Wells

[Jackfre]

The attached photos show my well. Obviously at 48” diameter, a dug well. Water level is at 50’. The first 25’ is cased as shown. The bottom 40 or so is dirt at about 36” diameter. I just had a detailed water test done and the lab said I have one of the best wells, quality wise that they see in the area. I figure there is about 600 gal of water in the well. I do have a colliform issue however which necessitated pulling the lid and chlorinating the well, which I did Fri. Quite strong odor and using very little of it due to concerns about the health of the septic. Every 12 hrs I’ve been dumping 800 gal or so down the back slope to dilute the chlorine. Step by step.The right answer here is probably to let sleeping dogs lie, but I am considering a 36” casing for the lower uncased portion of the well and fill with gravel around it. When I bought the property the well folks said, “oh, you have one of “his” wells.” Apparently back in the 20’s...the previous 20’s, “this guy” hand dug these wells and the well guy said we have the well everyone in the neighborhood wants. That is true as all the neighbors Are 3-400’ and have lost their wells in the last drought and are getting 1.5-2 gpm, hence having 1500+gal storage tanks. The well is about 10’ from the pavement. I see no deterioration of the lower soil, but wonder whether the casing would be better. What think ye?

 

[stokefire7]

Interesting.

 

[kaymccampbell]

Casing the lower walls will be "cleaner", but why eff with it if it works? Regular chlorination is a necessity if you have a well of any kind. They sell usage based chlorine injectors and tablet droppers, to save you opening it up every so often and dosing it. That said, I open mine once a year and give it a gallon of Clorox.

 

[Lassen Forge]

Case the well. It will hold up better. It's pricey but it's also cheap compared to having 48" supply well dug.

DO NOT, repeat, DO NOT put ANYTHING down ANY well... even something like Chlorine down your well. NO NO NO NO NEVER. I used to deal with this as part of my job. In fact, it was probably the one thing I made sure NEVER happened from one of our facilities. I have seen private wells sealed from doing just this. It may be OK in other states... but it's highly illegal in California. If you think you have contaminants, then have the water tested, and if needed, do a post-well treatment system. DON'T CONTAMINATE YOUR NEIGHBORS WATER SOURCE!!

I'm serious about this... Your neighbors will smell or taste it and call county health... and those guys can (and will) survey wells to find the source of the contaminant. When they do, they contact the Department of Water Resources... and they push for huge fines, jail time, and you lose your well forever, making your property worthless.

 

[kbs2244]

why try and fix what isn't broke?

 

[jkeyser14]

Case the well. It will hold up better. It's pricey but it's also cheap compared to having 48" supply well dug.

DO NOT, repeat, DO NOT put ANYTHING down ANY well... even something like Chlorine down your well. NO NO NO NO NEVER. I used to deal with this as part of my job. In fact, it was probably the one thing I made sure NEVER happened from one of our facilities. I have seen private wells sealed from doing just this. It may be OK in other states... but it's highly illegal in California. If you think you have contaminants, then have the water tested, and if needed, do a post-well treatment system. DON'T CONTAMINATE YOUR NEIGHBORS WATER SOURCE!!

I'm serious about this... Your neighbors will smell or taste it and call county health... and those guys can (and will) survey wells to find the source of the contaminant. When they do, they contact the Department of Water Resources... and they push for huge fines, jail time, and you lose your well forever, making your property worthless.

California is weird... Here you HAVE to shock a well any time it is opened for service, and any time you test positive for bacteria.

 

[greenlizard]

What ssdave said. External contamination is a big deal. All kinds of sh*t can wash down in there and none of it is good. Other than that it sounds like you have a great well. All of them have some level of silt. A well is, after all, a hole to **** water out of the dirt. Mine is at 180’ and requires a particulate filter. My next door neighbor’s is at 100’ and needs no filter. Luck of the draw.
You definitely need to get local knowledge from a pro about treating the water.

 

[Showkey]

What ssdave said. External contamination is a big deal. All kinds of sh*t can wash down in there and none of it is good. Other than that it sounds like you have a great well. All of them have some level of silt. A well is, after all, a hole to **** water out of the dirt. Mine is at 180’ and requires a particulate filter. My next door neighbor’s is at 100’ and needs no filter. Luck of the draw.
You definitely need to get local knowledge from a pro about treating the water.

This^^^^^^^^

Obviously this varies widely by location.
IN Wisconsin if the well Cap is not completely sealed it will fail inspection. As mentioned the fear is external contamination.
Shocking the well is also common practice here.

OP well is cased ........but many states stop open not sealed wells years back. Here that would be considered a pit well. Matter little just what allowed and discouraged or banned in different locals.

Words like this are used for open pits:

The construction of a well pit, be it for a well, pump or pressure tank, was prohibited by the 1953 Wisconsin well code. Pits are usually poorly constructed, seldom looked at, subject to flooding and are often unsanitary.

Unacceptable well installations are wells installed in a basement before April, 1953, that:
are located too close to a contamination source (like a sewer pipe or floor drain) or a contamination source was later installed too close to the well;
are in an unsanitary basement or condition;
produce bacteriologically unsafe water after three attempts to disinfect the well by chlorination;
are a threat to groundwater or other water supplies; or
are too shallow (less than 25 feet deep);
Wells installed in a basement after April, 1953, do not comply with the Wisconsin well code.

Any access opening must have a 4" high curbing and an overlapping tight fitting shoe-box type cover. The well casing must extend at least 6" above a concrete floor and be sealed with a watertight well seal. The well must produce bacteriologically safe water. Upgrading of substandard well pits is not permitted. Substandard pits must be abandoned by extending the well casing above grade, breaking up the floor, breaking up or removing at least one wall and filling with clean native compacted soil landscaped to provide drainage away from the well casing.

 

[yeldogt]

Interesting ..... How would they case that ?

It seems every house or plot of land I have purchased always sits on some form of rock that costs me a fortune to drill through .. and it's always hundreds of feet

 

[scottydosnntkno]

Case the well. It will hold up better. It's pricey but it's also cheap compared to having 48" supply well dug.

DO NOT, repeat, DO NOT put ANYTHING down ANY well... even something like Chlorine down your well. NO NO NO NO NEVER. I used to deal with this as part of my job. In fact, it was probably the one thing I made sure NEVER happened from one of our facilities. I have seen private wells sealed from doing just this. It may be OK in other states... but it's highly illegal in California. If you think you have contaminants, then have the water tested, and if needed, do a post-well treatment system. DON'T CONTAMINATE YOUR NEIGHBORS WATER SOURCE!!

I'm serious about this... Your neighbors will smell or taste it and call county health... and those guys can (and will) survey wells to find the source of the contaminant. When they do, they contact the Department of Water Resources... and they push for huge fines, jail time, and you lose your well forever, making your property worthless.

Depends on where OP is.

In michigan, the county health department bleaches a new well for us when they’re dug, then you run til it doesn’t smell and then do you water quality tests. And the county also recommends bleaching every year as maintenance

 

[nafterclifen]

I had bacteria in my well too. Even after the previous owners "shocked" it, bacteria came back. It's common. So I installed a UV filter. Change bulbs one per year, about $100.

Did this about 7 years ago. Everyone in house uses and drinks water daily. No issues.

 

[Jarwop]

Good source to Learn about ground water and water wells. Free e-mail class and webinars. They also have a Resource Library.

http://privatewellclass.org/

 

[Jackfre]

I've been in the house since '11 and this is the second time the lid has been off. The first time it was apparent that there was leakage from the lid not being secured. The second was a couple years ago to replace the pump and this past week. With it open I was figuring how I could put a secure raised lid much as ssdave, suggested and thanks for the thorough description. The photo was taken after I had washed down the sides of the well. From a straight visual, I think the lid was secure, Of course, I was also sure that by now I would have won a lottery, so... My casing question arises from my feeling that the lid is secure which would indicate ground level leakage below the cased section down the outside of the concrete. I can fabricate the lid described by ssdave and will look into doing so. I will also get the well folks up to discuss casing and grouting. I do not want to give up the vol of stored water in the well, so a large diameter casing would be preferred. PVC? A good well is a treasure and this is a really good well so I'll get into it a bit. Thanks for all of your suggestions.

 

[dcg9381]

Around here they chlorinate wells also. The state-licensed well drillers recommend it. Not saying it doesn't go against some other law, but with coliform in there, that's the typical action around here.

Note, smell may be a by-product of biological reaction down there - not necessarily anything to do with septic... I would not assume that septic leak is the case.

With "good water" - why not just clean it up with simple sediment and deal with the coliform through traditional means - clorination, UV, something like that.

 

[Bretny]

I have a shallow well also. 50ft deep and 10ft static water level. I shock my well about every spring. I also use a UV light to treat it.

I just shocked my well last week. 3/4 of a gal of bleach down the well then run the garden hose back Into it to mix things up. Then ran each faucet until I smell bleach, let it sit for a few hours then run the water until you dont smell much bleach. In my case that was quite a bit, then I change the whole house filters.