Well water questions?

[RealJeep]

I live in central Florida and have really good well water, as surprising as that sounds. Recently I cut the One Inch PVC pipe that leads from the well to the house and noticed that the inside of the pipe was black and covered in some unknown substance that felt a little slimey, kind of like Algae or some other aquatic growth I have seen in ponds. My questions are:

• Is there anyway to tell what this is?
• If it's not a good thing is there any way to clean out the pipe?
• Is well water just naturally prone to such funk because it's not treated with nasty chemicals?

The water has been tested by the state and has passed all contamination tests with the exception on Nitrates/Nitrites which were high but within tolerable legal limits. ALL Florida water is high in those areas because sand is a crappy filter. Thanks in advance!

Otto

 

[Gary Slusser]

A lab may be able to identify it but I's save my money and kill the stuff instead because knowing it lives is actually all you need to know. Along with that you don't want it living in your pipes. But it obviously is harmless or you'd have problems. ALL water lines have something in them.

Anyway, to kill it you need a disinfectant like chlorine, ozone, hydrogen peroxide; UV is not a good choice.

BTW, long term exposure to low levels of nitrate and nitrite is a serious problem and pregnant women and infants less than 6 months to a year old should not be ingesting the water.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[RealJeep]

Thanks Gary but I really don't have any idea how to flush the lines or flush chemicals through them. I guess I could "T" the line somewhere just after the pump and fill the line with bleach, then turn the pump back on and let it all run through the lines.

As for the Nitrates...That's FLorida, we just live with it. Unless you have a well down around the 700' depth you're stuck with them. Mine's about 180'.

 

[Bob NH]

After you kill it, it will probably come off the pipe. You could add some chlorine bleach solution to the well in the concentrations appropriate for sanitizing a well. Pump it into the pipe (but not through your softener) and let it stand for a couple of hours. The pump to waste until the smell of chlorine is gone.

Then pump until there are no particles apparent in your system.