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Can a Properly Drilled Well be Contaminated? |
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Written by Mike
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Krista Writes:
My boyfriend and I are in the process of buying a house,so we had the water tested. It came back showing high arsenic and e coli. My question is, how can e coli be in our water when we have a drilled well?
Hi Kristen
It is true that wells that are properly drilled with a proper annular seal are much less subject to potential contamination from surface water run-off than other wells. However, they are not fool proof and adequate protection is still required to be sure you don't get any pathogens. Contamination doesn't necessarily come from your particular property. It can be in the ground water itself, and move with the flow of the water. At the municipality I work at, I observe coliform contamination in roughly 6 of the 100 or so drilled wells I test ONLY during certain parts of the year, mainly the summer time.
If you have coliform and arsenic in your well, it sounds to me like you probably have an overburden well. You can try chlorinating the well to see if it gets rid of your coliform issue. It may, but it may come back. The only way to deal with arsenic is to use a reverse osmosis system. Arsenic isn't going to hurt you unless you ingest it and in large quantities, so showering and washing are OK.
You may want to think about a U.V. disinfection device for the coliform issue, though e.coli is an issue if it is ingested and gets into your digestive system and only if it's the pathogenic strains of e.coli so you should be ok with showering and washing activities as well. Perhaps your lawyers might even suggest the previous owners provide water treatment as a condition of the sale.
I hope that helps.
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