Well water and weed control?
- Thread starter pennwalk
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GaryQWA
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I agree with her and her boss. Shocking a well is supported by almost everyone BUT... I've been in water treatment 18 years and know that it can cause hard to treat water quality problems, problems with the pump, its power cable and the drop pipe and cause disinfection by products (DPBs) known as trihalomethanes (THMs) that are serious health concerns and limited by the EPA and PA DEP to 80 ppb. They are known carcinogens. And you have no need to shock your well, so why do it? Also, you have to use the right volume of chlorine. That depends on the demand for chlorine and the volume of water in the well. Using more chlorine than is needed actually causes the disinfection qualities of chlorine to diminish because chlorine raises the pH of the water and to disinfect, the best pH is from 5.x to 7.2.
When shocking a well certain bacteria can produce slime, the slime can not be penetrated by chlorine and that turns into an encrustation which then requires mechanical and/or chemical cleaning to get rid of the encrustations that can reduce the recovery rate of the well, and the bacteria under the encrustations. In other words, it can make certain problems like odor worse and create new problems.
Gary Slusser
When shocking a well certain bacteria can produce slime, the slime can not be penetrated by chlorine and that turns into an encrustation which then requires mechanical and/or chemical cleaning to get rid of the encrustations that can reduce the recovery rate of the well, and the bacteria under the encrustations. In other words, it can make certain problems like odor worse and create new problems.
Gary Slusser
Highbeam
Super Member
That UV light is a nice trick but you will have to replace the bulb every so often, every couple years if I remember right.
Most soaps, even many cleaning supplies are biodegradable or relatively non-toxic. Dilution is the solution to the pollution.
I have heard the term underground river, well there's no such thing. The groundwater is pulled from water bearing sand and gravel or other porous dirt. There are some underground caverns and air pockets but it's not like you found an 8' water main and just stuck a straw in it.
Most soaps, even many cleaning supplies are biodegradable or relatively non-toxic. Dilution is the solution to the pollution.
I have heard the term underground river, well there's no such thing. The groundwater is pulled from water bearing sand and gravel or other porous dirt. There are some underground caverns and air pockets but it's not like you found an 8' water main and just stuck a straw in it.
GaryQWA
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UV lamps must be replaced annually, every 9000 hrs of continuous operation. Some UV lights have an intensity monitor that alarms when the intensity is reduced to a certain point, but even those lamps are to be replaced on the above schedule because of the loss of UVC light intensity as the the lamp ages.
When many people talk about wells they mention underground river or stream but that's not true. Either the water is coming from water bearing sand and gravel or from porous rock or cracks and fissures in rock or from between layers of rock as in a rock bore well that has no screening and is not fully cased as a sand and gravel well has to be.
Gary Slusser
When many people talk about wells they mention underground river or stream but that's not true. Either the water is coming from water bearing sand and gravel or from porous rock or cracks and fissures in rock or from between layers of rock as in a rock bore well that has no screening and is not fully cased as a sand and gravel well has to be.
Gary Slusser
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When many people talk about wells they mention underground river or stream but that's not true. Either the water is coming from water bearing sand and gravel or from porous rock or cracks and fissures in rock or from between layers of rock as in a rock bore well that has no screening and is not fully cased as a sand and gravel well has to be.
Gary Slusser )</font>
It's sort of true, at least in some areas. They are really called aquifers. The water does travel, but very slowly. In our area it's something like 1/4 mile per year if I remember correctly. It is, as you mention, mostly porous rocks and cracks.
I'm about 30 miles from the Pacific ocean, and I'm told water in the aquifer does flow there, but obviously it takes a long time. There is a boundary point about 6 miles north of me where the aquifer flows north to the SF bay rather than out to the ocean.
When many people talk about wells they mention underground river or stream but that's not true. Either the water is coming from water bearing sand and gravel or from porous rock or cracks and fissures in rock or from between layers of rock as in a rock bore well that has no screening and is not fully cased as a sand and gravel well has to be.
Gary Slusser )</font>
It's sort of true, at least in some areas. They are really called aquifers. The water does travel, but very slowly. In our area it's something like 1/4 mile per year if I remember correctly. It is, as you mention, mostly porous rocks and cracks.
I'm about 30 miles from the Pacific ocean, and I'm told water in the aquifer does flow there, but obviously it takes a long time. There is a boundary point about 6 miles north of me where the aquifer flows north to the SF bay rather than out to the ocean.
The light the plummer sold me has its own brain and will start beeping after about a year. It will probably be anoying but on the other hand I have been known to put things off . Just ask my wife if you don't beleive me. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
Chris
Chris
<font color="blue"> Most soaps, even many cleaning supplies are biodegradable or relatively non-toxic </font>
This well stuff is new to me so I may be a little hypersensitive so when I saw that lady throwing her cleaning water on the lawn what ran through my mind was " jeeezz I drink this water ". What is it the Boy Scouts say? Something about not peeing upstream from your camp site. Now days it seems like there is someone downstream from everyone. I think a lot of people don't make the conection between what they do and what happens next.
Chris
This well stuff is new to me so I may be a little hypersensitive so when I saw that lady throwing her cleaning water on the lawn what ran through my mind was " jeeezz I drink this water ". What is it the Boy Scouts say? Something about not peeing upstream from your camp site. Now days it seems like there is someone downstream from everyone. I think a lot of people don't make the conection between what they do and what happens next.
Chris
Highbeam
Super Member
We, and the state ecology agency, are encouraging people to even wash their cars on the grass so that the soapy water and grime may be cleansed by the grass and maybe soak into the ground.
We even get complaints about the charity carwashes since the runoff heads to the storm system which evenetually goes to the river. Most of the complaints come from the commercial carwash owners. We tell them to run the carwash on the grass.
We even get complaints about the charity carwashes since the runoff heads to the storm system which evenetually goes to the river. Most of the complaints come from the commercial carwash owners. We tell them to run the carwash on the grass.