What do you need to know about having well water?

Some decent technical advice has already been given above, so I'll stick to some practical day-to-day advice. Wells are dependent on the 'water table' and how much water it holds. If you're location is in a drought prone area, and the table dries up, you have no water. If there is a farm nearby, and they are using a 'pivot' sprinkler on the crops, that could spell trouble for the table mentioned. Those tend to draw water very fast. If there are cattle grazed near the table or they can direct access surface streams, ponds, etc., contamination of the table can occur. Check the water aquifer maps with the USGS http://water.usgs.gov/ogw/data.html and get more info also. Household members must learn to conserve water at every opportunity. Short showers; minimum bath water used, no car washing during extended dry spells, clothes washing spread out over several days, capture rainwater for gardens, and car washing, lo-volume toilet flush, and so on. Depending on the climate (northern or southern US), shallow well pumps are prone to freezing. A 'submersible' pump is superior in that case. Having your own well & equipment is a leaning experience; for both use and maintenance, but sometimes it's worth the trouble. --------- Check with the local courthouse on the history of any commercial properties in the immediate area. Old abandoned gas stations sometimes did not have newer tank regulations, and leaking fuel can contaminate ground water. Of all the things a home owner requires, water is the #1 thing. See for yourself: turn the water off for 2 days at your current location and fend as best you can without it.

Yes, have it tested before you buy. If you buy, I think it's usually up to you to decide how often it should be tested. Check for any regulations about that where you live. Taste some, too. Some well water tastes great, some does not. It's more likely to have a sulfurous smell than city water, but isn't going to smell or taste of chlorine unless you add some. If it's safe but tastes awful, you may end up installing filtering systems which can be expensive, or buying bottled to drink. My well cost me $10,000 seven years ago, including everything necessary to get it connected to the house. All it has cost since then is the power to run the pump, which isn't much. The last place I lived, I was paying $1400 a year for somewhat inferior water, and it costs more there now and it's metered. 1400 x 7 = 9800. I'd say I'm ahead on cost so far. The trouble is that if it's your well and something happens, you may face a large bill all at once. One of the advantages of having your own well is that you can use the water any time you want, and all you pay extra if you use more is the cost of pumping it. No restrictions like only being able to water a garden every second day. On the other hand, if you really go to town on water use, you may run out if your well doesn't have a large flow. It will come back, but you may have to wait. See if you can find out what the flow rate is on the well. If you use a lot of water at once, you may stir up sediment and your water will be cloudy. I've only had that happen when I do a bunch of pressure washing or a lot of garden watering. On the whole, I'm happier with a well than with city water. I wouldn't let the presence of a well deter me from buying a house. If the power goes out, you won't have water. You'll have a bit for a short time, but not much. You won't be having a shower or flushing the toilet from your running water.

There are a few things to know about living with well water...since you are looking at possibly purchasing a home with a well, let's start with the questions you should be asking the owner or real estate agent: 1) How old and deep is the well ? 2) Has it ever gone dry, or have the tenants ever had any other problems with it? 3) Is there a septic tank also on the property, or is waste water carried away by a municipal system? 4) How many acres are included with the property. 5) How old is the pump, and of what type is it? 6) How is the quality of the water? (taste and smell, any foreign material in it?) Some of the questions are actually related, and the answer to one will influence another...but here's a list of why these questions should be asked, and you should also ask the neighbors of the home. In older homes / communities it is pretty common for most wells to have been installed about the same time. If nothing else, your state's DNR (Department of Natural Resources) probably has a map of wells in the area, and approximate dates when they were installed. Age / Depth of well - Older wells (say those installed prior to 1970) are often "shallow" wells. For example, I live in a small rural community that has always had well water, but when electricity was brought to the area, there was a round of new wells dug, with pumps installed. The 'hand dug' wells prior to using electric pumps were about 25ft deep, and very prone to going dry during periods of drought. When electric pumps became affordable, most homes in the area dug new 60ft wells. This helped alleviate the seasonal dry spell reason for wells going dry, as the water table dropped. Between then and recent years.... it was common for wells to be dug to 100ft depth, and cased with steel pipe. When we bought our home, less than 20 years ago, we had a 60ft well, but it had a lot of sand and lime in it. A whole house filter helped keep the sand from getting into the home, but I had to change the filter more frequently as time passed. We had a 300ft well dug, with steel pipe to 280ft, and the "in well" pump was dropped in at 250ft. We had to go through a pocket of lime/mud, but once below that, we had very very good water, and it was artesian at this depth (we hit a spring, and the water naturally came to the surface). With the steel pipe sticking out of the ground about a foot, we had water at 9 inches from the top of the pipe...that meant we had over 240 feet of water above the pump. At 300ft, this made our pump the deepest in the area, and we were able to pump over 35 gallons per minute....it has never gone dry, and its a common consensus around here, that we would still have water, even if the rest of the community went dry. By the way, at the time we had that well installed, the cost was about $5000. We secured a 1% interest loan from the USRDA to pay for it...something folks should look into, if they ever need to install a new well. We had the well water tested and it came back very good... no foreign chemicals, bacteria, etc. Our water is cleaner and more pure than any of the "city" water supplies for over 100 miles in any direction. The wells in our area that are 25 to 100ft depth, often have traces of bacteria from farm/ranch operations, and trace chemicals such as fertilizer, etc. Having a much deeper well, means more dirt/rock to filter out such contaminants. I should add here.... that the average well depth, depends a lot on where you live...some places have to go 300 to 500 feet just to hit a good source of water. Today's regulations often require that a septic system and well be placed a certain distance apart. Today's regulations in our area, require that this be about 3 acres, but when we had our's installed, it was only 75 to 100 feet. This is something you need to verify with your local DNR to see if it has been enlarged as ours was. There are some homes in our area that don't have 3 acres with their lot - that means that if they ever need it... they cannot drill a new well...there's no room. I mentioned we had an "in well" pump installed...the water pump is actually inside the well pipe. Another type of pump is called the "jet pump" and is located above ground, usually near the well head (where the well pipe comes out of the ground). Jet pumps are usually installed on 'shallow' wells. The benefit is that they are easier to work on and replace when necessary....you don't have to pull up xx number of feet of pipe, wiring, and chain that secures the pump. On the other hand... in the well pumps tend to be built heavier duty - we've never had to pull ours to work on it. Some wells also have a bladder tank located near the well head. These tanks will hold a certain number of gallons of water (how much depends on how many water outlets you have) for 'draw down'. One common complaint over time for most well owners is a lack of water pressure - that bladder tank is the first item I check when working on one....it has a valve stem (just like you see on car and bicycle tires), that you can use to inflate the bladder. Somewhere on the tank, usually right next to the valve stem, is a label that tells you what the air pressure is supposed to be inside the bladder. When water pressure starts to fail, it is often because the bladder is not properly inflated. In addition to the pump and bladder tank, there will be a "pressure switch", which actually turns the pump on and off. These are normally made with pressure 'ranges'... 20 to 40psi, 30 to 50psi, etc. The lower number is the pressure at which the switch tells the pump to come on, and the higher number is the pressure at which it shuts the pump off. A 30 to 50psi switch then, turns on the pump when the water pressure drops to 30psi, and the pump continues to run, until it reaches 50psi....with the bladder tank helping to maintain a 'steady' amount of water pressure inside the home.... so you don't feel the water pressure going up and down every time the pump comes on or goes off. A pressure switch is something you should keep on hand.... I always have an extra one, because they never quit working during work hours... lol... it's always late at night, on an extended holiday weekend, when the stores are closed, hehehe. By keeping a spare on hand... I can replace it immediately, and not have to go (potentially) days without water. The pressure switch is probably the part that has to be replaced the most. I've had to replace ours twice, since the new well was installed. It's easy to replace, most homeowners can do it themselves, without calling in a plumber. It has a couple of wires coming in from the source of electric, and a couple going down to the pump, and it is screwed onto a small extension off of the water pipe. A screwdriver, a little Teflon tape (to wrap around the pipe threads)...and remembering to turn off the electric before you start to work on it, are all you need, hehehe. Filters - Some areas have better water than others....for those who don't have the best water, there are filters you can use. A paper filter will remove most things like sand/mud, and a charcoal filter will help improve taste. Most people just have one filter installed, but when using a charcoal filter, if it has to be replaced often, its a good idea to put a paper filter in line before the charcoal filter. This traps the sand/mud before it gets to the charcoal filter, and you'll not need to replace the charcoal filter as often. City water supplies MUST treat their water to reach quality/purity levels....and this usually leaves a taste in the water...when you compare good well water to city water, most people will say the well water tastes much better. In some areas though, things like sulfur can be a problem for wells, and this can leave a taste / smell like rotten eggs....a charcoal filter would get rid of that. Iron in the water though, requires a more involved water treatment to remove, than a simple filter. That's when you call in a business like "Culligans" to install a treatment and/or water softener system. You should also be aware that municipal water supplies are required to add Flouride to the water. Grand Rapids Michigan was the first city to start this, in the US. Flouride is the mineral added to help protect your teeth. It's a good idea to incorporate a toothpaste, rinse, or mouthwash that contains fluoride a part of your normal dental health routine, when you live with well water. There are a few places that have fluoride in the water naturally, and a simple water test will tell you if this well has any in it. That is one thing I would insist on, along with a home inspection... a water test. Test kits can be purchased at most building supply stores, where you mail a sample off to a lab....and most county Health offices will perform a water test for a small fee. In our area, it's $10 for the first test, and the price goes up for each time it is repeated afterwards. Whether you get a test kit from your local Health office, or a store, they will come with instructions on how to do them. A final suggestion....if the home is in a rural area, I'd suggest that you get a generator, for times when you lose electricity. An electrician can modify your electrical panel to accommodate using a generator, and with a simple flip of a breaker switch, you can have certain circuits that will run off the generator, without having to run extension cords, etc.... I had our water pump included in our set up. Hopefully you will find this post helpful, I've included a lot of things to consider about using wells. Good Luck

Make sure you have it tested BEFORE you buy the house.. If it is contaminated, YOU will need to fix it if you buy before you test. Make sure to have the pump inspected. (the seller should pay for this) Also, many places (I lived in one) have well water that tastes awful......taste it before you decide. A filter can help the taste, but if you have to have it put in...another cost for you. Check with the county and see if others have had problems with drought/water level. If your well is too shallow, you will have problems when there is low rainfall. Also, if you happen to be on the sewer line, you may still have to pay for sewer.(in most cases) so be sure to ask.

Yes I would have it tested. Some people test every year or 2. I have had mine tested twice in 10 yr. When it was first drilled and about 4 years ago. Having it drilled and getting the pump are not cheap. Cost depends on location, how deep and what type of soil. My well is 110 ft. We had the house built in 2002 and it was about $1700. It is cheaper than city water over the long run. But keep in mind that in many cities you cannot drill a well in the city limits. Cons: If the electricity goes out so does the water. It is possible to pump the water faster than the well can recharge so you might have cloudy water or no water for a day or two if you are using a lot. Like filling a pool. Pro: no water bill. No Chlorine taste.