How to Test and Treat Your Well Water

Wells tap into underground porous, water-saturated bodies called aquifers. Unfortunately, human activity and environmental changes have made uncontaminated aquifers a thing of the past.

Unlike municipal water, private well water isn’t treated for consumption regulated by the EPA. While most wells have a basic sediment filter that removes dirt and debris, these filters are unable to remove microorganisms, chemicals and other pollutants that can cause both short and long-term harm.

Why You Should Test Your Well Water

When was the last time you had your well water tested? Testing allows you to:

• Protect your and your family’s health: Bacteria, nitrates and heavy metals can make their way into your aquifer and cause serious health issues, including gastrointestinal problems, developmental issues in children and diseases.
• Ensure your water is safe: Even if your water looks clear and tastes fine, there could still be dangerous contaminants. Knowing for sure that your water is safe to drink, cook with and bathe in brings invaluable peace of mind.
• Track changes: Natural and environmental factors, like heavy rains or your neighbor using nitrate-rich fertilizer, can alter your well water quality. Identify and keep track of any changes to your water over time so you can take action when needed.
• Water system maintenance: Regular testing will help you verify that your system is working as intended, ensuring that harmful contaminants are being effectively removed.

By routinely testing your well water, you’re taking essential steps to safeguard your family’s health and ensure the quality of your home’s water supply.

How to Test Well Water at Home

Start by performing a water test to get a comprehensive understanding of what’s in your well water and how it should be treated.

While you can purchase water testing kits from home improvement and big-box retailers, these are much less precise, and often won’t check for many harmful contaminants that you should be testing for when compared to a professional water test.

If you are looking for a quick way to check your water at home, try these simple tests. Note that even if your water passes all of these observable tests, it still can contain undetectable pollutants.

Water Color, Taste and Odor Test

Fill a clear glass with your well water and swirl it around the glass.

Does the water have a brownish tint when you hold the glass up against a white background? Do you see any visible solids settling at the bottom or the sides of the glass? Does it smell like rotten eggs? Without swallowing, swish the water around your mouth to check for bitter, chlorine, chemical, swampy or metallic taste.

If you notice any of these telltale signs of bacteria and sediment contamination in your water, seek professional water treatment to prevent possible illness.

Visual Water Hardness Test

You can commonly identify hard water by white or cloudy stains around your faucet, toilet, tub or shower drain — indicating a variety of unwanted minerals in your water. Iron staining will typically be orange or brown, manganese leaves black stains and low pH water is usually turquoise or green.

If you see a chalky white substance around faucets and spigots, limescale could be building up in your pipes, which can eventually cause lower water pressure and broken pipes.

Another way to check if you have hard water is the soap test. Fill a container with water and dish soap and shake it and you’ll see bubbles and froth form on the surface. When you have hard water, you’ll see fewer bubbles form and the liquid will turn cloudy as the soap interacts with the minerals.

Boiling Water for Dissolved Solids Test

Fill a pot with water and heat to boiling. As the water evaporates, any impurities will precipitate and get left behind.

After the water boils off and the pot cools completely, see if there’s white residue on the bottom — that’s calcium carbonate that, while harmless, can leave unsightly spots on your pots and pans. More importantly, it can mean you have hard water that contains high levels of dissolved solids and other hard-to-spot contaminants.

Contact a Professional for Water Testing

While all of the testing methods outlined above provide a small indication as to your well water’s quality, they are not nearly thorough or reliable enough to ensure safe water quality.

At Kinetico Advanced Water Systems we offer a free water analysis to assess the makeup of your water and perform a detailed risk assessment. Our team can also test for more complex contaminants like pesticides, arsenic and radiologicals using state-of-the-art laboratory equipment. After your water test, we’ll work with you to create a custom water solution to fit your budget, needs and the specifics of your well.

How Often Should You Test Your Well Water?

No matter where you live, the CDC recommends getting your well water tested at least once every year using a state-certified laboratory test, especially for bacteria and nitrates. However, you may need to test your well water more often, depending on your well aquifer’s location and condition.

For example, if your well system has undergone any repairs, it’s always a good idea to test the water afterward to ensure it wasn’t contaminated during the process.

If you live near farms, factories or mining operations, chemical pollutants used in industrial processes can seep deeply and reach groundwater. Excessive rain from storms or flooding can worsen the situation and introduce them into your well water.

Additionally, if members of your household are experiencing unexplained vomiting, diarrhea or other gastrointestinal distress, test the water immediately for contaminants.

Always be alert to changes in your water’s taste, odor and visual appearance. Routine testing can help ensure your water is safe to drink and help you catch issues early on. Our Water Quality Consultants can set up recurring testing throughout the year for your peace of mind.

How to Treat Well Water

Once you’ve tested your well water and have identified contaminants, the next step is to find the right treatment solution tailored to your specific water issues.

Well Water Filtration Solutions for Homeowners

Installing a water filter, softener and/or purifier will be the best way to ensure your well water is safe for drinking and bathing, as part of the 4+ essentials of total water treatment.

At Kinetico, we recommend that private wells always have a UV system installed. Without ultraviolet sanitization, the well should be chemically sanitized once per year. This solution adds chemicals to the water and does not provide ongoing, long-lasting protection from bacteria and viruses like UV does.

• Filtration removes sediment, chemicals and contaminants that make your water murky and unpleasant tasting.
• Water softeners that use an ion exchange process get rid of excess minerals like calcium and magnesium that cause soap scum, dry skin and hair and will reduce the lifespan of any water-using appliances. The dual tank design of a Kinetico system can also handle dissolved manganese and iron.
• The third step in whole-home water management is purification — a reverse osmosis system eliminates heavy metals, chemicals, pharmaceuticals and other contaminants for better-tasting, more refreshing water.
• Remove bacteria and viruses through ultraviolet (UV) sanitization — an important step for private well owners or anyone removing disinfection chemicals from their home’s water supply.

What About a Filtration Pitcher, Fridge Filter or Brita?

Well water contaminants impact more than just your drinking water. While a pitcher-style filter will catch some harmful contaminants — like lead, chlorine and mercury — most filters of this kind can’t remove all contaminants, such as microbiologicals (i.e., viruses, bacteria), PFAS forever chemicals, iron and trace pollutants like pesticides.

Water pitchers also require regular filter changes, usually after a certain number of gallons used. These costs add up over time while generating non-biodegradable plastic waste. Recent lawsuits have been filed over the effectiveness of pitcher filters compared to how they are advertised.

Does Boiling Well Water Make it Safe to Drink?

Boiling well water eliminates dangerous microorganisms and kills bacteria, but does not remove non-biological contaminants. It also concentrates all dissolved solids that do not interact with the condensation of the water, such as fluoride and other metals harmful to your health, increasing your exposure.

Only a custom water treatment solution can provide complete coverage. Be sure to boil your water for disinfection for at least one minute, or three minutes when at altitudes of 5,000 feet or higher, according to the EPA.

How Do You Clean & Maintain Wells for Drinking?

Proper upkeep will prevent contamination, protect your health and extend the life of your well. If you don’t have a UV system installed (which provides lasting physical sanitization), you will need to perform a yearly chemical sanitization.

This process involves disinfecting the wellhead with a high concentration of chlorine, stirring the well thoroughly with pressurized water and sending treated water into your home. After 24 hours, you’ll run the water until the disinfectant chemicals are flushed out. A bacteria test then confirms the results.

Well Water Testing & Treatment With Kinetico Advanced Water Systems

Safeguard your home’s water supply and enjoy long-term peace of mind with Kinetico Advanced Water Systems’ comprehensive water management solutions. Contact us today to get your free water analysis, or give us a call at (833) 202-2622.