your water well is a valuable asset on your property!

This is a very important part of keeping a well contaminant free. Your completed water well should be, at minimum, 18" above the ground. This allows enough height to keep surface water out and, more importantly, is high enough to deter mice and other vermin from gaining access to the well. When a well is cut off at or below ground level, it allows access for contaminants. We recommend that you have your well extended above ground to reduce the chances of contaminating your drinking water source. 

These areas require attention regularly. The well cap must be a tight fit on your well, and the bolts fastened in order to prevent it from coming off. The wire conduit also needs to fit correctly and have a good seal between it and the well cap. The rule of thumb is that if you can see wires or any gap, you must correct it immediately. A gap between your well cap and wire conduit is a common entry point of mice and vermin to your well. If your well cap gets broken or lost it is very important to have it replaced and properly sealed.

Wells should be left with enough room to allow for any routine maintenance and well disinfecting. The area should be maintained and any grass kept low to allow easy visual inspection and observance of your well cap. Wishing well, drums and pails are not recommended as they allow somewhere for mice and vermin to live.

Old wells are a liability to the property owner and should be properly sealed and recorded.Many unused wells are discovered when someone is doing yard clean up or dirt work and happen upon them. A licensed water well contractor will follow the correct procedure and utilize the right materials to abandon the well properly.

Once a well is contaminated, it is often difficult to ensure the purity of the water supply again. If chemicals enter the water zone it could be very costly to the well owner in trying to remediate the problem. In order to prevent contaminants from entering your water supply, we recommend that you do not store chemicals near your water well under any circumstances. Determine a separate place for chemicals, fuels and other possible contaminants that is far away from your well. 

Treating your water is part of a maintenance routine and if done correctly, can last for years. How do you know if you should consider and disinfection treatment? Here are a few ways you can detect a possible bacteria issue in your system and you may need to explore treatment:

1. Smell and Taste: If you smell an odor similar to rotten eggs, or if your water smells like it is stale, these are tell tale signs that your system is getting a high concentration of coliform or iron bacteria and should be treated accordingly. These are examples of naturally occurring bacteria that can be found in almost everything and are easily killed with the proper treatment. 

2. Look: Begin by lifting the back off your toilet lid and looking inside. If there is a coating of slime inside, that is usually a reliable indication that you need to treat your system. Be sure not to mistake staining with slime.

3. Test: There is a bacteria test that can be easily conducted which will identify the presence of coliform, iron bacteria and E coli. If bacteria are discovered, often a system treatment can be undertaken and it will solve the issue. Connect with us and we'll be happy to work with you to treat your specific water well and system.