Question- water well after flooding

[David Wayne]

I am wondering what you folks do for your water wells after a big flood like in the Carolina's now? The news is saying the flood waters are toxic from everything from paint, chemicals, waste, both human & animal. Well casings are not sealed, so all this is flowing right down through the top into your ground water. How do you make it safe again?

 

[raptorterry]

Great question.
Subscribed

 

[RedNeckRacin]

There isn't anything you can do for chemical contamination other than keep testing the water. As for the E Coli from the waste, you can "shock" the well with some chlorine.

 

[Ken]

I am wondering what you folks do for your water wells after a big flood like in the Carolina's now? The news is saying the flood waters are toxic from everything from paint, chemicals, waste, both human & animal. Well casings are not sealed, so all this is flowing right down through the top into your ground water. How do you make it safe again?

There should be a pipe seal at top of well maybe not liquid tight but sure would slow the amount of fluid entering. then a gallon of diluted Clorox to sanitize with a long period of pumping to remove any standing water above normal height of fluid in well.
ken

 

[oosik]

When I was in Anchorage - we would occasionally have a flooded well. The official procedure was exactly as RedNeckRacin spells out in post #3. In all my years as Director of Environmental Health there in Anchorage - only saw one flooded well when the casing terminated above ground - all the remaining flooded wells were in pits. Well in a pit = a catastrophe waiting to happen.

 

[Katahdin]

One gallon of household bleach will disinfect 200 gallons of water. Calculate how much water is in your well add as much bleach as necessary. For best results, mix the bleach with several gallons of water before adding it to the well.

After the bleach is in the well, run the tap furthest away until you smell the chlorine. Then do the same for the rest of your taps in your home. It will take a week or two to get rid of the chlorine taste and smell. A Brita water filter helps get the chlorine taste out, or drink clean water from another source.

I recently went through this exercise, my well cap was in a pit five feet below grade. The well became contaminated after heavy rains. I paid $1500 to have a pipe extension welded on and raised above grade. The price included removing and reinstalling the well pump, which was 175 feet deep.

 

[turnkey4099]

When I was in Anchorage - we would occasionally have a flooded well. The official procedure was exactly as RedNeckRacin spells out in post #3. In all my years as Director of Environmental Health there in Anchorage - only saw one flooded well when the casing terminated above ground - all the remaining flooded wells were in pits. Well in a pit = a catastrophe waiting to happen.

Another reason for not having a pit! I can't believe people still putting water works in a deep hole in the ground.

 

[Ritothebull]

Many folks in my area had iron bacteria in their wells and tried different methods to get rid of it, every well guy had a different idea of how to do it but none of them worked and some ended up installing expensive chlornation systems. I did mine about 6 months ago with good results using this procedure, the recirculation of the chlorinated water back into the well is the important part, they were just pouring chlorine into their wells and flushing the lines, the bacteria usually returned in a week or so.

Well Disinfection - EH: Minnesota Department of Health

 

[David Wayne]

Thanks for the answers.

 

[ning]

I shock my well every few years for good measure (we get iron bacteria, which is icky and a nuisance but not a health hazard). I find that "run it till you can't smell it" doesn't work well because all I can smell after a bit is chlorine, so I get some chlorine tester from a pool supply - put a drop in some water and see if you get yellow. At first, one drop in running water over the ground stains so dark it's almost like you dripped blood (high chlorine concentration), but eventually after pumping out you get to where you can't really see any yellow even in a glass held up to the sky. That's when I stop.
Don't water plants with that water until you don't detect the chlorine either.