the well bore itself to make up the difference...until the water level falls below the pump. If the well still has a healthy recharge it will only be a matter of hours before it refills. The well bore hole will fill overnight with as much water as it can still produce.  Depending on how much storage your well has (how deep it is) and how much water the well can still produce (if it is stable) it may be adequate with water conservation and demand management.   

This low flow to the well can be caused by drop in water level in the well due to drought (temporary) or over pumping of the aquifer, or the well could be failing due to a buildup of dirt, sediment and gravel reducing the flow to the well (these problems may be fixable). There are times that the steel casing that lines the first 40-60 feet of a well does not extend deep enough and the well walls crumble over time filling the well with dirt and gravel. One or more of these factors could be the cause of a well going dry.

Private wells draw their water from groundwater. Geology, climate, weather, land use and many other factors determine the quantity of groundwater that is available. The water level in your well depends on a number of things, such as the depth of the well, the type (confined or unconfined) of aquifer the well draws from, the amount of pumping that occurs in this aquifer, and the amount of recharge occurring.

Within Prince William County Virginia there are several distinct geologic provinces that will have different groundwater characteristics. The northwestern part of Prince William County down the hill from Bull Run Mountain, consists of sedimentary rocks of the Culpeper Basin. The predominant rock types are conglomerates, sandstones, siltstones, shales, and argillaceous limestones. This geology tends to have moderate to excellent water-bearing potential because it is a fractured rock system with very little overburden. The highest reported yields in the county are from wells in this geology. In other parts of the county there are deep wells in the diabase that tend to have reliable lower yields.

The water level in a groundwater wells naturally fluctuates during the year. Groundwater levels tend to be highest in the early spring after 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. If an aquifer is being used up, then despite the seasonal cycles the water level will continue to decrease and ultimately impact the well’s ability to supply water.

If your water loss seems to be from failure of the well itself, the first step is to call a well driller and measure the water level and recharge rate of the well. That information will tell you what you are dealing with and what choices you have to fix the problem. For the next steps

Low Pressure from the Well

A reduction in pressure from the well can have several causes:

1. the well going dry,
2. a leak or blockage in a pipe in or from the well
3. a pump problem
4. a pressure tank or pressure switch problem
5. an electrical problem (pump is running on 120 instead of 240)

Failure of the well itself is rarely sudden; generally there is a slow deterioration. However, during a drought it can seem to happen suddenly when the storage in the well itself is used up in the normal course of the day. If you have water at normal pressure first thing in the morning or when you get home from work, but the pressure seems to fall or the water run out after a little while, then you may have a groundwater supply problem.

While many wells will last decades, over time the amount of water a well yields can decrease. That can be caused by the water table falling due to extended drought, increased use or increased ground cover with roads, driveways, patios and houses in the recharge area. Mineral encrustation and reducing bacteria (often called iron bacteria) buildup can also decrease well recharge by plugging of holes in the well screen, plugging the piping or the filling of openings in the geologic formation itself. According to Penn State Extension the fall in well yield over time can be caused by changes in the water well itself including:

1. Encrustation by mineral deposits
2. Bio-fouling by the growth of microorganisms
3. Physical plugging of groundwater aquifer by sediment
4. Well screen or casing corrosion
5. Pump damage

To provide a reliable supply of water at an adequate pressure for extended use, a drilled well must recharge at a rate greater than the typical domestic demand of 3-5 gallons per minute or have enough storage in the well itself to supply the demand. Each foot of a typical six inch well, has almost a gallon and a half of storage so that a 100 foot of well has 147 gallons. The crudest test of the well itself is to see if you can run it dry. My well is only 150 feet deep, but the static water level has fallen over the years to 43 feet below grade so running the hose (which draw about 3 gallons per minute) should draw down the well in about an hour. I ran the hose for 16 hours back in the spring an never ran it dry. It recharges faster than I was drawing water.

Even on the deepest home wells it would only take 5-6 hours to know if your well is not recharging fast enough and you can run your well dry. If you have more than about 150 gallons available in well storage it is generally enough to supply small household needs till the well can recharge. At that point it is more likely an equipment or system problem. You can potentially repair an encrustation problem (see https://greenrisks.blogspot.com/2020/03/keeping-your-home-supplied-with-water.html)

Equipment problems are the most common well problems. The first step is to check the equipment. The components of a modern drilled well system likely to impact pressure are: a submersible pump, the piping which can develop a leak or become clogged, a pitless adaptor,  the pipe to the house and the interior water delivery system including the pressure tank and pressure switch.

If your water supply has lost pressure, and seems to be drizzling out of your faucet or showerhead at all times, 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. So start in the basement. The components within the basement provide consistent water pressure at the fixtures in the house and the electrical switch that turns on the pump. The pump moves water to the basement water pressure tank, inside the tank is an air bladder that becomes compressed as water is pumped into the tank. (There are other types of pressure tanks that do not have a bladder and a constant pressure pump does not need a pressure tank, but those installations are not as common.)

The pressure in the 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 typically maintains the water pressure between 40-60 psi or 30-50 psi for smaller tanks. After the pressure drops below the cut in pressure (typically 30-40 psi), the electrical switch turns on the pump and the pressure in the tank increases as the tank fills. If however, the pump is not delivering water fast enough the pressure tank could fail to regain its head while the water is in use. The pressure switch could also be the problem; it could be cutting in at the wrong pressure.

The first two things to check are the pressure in the pressure tank and your circuit breakers to make sure that the problem is not electrical. You can check the pressure on most pressure tanks with a tire gauge and the valve on the top. (Be sure to cut the power to the system and open a faucet to drain the tank before you measure the pressure. While the water is running out of the tank check the pressure on the pressure gauge, to make sure it is dropping and the pressure gauge is working). After thatyou’re your tier gauge to checking to see that the pressure in the tank is a couple of psi below the cut-in pressure set on your pressure switch. (Most are set to 38 psi for the 40-60 psi tanks.) When you unscrew the cover over the valve if water leaks out, your pressure tank bladder has failed, and it’s time to buy a new one.

The electrical switch in front of the the pressure tank (grey box under the gauge) turns on the pump. It is probably working since you have water, but check it anyway. Check the voltage before and after the switch just to make sure. When the pressure in the pressure tank falls to 40 psi (30 for small tanks) the switch at the pressure tank turns on the pump. Also, you can get what is essentially a vapor lock and the tank may simply need to be drained, bleed and recharged. Before you do that check to make sure that the tubing to the valve is not clogged.

When you turn the pump back on make sure that both circuit breakers are flipped to the on position. If there is a short in the pump system it can blow a single circuit. The pump can operate this way, but not very well. So turn off and on the pump’s circuit breakers or change the fuses. Pumps generally have two circuits tied together because an immersion pump draws a lot of power (240 volts). Make sure both circuits are on- a small water drizzle is one sign of a 240 volt pump getting only 120 volts. (If you know how to do it check the amperage across the pump to make sure it is steady and within range see the chart below from Franklin Electric.) In most cases the pump operates near the maximum load.

Time to look for problems outside. The pipe to the house or the pitless adaptor might have cracked. If like me your pipe runs under a portion of the driveway, this turns out to be a fairly expensive, but simple fix-excavating the pipe and replacing it. Look for signs that a pipe outside of the well is leaking, sinking ground, cracks in the driveway vegetation that looks a little too lush. If you end up replacing the pipe, make sure you slope it properly. If the horizontal well piping between well and building does not slope continually upwards or if it has a high spot, an air lock can form in the piping, so make sure if you end up replacing the pipe that it is properly slanted and not just a fixed depth below surface. The piping in the well itself can also develop leaks over time that can diminish flow.

If you do not see a leak from a pipe outside the well, you are going to have to look at the pump and equipment in the well. At this point, you are going to need help to identify the problem. It is more than a one man (or woman) job to pull a pump. Shallower pumps can be pulled by hand if you are a big, strong and young guy, but special equipment is necessary to pull a deeper pump even for a big guy in great shape. Call a well driller or a well repair company. The well drilling companies can generally replace, pumps and pressure tanks and other well components. In addition, they can diagnose an improper well design. Private well construction was not regulated in Virginia until the 1992 (though Prince William County had well regulations going back to 1979). I have seen some very odd well designs over the years. In Virginia a license is necessary to work on a well as a certified water well provider. Plumbers generally do not have this certification. Do not call a plumber for a well problem.

There are two types of pumps; a jet pump and a submersible pump. Most modern drilled wells are built with a submersible pumps. In older pump installations and dug wells, above ground jet pumps were often used, which can loose it prime. Both types of pump have a fitting called a foot valve. A foot valve is also used at the base of deep wells and is basically a check valve combined with an inlet strainer (older immersion pumps sometimes have what looks like a sock protecting the inlet). Both of these serve as a strainer to prevent picking up rocks or debris that could clog or jam the foot valve. They can get clogged and diminish flow.

Another possible problem is a leak or clog in the pitless adaptor. That is the fitting that allows the vertical well to connect to the horizontal pipe to the house below the frost line. Things like a leaky valve at the bottom of the well can result in a pump losing it prime after a power failure. 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 (which is black tubing in the picture) to the plumbing system through the pitless adaptor and a pipe that runs from the well beneath the ground to the basement.The piping or tubing within the well can fail or get clogged.

Finally your pump might be failing. According to the Water Systems Council a submersible pump should last 15 years or more, but silt, sand, iron bacteria and excessive mineral content can impact their life. A submersible pump operating high sediment water may fail in only a few years and a failing pump may appear as diminished pressure before complete failure.

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 drinking water 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.

Well Test Results

The quality and safety of private or domestic wells are not regulated under Federal or, in most cases, state law. In Virginia and most states only construction of wells is regulated, and the absence of bacteria at well completion is the only water quality test required. Homeowners are responsible for maintaining their domestic well systems and for any routine water-quality monitoring that may take place. However, private well owners often lack a basic understanding of groundwater and wells and the mechanical components in private water systems and are often unaware of common issues with wells, and lack access to objective information and a framework for understanding their water quality.  Help is often available through State Extension offices or the Department of Health. In Virginia both can offer assistance.

Water quality is driven by geology, well construction and condition, nearby sources of contamination, and, within the home, water treatment devices and composition of plumbing materials. Though there are always anomalies in natural system, water often tells story. The other day someone emailed me to discuss their water test results. They had previously emailed to get help will their well water problems and I convinced them that having their water tested would help identify the solution.

“Several months ago, our toilets, shower floor, and white dishes all started to become discolored with a pale reddish hue.  Water seems to taste ok and has no noticeable water discoloration when you hold a full glass up to the light.  I can let the glass sit for a long time and still nothing out of the ordinary.   I noticed on your blog that some people notice a bad odor or when the water meets the air it changes color.  We don’t experience that, at least not to the naked eye. No one is complaining and we feel fine. I think we will have our water tested and I would greatly appreciate it if you could confirm which tests we should get.  Also, another fact is that when I lift up the toilet tank lids, I can see there is a lot of sediment but I don’t think it’s slime.   Not sure what the problem is but it seems right to start with the tests. I’ve been cleaning the toilets a lot more often only to find the discoloration returns fairly quickly.  But I only recently looked into the tanks and as I said there is a lot of sediment so I will clean out the tanks and see what happens from there.”

They purchased a WaterCheck Deluxe package from National Testing Laboratories along with an Iron Bacteria and Glyphosate tests. They also have gotten a lead test through offered by their state.  The National Testing packages informational test packages targeted to be an affordable option for consumers. The WaterCheck Deluxe covers 15 heavy metals, 5 inorganic chemicals, 5 physical factors, 4 trihalo methanes, 43 volatile organic chemicals (solvents), and PCB’s. The Minimum Detection Levels, which are the lowest levels at which the laboratory detects that contaminant are below the levels established by the Safe Drinking Water Act, so this relatively affordable test will serve as a broad screen of drinking water. I had recommended the iron bacteria test because of their description of their problems. The glyphosate test was solely their choice. 

The WaterCheck test results showed detectable levels of calcium, copper, iron, lead, magnesium, manganese, potassium, silica, sodium, strontium, uranium zinc, alkalinity as CaCO3, chloride sulfate, turbidity, total dissolved solids, and hardness . All other substance tested for were non-detect (at the sensitivity of the test). Glyphosate was not detected in the sample, but the iron related bacteria was found to be Present with an estimated population of 9,000 cfu/mL.

In order to determine if there is a problem, water test results should be compared to a standard. The usual standard is the U.S.EPA Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) limits. Though private wells do not fall under the regulatory authority of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) or the Safe Drinking Water Act, the SDWA has primary and secondary drinking water standards that can be used for comparison. Primary standards are ones that can impact health. Secondary standards impact taste or the perceived quality of the water.

The EPA primary contaminants found to be present were lead, copper, uranium, and turbidity. All these substances were below the EPA SDWA standard called the Maximum Contaminant Level (MCL) or Action Level in the case of lead and copper.  The presence of copper at 0.098 mg/L less than a tenth of the MCL with a neutral water pH spoke of at least some copper piping. Over time, even neutral water will wear away the pipes or water fixtures. The pH of the water was neutral at 7.5. Though the copper and lead levels were below action levels, I am one of those who believe there is not safe level of lead. Lead is either coming from the plumbing or fixtures.

Until 2014 when the 2011 Reduction of Lead in Drinking Water Act went into effect, almost all drinking water fixtures were made from brass that contained up to 8% lead, even if they carried a plated veneer of chrome, nickel or brushed aluminum and were sold as "lead free." So even home built with PVC piping in the 2000's may have some lead in most of the faucets. In addition, equipment in wells may be the source of lead. Galvanized iron is still commonly used for well casings and fittings and drop pipes in well deeper than 600 feet. Before 2014 Prime Western grade “lead free” galvanized steel zinc coating was required to contain between 0.5%-1.4% lead. After 2014, “lead free” galvanized steel have less than 0.25% lead in the surface coatings. Nonetheless, under corrosive conditions, any lead used in coatings can be easily released to the water and pumped to the household tap or accumulate in scale layers on the pipe surface or well bottom where scale can accumulate and be released or picked up and pumped with the water.

A proper lead test using a “first draw” and “flush” sample will tell whether the problem can be controlled by simply running the water, replacing a plumbing fixture or using a lead removing filter on the faucets. Lead is not a naturally occurring contaminant in groundwater. Meanwhile, there are excellent and point of use filters that remove lead including many refrigerator filters. Remember to change them as indicated.

The elevated level of salt can be attributed to a water softener that was turned off, but not bypassed. Though, the water was only a little hard without the water softener operating. The level of iron was about half of the EPA secondary standard, but the level of manganese was more than twice the EPA secondary standard. A water softener can control manganese and iron along with hardness, but can impact taste, elevate sodium level and complicate a reducing (or iron related) bacteria problem.The iron related bacteria test found Iron Related Bacteria present in this sample, with an estimated population of 9,000 cfu/mL. In the past the homeowner had an iron bacteria problem. 

 A well company came out and “ looked at our toilet tank slime (red slime) and recommended we have our well surged.  That was in July of 2017.  They brought a big truck and spent a day or so surging our well.  The slime didn’t return.  By the way, I think what we have now is sediment and not slime.” It may be that what they have is iron bacteria and hard water creating a hard orange crust. It happens.

Iron bacteria can be a huge nuisance. These harmless bacteria can foul a well, damage pumps, stain plumbing fixtures, clog pipes, faucets, shower heads, and produce unpleasant tastes and odors in drinking water. If the wall is fouled then physical removal is done as a first step in these heavily infected wells where the functioning of the pump and well production have already been impacted by the bacterial slime buildup. This is usually a job for a well contractor or pump installer as the home owner had done previously.

Physical removal is usually followed by chemical treatment with chlorine (or less commonly acids). Chlorine is inexpensive and easy to use, but may have limited effectiveness and may require repeated treatments to knock back the iron bacteria. Effective treatment requires sufficient chlorine strength and time in contact with the bacteria, and is often improved with agitation. Though typically a chlorine concentration of 100-200 parts per million for decontamination of a well, a higher concentration is recommended by the literature for iron bacteria. Recommended concentrations are between 500-1,000 parts per million. Be warned that too high a concentration can make the well alkaline and reduce effectiveness. In addition high concentrations of chlorine may affect water conditioning equipment, appliances such as dishwashers, and septic systems. You may want to check with the manufacturer of the appliances before chlorinating or have the work performed by a licensed well professional.

Though it is relatively easy to bypass equipment, iron bacteria may remain in the untreated units and reintroduce the iron bacteria into the plumbing system. The recommended strategy is to treat the well with a 500-1,000 parts per million of chlorine and then dilute the remaining water in the well. This can be accomplished by allowing a significant amount of the water to runoff to a safe disposal location using hoses until the water runs clear, and allow the natural recharge dilute the concentration then introduce the water into the house water system to disinfect the household treatment units, appliances and piping with lower concentrations circulated through the water system. I use chlorine test strips to get an idea of the level of chlorine in the well.

At best this will only knock back the iron bacteria for a period of time. My own well has an iron bacteria problem.  I treat my well every other year.  I warned the homeowner that this treatment will oxidize all the manganese and the little grains of black manganese will have to be manually taken out of all the faucet aerators and the filter on the washing machine and dishwasher several times. This should solve at least for a time the initial problem identified by the well owner, and allow her to consider if she wants to turn on or bypass the water softener.

For a checklist on Chlorine shocking a well see https://greenrisks.blogspot.com/2017/06/chlorine-shocking-well.html

For more information on lead in well water see the articles below:

Elevated Lead in Water of Private Wells Poses Health Risks: Case Study in Macon County, North Carolina

Kelsey J. Pieper, Victoria E. Nystrom, Jeffrey Parks, Kyle Jennings, Harold Faircloth, Jane B. Morgan, Jim Bruckner, and Marc A. Edwards Environmental Science & Technology 2018 52 (7), 4350-4357 DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.7b05812 

Scientists Don't Know Best Way to Disinfect a Well

A couple of weeks ago I replaced my well pump, the wiring and some fittings. After opening a well or doing any work it is recommended that the well be disinfected by shock chlorination. Shock chlorination is also recommended when a well is flooded or tests positive for bacteria.  The problem is there is no standard rigorously tested method of disinfection though there are many ways that well water can become contaminated with bacteria. For example, improper construction or completion of the well. The well might not have a sanitary well cap, the well might not be grouted. The well might have become damaged over time, for example the well casing may develop holes from rust or cracks or the grouting might be damaged by time or accident. These deficiencies can provide direct pathways for surface water to infiltrate the well and increase the likelihood of microbial contamination. Another way a well can become contaminated is if the groundwater itself is contaminated by a nearby failed septic system or in aquifer in Karst terrain that is under influence of surface water.

During well disinfection, free chlorine is introduced into the well water; however, there is no one standard for how to accomplish this disinfection. 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”, there is no single method.

The researchers searched for Emergency well disinfection protocols to be used in the case of flooding. They found well disinfection protocols for 43 of the 50 states. For the seven states without an emergency protocol, five of the states had routine disinfection protocols and two states had disinfection protocols in their well construction regulations. Emergency well disinfection protocols from 34 states were reviewed based on instructions for creating chlorine solutions; circulating chlorine solutions throughout the distribution system; maintaining adequate contact time and post-disinfection guidance.

The scientists found that many protocols were missing key information about fundamentals of disinfection. Only two protocols instructed well users to verify chlorine residuals and three protocols instructed users to measure water pH. Most protocols recommended that high chlorine doses be introduced into the well, circulated throughout the system, and stagnated for several hours. It is important that residual chlorine be measured because if too much of the chlorine solution reacts with iron or organic substances the effectiveness for disinfection is reduced. Likewise if the pH of the well water falls outside of the ideal range of 6.5-7 the formation of HOCl will be impaired and the disinfection will be less effective.

Although there is widespread use and data on the efficacy of chlorine-based disinfectants, little research has been done to evaluate the efficacy of well disinfection strategies. Of the 8 steps identified by the scientists, the reviewed protocols contained between 2 and 7 steps, and no protocol included all 8 steps.

1. Determine  chlorine volume based on well characteristics to add to the well
2. Measuring water pH before adding chlorine solution and after
3. Pump contaminated water out of the system
4. Circulate the chlorine solution through both the well and home plumbing systems and
5. Measure the chlorine residual to ensure there is adequate chlorine to disinfect the well
6. Have adequate contact time to disinfect the well and that inactivates Cryptosporidium (for flooding)
7. Chlorine solution should be removed from the well and home plumbing
8. Water should be tested for confirmation of microbial reduction

As the scientists point out “ several studies have highlighted that emergency and routine chlorination methods do not always reduce total coliform and E. coli bacteria in well systems (Branz et al., 2017; Cavallaro et al., 2011; Garandeau et al., 2006; Luby et al., 2006; Rowe et al., 1998; Swistock and Sharpe, 2005). Since the concentration of chlorine ...is assumed to be that of the added disinfection solution, any disappearance of chlorine from the water via chemical reactions would cause disinfection efficacy to be overestimated. For example, reactions with high levels of organic matter, ferrous iron, and manganese in water can cause chlorine to disappear quickly (Cavallaro et al., 2011; Garandeau et al., 2006; Luby et al., 2006; Oliphant et al., 2002). Moreover, there are concerns about well users performing disinfection steps correctly (Eykelbosh, 2013). Lastly, researchers have highlighted the high variability and uncertainty associated with drinking water grab samples. For instance, microbial detection rates are higher when wells are sampled more frequently (Atherholt et al., 2015). Despite these challenges, officials continue to promote well disinfection protocols during both routine and emergency conditions because there are no other practical alternatives.”

The bottom line is that the protocols for well disinfection needs to be studied and improved. Most of the protocols recommended some version of high chlorine concentrations should be introduced into the well, circulated throughout the system, and stagnated for several hours. The optimal conditions were not identified. Dr. Pieper et. al. identified two research gaps; determining whether chlorine doses should differ based on well water chemistries and evaluating the appropriate chlorine dose that should be recommended for inactivating pathogens.

Read the full article:

Pieper, Kelsey & Rhoads, William & Saucier, Leslie & Katner, Adrienne & Barrett, Jason & Edwards, Marc. (2020). Improving state-level emergency well disinfection strategies in the United States. Science of The Total Environment. 720. 137451. 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.137451.

Loss of Pressure from the Well

It was hot and the sun was brutal, so we took a break. Grabbing a cold drink we sat in the shade of a tree on the stone enclosure I had built around my well head. I pointed out my new aluminum well cap and the ancient carpenter (who is a couple of years younger than I am) told me about his well problem. He had recently noticed that the pressure from the well had fallen. Was this failure of the well, a piping or an equipment problem?

Failure of the well itself is rarely sudden; generally there is a slow deterioration. However, during a drought it can seemingly happen suddenly. 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. A groundwater problem seemed unlikely after so much rain this past spring, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) monitoring wells in our county all show groundwater at or above the mean level for July. So the problem is unlikely to be groundwater.

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 or have enough storage in the well itself to supply the pump demand. Each foot of a typical six inch well, has almost a gallon and a half of storage so that a 100 foot of well has 147 gallons. Depending on how deep your well is, the crudest test of the well itself is to see if you can run it dry. My well is only 150 feet deep so running both hoses (which draw about 3 gallons per minute each) would draw down the well in about 40 minutes at normal flow. Even on the deepest home wells it would only take 3-4 hours to know if your can run your well dry, but that would not be necessary. If you have more than about 100 gallons available in well storage it is enough to supply small household needs. At that point it is more likely an equipment or system problem.

from Minn Dept of Health

Equipment problems are the most common well problems. The first step in identifying the cause of a low pressure is to check the equipment. 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, the pipe to the house and the 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 each component in the system and well must remain operational.

If your water supply has lost pressure, and seems to be drizzling out of your faucet or showerhead at all times, 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. So start in the basement. The components within the basement provide consistent water pressure at the fixtures in the house and the electrical switch that turns on the pump. The pump moves water to the basement water pressure tank, inside the tank is an air bladder that becomes compressed as water is pumped into the tank. The pressure in the 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 typically maintains the water pressure between 40-60 psi or 30-50 psi for smaller tanks. After the pressure drops below the cut in pressure (typically 40 psi), the electrical switch turns on the pump and the pressure in the tank increases as the tank fills. If however, the pump is not delivering water fast enough the pressure tank could fail to regain its head while the water is in use. Also, jiggle the tank to make sure that there is not a hole in the bladder and the area above the bladder is not filling with water.

The first two things to check are the pressure in the pressure tank and your circuit breakers to make sure that the problem is not electrical. If there is a short in the pump system it will blow a circuit. So turn off and on the pump’s circuit breakers or change the fuses. Pumps generally have two circuits tied together because an immersion pump draws a lot of power (240 volts). Make sure both circuits are on- a small water drizzle is one sign of a 240 volt pump getting only 120 volts. Next check the pressure gauge on your pressure tank, read it. If it is not showing a pressure of 40 psi (slightly left of center) that could be your problem. Also, turn on a tap and let the water run and while that is happening check the pressure on the tank, to make sure it does not fall. The electrical switch at the pressure tank (grey box under the gauge) turns on the pump. It is probably working since you have water, but check it anyway. Check the voltage before and after the switch just to make sure. When the pressure in the pressure tank falls to 35-40 psi the switch at the pressure tank turns on the pump. Also, you can get what is essentially a vapor lock and the tank may simply need to be drained, bleed and recharged. Before you do that check to make sure that the tubing to the valve is not clogged.

Time to look at what is happening outside. There are two types of pumps; a jet pump and a submersible pump. Most modern drilled wells are built with a submersible pumps. In older pump installations and dug wells, above ground jet pumps were often used, which potentially allowed the introduction of contaminants at the surface concrete well cap and have a fitting called a foot valve. A foot valve is also used at the base of deep wells and is basically a check valve combined with an inlet strainer (older immersion pumps sometimes have what looks like a sock protecting the inlet). Both of these serve as a strainer to prevent picking up rocks or debris that could clog or jam the foot valve. They can get clogged and diminish flow.

At this point, you are going to need help to identify the problem. It is more than a one man (or woman) job to pull a pump. Shallower pumps can be pulled by hand, but special equipment is necessary to pull a deeper pump. Call a well driller or a well repair company. The well drilling companies can generally replace, pumps and pressure tanks and other well components. In addition, they can diagnose an improper well design. Private well construction was not regulated in Virginia until the 1992 (though Prince William County had well regulations going back to 1979). I have seen some funky well designs over the years. In Virginia a license is necessary to work on a well as a certified water well provider. Plumbers generally do not have this certification. Do not call a plumber for a well problem.

Another possible problem is a leak or clog in the pitless adaptor. That is the fitting that allows the vertical well to connect to the horizontal pipe to the house below the frost line. Things like a leaky valve at the bottom of the well can result in a pump losing it prime after a power failure. 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.

The pipe to the house should run below the frost line, but this past winter was extremely harsh in many locations and a pipe or pitless adaptor might have cracked. If like me your pipe runs under a portion of the driveway, this turns out to be a fairly expensive, but simple fix-excavating the pipe and replacing it. Look for indications of a leaking pipe, sinking ground, cracks in the driveway vegetation that looks a little too lush. If you end up replacing the pipe, make sure you slope it properly. If the horizontal well piping between well and building does not slope continually upwards or if it has a high spot, an air lock can form in the piping, so make sure if you end up replacing the pipe that it is properly slanted and not just a fixed depth below surface. The casing to well itself can also develop leaks over time that can diminish flow.

Finally your pump might be failing. According to the Water Systems Council a submersible pump should last 15 years or more, but silt, sand, iron bacteria and excessive mineral content can impact their life. A submersible pump operating high sediment water may fail in only a few years and a failing pump may appear as diminished pressure before complete failure.

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 drinking water 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 if I can. You have to go through the two step to get my email to avoid spam. http://www.wellwater.bse.vt.edu/contact_mwo_table.php