Private Wells (And whats in them)

[Jazz]

SO.

 

Pulled the trigger- under contract on a house in New River.

 

Everything went pretty smooth- until we got the well report back.

 

Apparently it has Coliform bacteria (The common stuff) and last night I just found out- Arsenic. The well is being treated for the coliform.

 

Knowing nothing about arsenic- I hit google for a few hours. After getting over the initial shock, I realized the a Reverse Osmosis system might just do the trick. (Whole house RO- I have a 9 month old that doesn't need to sip aresnic bathwater)

 

I'm wondering what it's going to do to gardens and livestock. Might have to use the hose directly from the house.

 

Anyone have any experience with this? I love New River- apparently most houses up there have a degree of arsenic in the well water. I can still back out at this point, but if this isn't a huge deal then I can handle it.

[lancetkenyon]

What was the PPM reading?

[Jazz]

40 PPB. (billion)

[Bowtechian84]

I no Beeman brothers Drilling is outta New River, maybe they can point to you in the right direction atleast answer some questions for ya ask for Dusty

[GreyGhost85]

the owner of Beeman drilling is also a big hunter. win win

[deercrazy]

The threshold for municipal arsenic is 10 ppb.

[Shooter McGavin]

I have no idea what the water table is out in New River or what kind of drought conditions up there, but make sure you have a pump guy perform a GPM on the well. You don't want to have to drill deeper or lower your pump due to low production. That dips into your hunting $$$ for sure.

[lancetkenyon]

Wells are not a municipal water source, so no regulation on them like a municipal water source of 10 PPB. 40PPB could be considered "low" in a private well. http://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/122-A130/ Not that it means it is safe or unsafe. Apple juice, rice, and other foods have higher levels of arsenic than 40 PPB. Peach/nectarines, apples, etc. all have naturally occurring arsenic in the seeds/pits too.

[Will K]

The MCL for Arsenic is 10 PPB. The MCL used to be 100 PPB. In reality you would have to drink a shoot load for a long time to effect you. Very common in most wells. Now the Coliform bacteria is a big health issue. No joke. Figure out if it a septic running into the well. That will make you very ill very fast.

[forepaw]

The Maricopa Co. (assume you are Maricopa and not Yavapai) Health Dept. has folks who can explain the details, as does ADEQ. If you want to delve a little more, contact the U of A. The Dept. of Soils, Water and Environmental Science has folks who are Ph.D. level and can tell you more than you probably want to know, though it doesn't take that level of training to walk you through it. If you still aren't satisfied with info you are getting, send me a pm and we can visit over the phone.

 

I am familiar with the issues you are describing.

 

forepaw

[muledeerarea33?]

Arsenic is in evry water source in AZ. I haven't tested mine in 5 years but arsenic was 15ppb with no other contaminants. I'm 330' down and in 100' of water. I forget the well gpm but my 5 gallon dog water bucket fills in 30 seconds. So 10gpm from a 3/4" hose bib. I used 2" pipe from my pressure tanks to the house then ran 3/4" trunks and 1/2" branches to common fixtures. Seems to have plenty if volume and pressure. My parents were on a community well and a test showed dangerous arsenic levels. The well manager "water company" had filters installed at the kitchen sink in each home but said it was ok to shower, brush teeth, laundry, and bathe in it. Not sure about live stock. About a year later they were told the water was fine and no filters needed. Not sure if the filtered at the well site or fixed the water?

[ctafoya]

We used to remove arsinic with ion exchange resin, or granular ferric hydroxide in softner tanks. Takes levels down to non detect. RO isn't very effective, especially home units.

[Kingzero]

We used to remove arsinic with ion exchange resin, or granular ferric hydroxide in softner tanks. Takes levels down to non detect. RO isn't very effective, especially home units.

We have an ion exchange unit at work and it is the biggest pain in the butt. It also produces dangerous byproducts when you regenerate that have to be hauled away and disposed of properly. Ferric media would be the best and easiest to deal with. You can bypass water and blend with the treated water to make the media last longer. I don't have any experience with small home units but I imagine they work just like a large municipal system.

 

You can disinfect your well on your own by dumping 12.5% sodium hypochlorite down it. I would say 20 to 30 gallons and then surge the well a couple times to flood the column. After 24 hours, run it to waste to flush it out and take your BacT.

[Jazz]

Thanks all, for your replies.

 

We're treating the well for the coliform- and retesting in ten days. I don't want anything to reintroduce bacteria in the well- that's a bug hunt I'd want to avoid. We'll see how it does.

 

The Arsenic test told us that it was 40 PPB- but not which type it is. My understanding is that it's type 5 or 3.

 

5 being easier to treat with straight RO. Type 3 requires pre-treatment before the RO process. (More costly). I'm getting a sample and submitting Monday.

 

There's currently a RO in the kitchen. I'd probably opt for a full house treatment later.

[muledeerarea33?]

Where does you water come from there, seepage, aquifer, underground river, etc? Our comes from an underground runoff source from the mountains that sits in our valley. No outside influences really from the mountain to us.