Help! New well has poison smelling water

[RadarTech]

I have to admit this has really made me think about my well...

We have lived here 2 years.. and it has no smell.. has no problems, except the twice a year filter replacement.. (silt)

maybe I should get it tested!

It is 465 feet deep and all around the area are plenty of rocks!
I mean BIG rocks!!

like bigger than my 5 foot by 2 x 2 bucket...

so I think it is safe... but....


Please do keep the info coming it is awefully interesting!

J

 

[EE_Bota]

Another health dept guy says it might be "iron bacteria" Iron bacteria - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Never heard of it :confused2:, but WOW that sounds about like it. Notice their mention of "oily" or "petroleum". I still say it's a "pesticide" or "poison" smell, but hey maybe we're on to something here.

The mention of "slime" or "slimy" reminds me - I had forgotton that when the well was first finished & I first connected a garden hose to the well, opened it up & let it run for a while, when I went to shut it off the hose had a a rusty slime running down it to the ground. It was very slimey & got rusty slime all over my hand. Now that it's dried it's hard as a rock & ain't comin' off. I had a nozzle on the hose with the nozzle hooked over a branch spraying into the air, so some of the water was running down the hose - That's where the slime was/ rust is.

Meeting health dept at the site - More to come - Stay tuned.

I am sorry I did not mention iron bacteria. That IS your likely culpret. I have it.

 

[kidr]

I have iron bacteria too , but it doesn't smell. I would get a total hydrocarbon test done. Funny health depts. don't require tests for anything but ecoli and bacteria. I guess they don't care if you're poisoned by fuel or pesticides. I got stuck once with a property that had deisel in the well.It tested fine for the health dept.If you buy a place with a well, make sure to test for hydrocarbons. You get too soon old and too late smart.

 

[dmccarty]

There was no water testing when we put in our well. A year or so later the health department did start testing. I looked into getting the water tested and basically you could test the water and empty your wallet while testing. :laughing: The tests could cost in the hundreds of dollars and you could order multiple tests.

I figured we would test for bacteria and such but we never got around to it. There is a farm a mile or so away but they only run a small herd of meat cattle on quite a large amount of land. Not really a source of concern for our well 223 feet down. That farm is the only source of possible pollution except for houses for a couple of miles.

95% of the water we drink is run through a charcoal filter which does provide some protection.

Later,
Dan

 

[Damifino]

Have dealt with what I call, "living iron bacteria", it's slimy as you described.
The odors can smell of many things, while I was looking for live bacteria, I found Signs and Symptoms of Iron Bacteria in Water | eHow.com

This seems to correspond with what you described.

Good Luck