Query for you rural well users.....

[tractchores]

We're in a similar situation (suburban area with a well). The bottled water half the time is just municipal water bottled at a plant. I worry about what's in that as well. Our well has a particle filter for rust, my experience on municipal is you need one of these too otherwise super fine silt clogs up fixtures and valves over time. For our well water we have it tested every 5 years or so, we did a more comprehensive test when moving in and now just periodically do much cheaper tests for more typical contaminants. Testing isn't very expensive and is pretty easy. Here's the place we use: ETR Laboratories Water Tests- . On the plus side I really like our water!

 

[oosik]

My water come from a spring and its the best tasting water I've ever drunk. No filters, no softeners, no clarifiers, no purifiers - just great spring water.

To me - bottled water tastes like cr@p.

 

[ultrarunner]

I do think Washington is particularly blessed with good water more so than many other areas of the country...

It is one of the things I like having gone through many a California drought where everything just withers away.

 

[Turbys_1700]

We drink our water from a surface fed spring. This spring has been in the family for over 150 years to my knowledge. The pump sits in a spring house with a foot valve in the bottom of the spring box. The spring is free flowing. We've never tested the water. The crayfish don't seem to be bothered by it so I figure it's good to go. My great grandfather drank out of that same spring until it killed him at 94. It is really good water.

Prior to that our old house utilized an old shallow bored well. Practically all the wells around here were that way. I am not aware of any issues with the water in our area. After that drilled wells were the ticket. County water was finally run down our road about 7 years ago. The cost was over $2500 to hook up. I passed. I think that now if you are within 300 feet of the line and you build a new house you have to hook up.

 

[oosik]

Yes, I'm pretty lucky with this spring. It was hand dug in 1892 and has been a reliable supply since that time. However, down south of me, in an area called the Palouse - world famous for wheat production - there is a big problem with nitrates in the well water. Its due to use/overuse of agricultural fertilizer. Nitrates, like mercury, in your water supply can be very hazardous for young children.

No crayfish in my spring but I do have little green frogs.............

 

[TheMan419]

Unless you get it tested you have no idea what (if anything) you need to do. When we bought our house testing the water was like $50.00. I could buy a lot of jugs of water for $50, but would rather know that I can just turn on the tap. We have a 5 micron filter and then a softener. However, at the old house we had a 3 stage iron filter because that was what we needed.

Listening to others say they have no problem with their well water is great, but that tells you noting about your own water.

R/O is the other way to go if you don't want to have it tested. Filter and soften the whole house and then R/O kitchen tap for cooking/drinking.

Better to have it tested and then deal with whatever you need to deal with.

 

[MacLawn]

Location location location. I think that's the issue. Our well in Georgia is 100' through dirt, 400' through blue granite, that'd be 500' deep 6" well cased down to granite which doesn't need casing. There's a water bottling company 7 miles from us, same water we have that they sell. It's called SpringTime®, and I've even bought my own water. Except for sediment filter, don't need anything. Tested, and it is excellent. In south Florida, if you spill it on the ground, you drink it in your well water.

 

[not2old]

Our well is 55 feet deep, all through gravel with the water level at 20 feet and provides 55 imperial gallons per minute. When we bought the place we had it tested at a government facility and it tested to three decimal places of zeros for everything that they check for. Certainly a lot better than paying $1400.00 per year for the crap we got in the city that I didn't like to drink because I hated the taste of the chlorine.

 

[ultrarunner]

The minimum residential charge for a 5/8 meter is $80 in my part of the Bay Area.

Add to this about $4 for each unit of water.

Water bills at one time paled to gas and electric but not anymore.

 

[TheGoose]

As a water well professional I hear this a lot. " Our well has great tasting water but we don't drink it". When I ask why not nobody ever has an answer except that they're afraid. It seems that society has conditioned us to only trust things that come wrapped in plastic with some obscure govt agency stamp of approval.

Have the water tested. If it tests good for bacteria and other contaminants then shuck the extra trouble for bottled water and forget about it.

Let me ask you one thing:. How do you get ice?