Removing Pesticides from Well Water

[Traderfjp]

We put a bid on a home in NC that is about 1 mile from many apple orchards. We are getting the water tested. The realtor is telling me to walk from the deal if there are pesticides in the water. I'm also worried about Radon. The well on the property is 165 ft deep and was dug in 2013 with a flow rate of 10gpm. I've done a lot of reading but can't see to get a definitive answer on several questions. I hope that this forum can help me.

1. If there are large concentrations of pesticides can they be effectively removed with carbon block filtration?

2. I read that radon can be removed with carbon too. Is this true?

3. Should I walk from this house which is an amazing deal or stay and treat the water if there is a problem that shows up.

4. If ecoli is found will shocking the water take care of this or can it be an ongoing problem.

I was hoping that I could install a large whole house carbon filter for bathing and then a reverse osmosis for my drinking and cooking water. Do these remedies always work or are there some wells that are too contaminated and need to be dug deeper?

 

[Boycedrilling]

I drill and test a number of drinking water wells every year in apple orchards for H2A housing,

Since these are community water supply wells, we test for coliform bacteria, and the regulated list for inorganic chemicals (IOC), volatile organic chemicals (VOC) and synthetic organic chemicals (SOC). Also radionuclides. Sometimes we will be high in iron or manganese. Hardness or calcium is not regulated. The only thing I get a hit on is toluene. It will go away a month or two after we have installed the pump. This testing regimen from an APPROVED lab will cost more than two thousand dollars. You can get mail order kits for a few hundred dollars, but they’re not approved by state agencies.

It seems we have about a 50% failure rate the first time we sanitize the well and submit a coliform water sample. If you sneeze on the bottle throw it away and start over with a new test bottle.

Occasionally we will have a well high in nitrates. We prefer to case that water off and find an aquifer that has a lower nitrate level. However we can remove nitrates with an ion exchange unit containing a nitrate preferential media.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Valveman]

Hey Boyce, where do you think the toluene is coming from?

 

[Boycedrilling]

Everybody that I’ve talked to thinks it’s outgasing from the submersible wire or the tape holding it onto the drop pipe. I haven’t got a hit for tolulrne when I test pump with a lineshft turbine. Of course I’m testing over 500 gpm and for longer periods. Many times 24 or more hours rather than a 4 hour test.

 

[Atomic1]

From what I've read, carbon based filters are only going to remove VOC's effectively, not necessarily pesticides. I believe Reverse Osmosis or nanofiltration is really the only way you'd remove it. One common pesticide that everyone seems to overlook is Glyphosate, aka Roundup. which is used throughout agriculture. Also, all the crap that Truegreen sprays is not necessarily going to be picked up in tests. Worse more, testing in the winter is probably not the best time as there is likely seasonal changes in the contamination.

That said, I have a wife who is VERY concerned about all of this and we opted for a full gammet test (http://watercheck.com/productpages/WatercheckwithPesticideOption.html) that didn't show contamination, and are using a RO system for drinking/cooking. Honestly, I think most folks on well water really should be on RO or nano for drinking nowadays unless they're really out in pure country.

Radon in the water, from what I understand, is only removed via a specific capture system that has a filtration system that has to be changed out and disposed of by professionals as it is radioactive.

Radon in the air is a different story and you vent it via the very common negative pressure underslab system.

Getting rid of ecoli isn't as simple as just shocking the well. It often is a result of a short-circuit of surface water to the well. Shocking can sometimes provide short term relief, but it's no garuntee of a long-term solution. If the well tests positive for ecoli, I wouldn't accept the property without a prefilter and UV system.

 

[Reach4]

Radon in the water, from what I understand, is only removed via a specific capture system that has a filtration system that has to be changed out and disposed of by professionals as it is radioactive.

Radon itself has a half life of less than 4 days, so the radon you caught last month is pretty much gone. However it looks what it decays into may be classified as hazardous waste.

 

[Traderfjp]

Still waiting on full test. PH was at 5.5, iron.5, with manganese and coliform bacteria. Water is smelly too. The guy who did the water testing use to work for a well company drilling and installing wells and has a degree in geology. He now sells filtration units and seems very knowledgeable. Anyway, he felt that the casing on the well is probably cracked letting surface water in. He is saying that I should hire a well guy to drop a camera into the well to see what is going on. The well is 165 feet deep but the casing is only 52 feet. He is saying that the well casing should have been 70ft minimum. He is also saying that I can get a liner to go over the casing. However, the water coming into the well may be the only water the well is producing but we won't know that until the camera is put down the well. I was quoted 600 to 700 for the liner and 200.00 for the camera work. This is from the guy who originally drilled the well. He is suppose to have a log on the well too that details the drilling process. Do you think I should let this guy touch the well again or should I let another company do the work. I was told that a packer seal should be installed on the bottom of the liner and at the top. The well guy said that you have to go down 5 feet past the hole in the casing. Does this all sound right?

 

[Reach4]

Still waiting on full test. PH was at 5.5, iron.5, with manganese and coliform bacteria.

Who collected the sample? For people who are not careful to follow certian procedures, it is easy to contaminate the sample with coliform. Plus, your well may not have even been sanitized since you had well work done. If you care about the coliform test results, care needs to be taken in
sampling. http://www.ugra.org/pdfs/SamplingHandout.pdf is one description of a method to avoid contaminating the sample.

I suggest that you sanitize your well and your plumbing. Retest maybe a month later. https://terrylove.com/forums/index....izing-extra-attention-to-4-inch-casing.65845/ is my sanitizing write-up. I am not a pro.

The prices for the camera work and a finely slotted PVC liner installed seem low to me to me.

 

[Traderfjp]

The guy who did the testing is a driller, plumber and filtration expert but he doesn't do drilling anymore. That was another company and job he had. He let the water run for about 10 minutes. He is trained on taking water samples and seems pretty anal about the collection process since he was telling me how careful he is and how some testers don't know how to sanitize their hands properly. Anyway, he is saying that there should be no bacteria in the water if there wasn't a problem with the casing and this would also explain the low ph. I will read you blog but are u saying that the bacteria would have possibly gotten in another way?

 

[Atomic1]

My well has coliform and it does not have a cracked casing. I think its just from all of the septic systems in the neighborhood operating over shallow bedrock. I guess a camera of the casing couldn't hurt, but regardless, I would require a sediment filter and UV. If the camera does show a casing problem, then I would also require the sleeve in addition to sediment filter and UV....and I agree with reach that the quoted $700 for the sleeve seems low.

 

[Traderfjp]

Thanks for all the great info. I'm learning a lot about wells. I think I should have also tested for ecoli and other bacteria to see if it is runoff sice Chloroform could be from like what Reach4 said contamination. There house was winterized several month before the sample and the pipe coming into the house was removed from the well which left an opening to for small animals to crawl in. However, there is an odor problem and the water is .5 iron content with manganese. Lots of fun. I have a full analysis coming on Tuesday.

 

[Traderfjp]

Just got my well water analysis done. It was better than I thought. Not sure I need to treat for hardness. The guy at the lab said that the PH test in the field might be more accurate. The field test showed 5.5 water. Any advise on a whole house filter (s).