Well water testing for irrigation use

[Arla]

Does anyone have recommendations on companies/tests for this?

I have a well (as discussed before) I now have a working inertia pump, and am slowly continuing to try to get the pump that was connected working, but something I'd like to know is the suitability of the water for both watering the lawn/flowers and watering vegetables?

I found this place

http://shop.stevensecology.com/main.sc

Which certainly had "reasonable" prices (again, I'm not looking to use this as drinking water, or water for the house or anything (although would be nice to have an idea if I could)).

Also, any primers on things I'd need to do to the well first to get ready? I'm just thinking here that the water is currently around the 9 ft level, I assume that it was once much lower, or can be (given that the pump had pipes going down approx 40 ft) so do I need to try to lower the water level before taking a sample (or anything like that).

Any advice appriciated.

 

[Gary Slusser]

What would you think is in well water that would harm grass and such? Oil or gasoline would. Salt/sodium too.

As you pump water out of a well, the level of water in the well goes down IF the recovery rate gpm is less than the gpm you pump out, that's why the pipes are 40' long.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Alternety]

If you are going to irrigate food crops I might be concerned about high levels of heavy metals or various chemicals that may be absorbed by some crops.

 

[Arla]

What would you think is in well water that would harm grass and such? Oil or gasoline would. Salt/sodium too.

As you pump water out of a well, the level of water in the well goes down IF the recovery rate gpm is less than the gpm you pump out, that's why the pipes are 40' long.

Grass and such I'm not sure I care about, it's more the vegetables that I worry about, with the gpm rating of the hand-pump I should be fine then, since that's probably quite a lot less than 1gpm, I'll have to see if/when I get the motor hooked back up.

Still thinking I might have the water tested, does anyone have recommendations even I was planning to use it as drinking water, it does look pretty clear (which I think is a good start)

 

[Gary Slusser]

Alternety likes to disagree with me so... ask him if he has ever heard of what he is concerned about and if he thinks every farm selling produce commercially has their water well/river/lake/pond or rain water tested as he sounds as if he would his.

Water testing for what he mentions will probably run about $300-600 and then all you really know is the quality of that sample which can not be used for future quality control. So how frequently do you think you should test?

If you want something to worry about, think of how to keep the rabbits out of the garden or spraining a shoulder pumping water out of the well. FYI, and Alternety, the cells in plants work on osmosis like an RO. So rinse yer veggies and enjoy what the bugs and varmints don't get and wonder how man has survived for thousands of years without water tests and bottled water or filters for their garden water.

 

[Alternety]

I rather suspect there are no standards for irrigation water. Nor I suspect any real testing of crops for the sort of things I mentioned. I would at least test for bacterial presence (e.g., e coli).

The recommend maximum of Arsenic in drinking water was relatively recently lowered significantly. Many of the safe levels of things are sort of guesses. I would believe that continued irrigation by water with arsenic in it would raise the concentration in the irrigated soil. Plants have varying affinities for minerals. It is a function of each type of plant. Some have even been used to extract heavy metal contamination.

I will be doing vegetables. I will water only with the water I have taken bad things out of. This is obviously a personal choice. Sort of like deciding to eat organic produce. Regarding the continued existence of humans with unprocessed water: what you do not know can kill you. We do not know the root cause of many serious diseases. Cancer can be caused by exposure to chemicals (arsenic is, I believe) carcinogenic. This is just a randomly selected study excerpt: http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=1519547Some materials (e.g., Arsenic) accumulate in the human body. There are significant clusters of things like Parkinson's. Probably something in the environment?

How would you know that a physical problem in later life was or was not instigated by something you have been ingesting in low doses for a long time.

I parts of the world (India I believe is a major trouble spot) people are being seriously poisoned by Arsenic in the water from their wells. Their only source of water. Who knew that the insulation on your furnace (ship, office, etc) could lead to a nasty death. Or breathing in the basement if you lived over certain types of rock formations (radon can show up in water as well). As we learn more we find out more things that are bad for us.

Everyone on a private water system gets to choose what they want to know about their water and subsequently get to decide what they want to do with that water. In many (not all) areas you can get a fair idea what to expect in you water by asking nearby people that have tested their water.

You get to evaluate hazard risks for yourself and act accordingly. Because someone else does it (maybe millions of others) does not explicitly mean it is good for you.

End of rant.

 

[Arla]

Any recommendations on places to test it then? I'm vaguely thinking a drinking water test might be interesting... but I'm not sure, just trying to get some idea of costs and ability, unfortunately I think I have about the only well in the area, so can't really check with neighbours

 

[Redwood]

Anybody want a good deal on some of Sal Monella's tomatoes

I wonder how that happened anyway...
They probably spread chicken manure with some overlap on a field they picked the next day and nobody washed the tomatoes.

 

[Alternety]

Actually I believe the bacteria are actually absorbed into the body of the fruit. Washing does not help. I think the spinach thing was the same way.

 

[Alternety]

arla: check with your state university or extension, well drillers, or the health department. They should have a list. If you do bacteria you have to refrigerate the water and overnight it, so local is good. Have it done by a real certified lab; not a "water processing" salesman (don't start people).

What you choose to test is up to you and what you are willing to pay. I would never accept a new or old well as potable until I had sufficient test results from my own efforts. For my current well I did what was considered by the lab to be "regular" plus bacteria of several sorts, heavy metals, chemicals (pesticides, gasoline additives, cleaning fluids, etc.). It was a few hundred dollars, but I considered it worthwhile. You simply have no way of knowing without testing. There may have been leaking tanks or dumped toxic chemicals from industrial processes, or simply agricultural runoff. Or the 3 barrels rusting in the bushes next door. There are more than enough people out there that are too stupid/under educated to know they are doing a bad thing and those that do it because they simply do not give a rat's ass about anyone but themselves. One house I bought had a 55 gallon drum of creosote sitting behind some stuff in a shed. It was about 30' from the well; and not leaking. But!

Again; you get to pick. Public systems watch for this stuff.