Reduce Your Risk of Waterborne Diseases With a Well Water Filtration System
Although the majority of people get their water supply from a treated municipal water source, a lot of people have privately-owned water supplies (wells, lakes, river, etc.). The responsibility to maintain private wells and water systems, including ongoing testing and purification, normally rests with their owners. Very few provisions exist to regulate the quality of private well water supplies. Usually, well water is needed to be examined for microbiological contamination only at the time the well is initially built. Some progressive health departments need microbiological testing when the property alters ownership as well. During regular day-to-day operation however, it is up to the well owner to check and ensure the quality of his own well water supply.
Recent news in the media regarding waterborne diseases has increased concerns about drinking water and the need for proper treatment. The reality is that almost every water source is contaminated to some extent, some naturally, some by chemicals penetrated to the water table through industry, agriculture, leaking or poorly-constructed septic tanks, or other means. This is particularly real of shallow water wells. Ground water from deep, drilled wells is normally filtered and is usually relatively pure and free of biological contamination and pollution. However, contamination may happen following improper building of well casings or caps, after a break in the casing or as a result of contaminated surface water entering the well. Contamination can also happen if wells are drilled in fractured bedrock without enough layers of protective soil and with less than the advised minimum casing height. Most surface water (lakes and rivers) is generally significantly contaminated and must be treated before drinking.
Well water contains normally occurring minerals, such as calcium, iron and sulphur. Although these minerals are not usually harmful to human health, they can change the hardness, taste, odour or colour of the water when present in excessive amounts.
Hard water deposits on kettles, pots, hot water heaters, humidifiers are caused by excess calcium. The solution is the use of a water softener, reverse osmosis, low maintenance humidifiers, tank-less water heater or well water filtration system. When your water has a metallic taste, this is due to excess iron. The solution is to use water softeners and a whole-house iron reduction filter well water filtration system. Black staining of fixtures or laundry is due to excess manganese. It should be treated by water softeners, whole-house iron reduction filter well water filtration system. Rotten egg smell from water meanwhile is because of hydrogen sulphide and is purified with whole-house iron reduction filter well water filtration system. When water has a laxative effect, it has excess sulphates and should be treated with reverse osmosis well water filtration system. If the water is gritty, muddy, or appears dirty, there is excess sand, silt, dirt, clay, or other sediments in your water and if severe, consider a whole-house sediment filter; otherwise, a point-of-use filter system with a sediment filter well water filtration system.
The treatment of well water will rely on the outcome of your water quality tests. Remember that some treatment technologies may need that you pre-treat the water in order for the product to be efficient.