You no longer have to use a bucket to fetch well water. Today, there are advanced plumbing systems that allow you to have water into your home with ease. If you have used well water, you may not have worried about the safety of the water as the city water comes treated. While well water may get to your house with ease and cheaper, is it safe for drinking and using for other purposes?
Understanding the Performance of Well Water Systems
Drilling Well Water for Use at Home
Well water comes from underground layers of rocks. The water might be 1000 feet deep. After drilling a well, professionals install pipes into the well hole to access the water. To ensure there is no contamination in the water, there is a clay or concrete layer around the casing. A pump pulls water from the well and sends it through the pipe.
From the casing pipe, the water goes into your home through a pipe that empties into the pressure tank. You then access that water in your rooms from the tank.
Well water is earth water. This is the water that seeps from the surface and gets clear by the time it gets to the porous rock. While the water is clear, there are so many elements in the water that affects its purity. This is why you need a well water purification system.
Contents of Well Water
Well water contains dissolved salts of calcium and magnesium. The water collects these salts as it seeps through the soil. These minerals are not unhealthy, but they can affect your pipes and your appliances through the build-up of scale and, therefore, cause costly repairs.
Hard water doesn’t lather well with soap, and it causes scum after washing. It doesn’t clean as well as soft water.
Besides the salts, there may be more contaminants in well water. These contaminants include sulfur, gas, iron, nitrates, tannins, and arsenic, among other elements found in nature. The contents in well water will depend on which part of the country you are from, as some have more iron than others while some even have arsenic.
It would be best to let a professional test the water to identify the contents before you start using the water. The water might appear clear all the time, but this is not to say that there are no contaminants that might affect your family’s health.
Keeping the Well Water Safe
If you have a well, there are many things you can do to ensure the water is safe for consumption. For starters, ensure that the casing is in good condition and always enclosed so that the well water doesn’t get contamination by bacteria such as E.coli, insects, and soil.
If your water gets contamination from E.coli, and then you drink that water, you will have stomach issues, such as diarrhea and stomachache. This is why you need to test the well water to ensure everything is in good condition.
Even after a professional says your well water is fine, you still need to test it again after a year to ensure no new contaminants.
Other ways to keep the water safe:
- Get a water filtration system for your whole house
- Get a water purifier for water that comes to your kitchen for the water you drink
- Ensure the well cover cap is always above the ground and tightly sealed
- Always allow professionals to test your water
Get Well Water Systems
At Mud House Supplies, we have the well water systems you need to keep your water safe and healthy for you at all times. Pick the system you need, ask for well water testing, or ask for your well water systems repairs.