Well Water

We all rely on having a clean and reliable water supply for many of our daily needs, from cooking and drinking water, to washing our clothes and bathing. Practically all of us take for granted that the water we get when our faucets and showers are turned on is clean. People who depend on their own wells like to think the water they get from it is pure and pristine, fresh water from beneath the ground, completely untouched by human hands. 

 

Most of my adult life was spent living in places where we had well water. One was in a developing area with mostly horse farms and wooded areas. When we drilled our well, we checked for radon because we were located in a high risk area. We also checked for bacteria because of the concentration of horse farms. We included a check for a range of volatile organic compounds just in case there was a past operation someplace nearby that may have had spills onsite or leaks from storage tanks holding petroleum products or oil for purposes such as heating. There was a heating oil dealer nearby, so that made sense.

 

Other places we lived near large agricultural operations or concentrated animal feeding operations. At those places, we focused our testing on herbicides, pesticides, nitrates, and coliform. When we lived in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, we had a hog operation operating literally in our backyard. The farm disposed of all the manure from the hundreds of pigs by spraying it over the farmland that was used to grow animal feed. Yes, using manure for fertilizer is good practice in place of chemical fertilizers. However, in many of these large animal operations, the amount of manure the animals produce is far more than the land could possibly absorb and use. The farmer would set up his giant sprinkler sprayers, and there would be manure shooting out 75 feet in the air. The sprayers would continue until the ground was so saturated that the manure was running off the field and down towards the creek nearby. Our levels of nitrates and fecal bacteria were sky high when we moved in and had our well first tested. This is the level of thoroughness it takes to make sure well water is actually safe.

 

It is a harsh awakening to many people when they find out their water is not as clean as they thought. Instead, it may contain any assortment of bacteria, chemicals, radioactive isotopes, and other harmful substances. Private wells, unlike public water supplies, have very little oversight and regulation. According to the EPA, there are over 13 million households that rely on private wells for drinking water. The U.S. Geologic Survey says that it comprises 43 million people on well water in the United States. The EPA does not set standards or criteria for private wells, nor does the agency regulate them. 

 

In most cases, believe it or not, very few state or local governments regulate private wells either. There are some basic regulations that may or may not be followed or enforced. The fact that well water may taste and smell fine in no way indicates there is nothing wrong with it. Vigilance is important because of issues with well contamination.

 

1. Chemical Contamination

 

Chemicals that occur naturally can sometimes be found in higher levels in water than is safe for human consumption. Iron and uranium are two examples, depending on where the well is and the level of those chemicals in the aquifer that the well draws water from. It is much more likely, though, that the chemicals are coming from other known or unknown hazardous waste sites or industrial sources that have infiltrated the underground water source the well uses.

 

A study of potential arsenic contamination in well water was done by the U.S. Geological Survey and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Since arsenic is a naturally occurring heavy metal, the assumption was areas with high arsenic in well water were areas where arsenic is in abundance under the ground. The agencies determined where these possible areas were located. The results estimated there were about 2.1 million people in high risk areas potentially using private wells where concentrations of arsenic would be considered high enough to be a concern. A spokesperson with the USGS hoped people in these high risk areas would have their water tested and monitored for arsenic levels as a result.   

 

Hazardous wastes from illegal dumps have polluted water supplies across the country. Underground, rusty old storage tanks number in the thousands, and many of these have been leaking gasoline for months and years. Radon and heavy metals leach from giant piles of mine tailings and seep into the water supply we use. Anything that can contaminate the local water or soil can contaminate a private well.

 

Outside Baltimore, Maryland, in Salisbury, trichloroethylene, a toxic industrial solvent, was found to have contaminated almost 270 wells in residents’ homes. Environmental officials investigating are unsure what the source of the contamination is. There are no known old landfills or dumps in the area or any types of businesses that would have been using the chemical in their operations. Possible explanations included intentionally disposal by dumping the liquid chemical onto the ground where it found its way into the underground water. Another explanation, and one which seems even more likely, was sewage sludge that had been applied to nearby farmland was already contaminated with high levels of trichloroethylene. Back in the ‘70s, septic cleaners frequently emptied tanks from businesses using this chemical and may have been simply disposing of it down the drain where it then wound up on the farmland.  

 

The chemical contamination was only discovered when one of the residents thought the well water had an odd odor and had it tested for contaminants. Based on the fact the area wells are 60-80 feet deep, the chemical had to have been spreading through the groundwater for years. As more wells in the area were found to also be contaminated, federal health officials were brought in. Drinking or breathing trichloroethylene can cause damage to the kidneys, liver, and nervous system. The residents were exposed for an unknown time before the chemical was discovered, both through drinking the contaminated water and by breathing in the vapors that evaporated when they were showering or using the water to wash. The federal level for exposure is fve parts per billion. Many homes tested higher than that, with one resident’s water having 550 ppb. He shared that he had never noticed anything wrong with the water before during the 13 years he had been using it. He added, though, that once he switched to the clean water being trucked in, there was a very noticeable difference. The EPA is installing carbon filtration systems in some of the houses, but hopefully a source of safe water will be available to the area. 

 

In Hanover, New Hampshire, one family found out their water was contaminated from the chemical 1,4-dioxane and radionuclides. Where they lived in town there were not many possible sources for the contamination. Instead of industrial pollution, they received a phone call from Dartmouth College informing them the landfill the college had operated about 800 feet from their home was leaking and chemicals moving past their home were contaminating the groundwater. The landfill had been used to bury hazardous wastes, dead animals, fetuses, and human tissues. Radioactive materials the college used in research were also buried at the site. By the time the college had notified the residents to stop drinking their water, they were already having health effects they had no clue were caused by consuming the contaminated water. Loss of hair, peeling sores in their mouths, and sores between their fingers were symptoms both had been experiencing. Their dog, who also was drinking the water, had been urinating blood. The college equipped the home with a supply of bottled water, and the symptoms stopped. They worry, however, there will be long-term effects from drinking the water before anyone knew there was an issue. The groundwater plume continues spreading towards other residences in the area. The college is spending $5 million to clean up the area, but the groundwater contamination is another issue that will remain. The house has become unsafe and unsalable, and the people who live there feel helpless. 

 

In the town of Marengo, Illinois, private residential wells were to be found contaminated with  several industrial solvents known to be cancer-causing. The chemicals dichloroethane, trichloroethene, and vinyl chloride were all used by a nearby company, Marengo Magnet. None of the residents knew anything about the contamination until state officials tested wells in an area near the factory the contaminated groundwater was traveling. Only then were neighbors informed they had been consuming and using water containing these cancer-causing chemicals and needed to cease using it immediately. As of 2018, attempts to connect the residents to the town municipal water supply continue to be delayed by issues, many of them legal ones over ensuring the responsible party pays the expenses. The Illinois Department of Public Health admitted exposure to the chemicals in the private wells may have had adverse impacts on residents’ health during the length of time they consumed the water. 

 

In New Hampshire in the town of Leverett, the residents all have well water as the town has no public water supply system. Many places, that would not be a problem, but in Leverett, the old unlined municipal landfill, which closed back in the ‘90s, used to also take in anything thrown into it by the community. The chairman of the town’s Select Board said, “For years people just threw stuff on the ground and covered it up.” Now, a plume of toxic chemicals from the leaking landfill is migrating through the groundwater and contaminating wells in the area. Chemicals include 1,4-dioxane and manganese. Some manganese is usually found in groundwater, but the levels found in the contaminated wells is ten times higher than normal. 

 

For ten years a combination of water filters and bottled water had been used by the residents with contaminated wells, but a better long-term solution is really what is needed. Two of the residents said that when they purchased their homes back around 2006, the realtor downplayed the issue saying not to worry about it. Realtors, home inspectors, banks, and lawyers were all involved in these transactions, but no one, including the home inspector, raised any concerns about the contamination but, instead, let these homeowners move ahead with the purchase and deal with the problems afterwards. 

 

In Hereford Township, Pennsylvania, wells have been contaminated with chemicals including trichloroethylene disposed onto a farm almost 50 years ago. Back in the 1960s and ‘70s, the farm used a pit to dump household waste and at least 1,200 drums of an industrial solvent known to cause cancer from a local manufacturer. At the time, it was still not illegal to simply dump toxic waste anywhere, so the drums were buried in the pit. The EPA believes when the farm owners still had found the drums around 1980, it was then illegal to have them on the farm, so they dumped the contents of the 1,200 drums, each containing 55 gallons, onto the ground. Over time, the toxic waste traveled through the soil and contaminated the underground drinking water source. In 1983, residents were finding the water had a strange smell and taste to it, so they notified the state environmental agency. Trichloroethylene affects the liver, kidneys, and nervous system. It is also a known carcinogen. The EPA contaminant level is five ppb, and up to 700,000 ppb were found in the area the chemical was originally disposed of. 

 

The town of Wedron, Illinois, has had issues with contaminated water on several different occasions. Starting in 1982, residents suspected their water had something wrong with it when it started to smell like gasoline. Environmental officials believe the source of the pollution was from two leaking underground storage tanks used by a nearby gas station for almost 50 years and since removed. The soil and groundwater at the site had been contaminated and supposedly cleaned up. In 2011, residents again noticed the smell of gasoline in their well water, and after the county health department found high levels of benzene and other volatile organic compounds, they told the residents to stop drinking their water. The wells in Wedron are contaminated with a petroleum based product known as BTEX, which contains benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylene at levels as high as 70 times the maximum allowed level. Benzene exposure is linked to cancer; ethylbenzene is also a possible carcinogen. Long-term exposure to BTEX, according to the Ohio Bureau of Environmental Health, can cause damage to the kidneys and liver. Nobody knows for certain how many years the residents had been consuming the water prior to the second discovery, but they’re sadly confident it had still been polluted that whole time. 

 

2. Nitrate Contamination

 

The most common source of nitrate contamination is from overuse of fertilizer or large amounts of manure. It almost always can be traced to a farm nearby. Fertilizers applied to the soil have excess nitrates that leach down into the water below. In the cases where hundreds or thousands of animals are together, such as in a factory farm or even a small livestock operation, runoff from manure will also make its way through the soil into the aquifer below. Infants are especially at risk to high levels of nitrates as they cause the oxygen levels in blood to drop. The high nitrates can cause blue baby syndrome in infants, a toxic reaction in their bodies to the nitrates in water they are drinking.

 

In Millsboro, Delaware, Mountaire Farms, a huge chicken processing plant, was thought to have been responsible when numerous wells near the plant tested high for nitrates and bacteria in the water. The company denied these claims, and politicians were quick to jump on the side of Mountaire, a large area employer and tax payer. The company regularly disposes of the waste excreted by the hundreds of thousands of chickens by spraying it onto 900 acres of nearby fields after some basic treatment. Neighbors maintained their case and had photographs to document that thousands of gallons of improperly treated chicken waste were being sprayed. State environmental officials found the processing plant had been discharging wastewater for months containing levels of nitrates 5,500 times legal levels for disposal and fecal coliform bacteria. This resulted in extensive nitrate contamination of area wells, and possible bacteria contamination as well. The company denied all allegations for a while but eventually admitted their wastewater treatment plant had an upset event in which waste was not being properly processed. After a two year court battle, the company agreed to pay a settlement, however, still maintained they were not responsible despite the facts presented by the state and the residents to the contrary. 

 

In La Cienega, New Mexico, a subdivision was built next to where a horse racing track was located. For almost thirty years prior to the development being built, manure from up to 1,500 horses at the track was piled in an area adjacent to the subdivision. Two years after moving into their new home in the development, Melissa Wright’s one-year-old began to have medical issues: specifically, he would stop breathing and need to be rushed to the hospital. Finally, after multiple episodes of her son almost dying, it was discovered the well water in the house was contaminated with such high levels of nitrates from the manure it was causing the child to be unable to get oxygen, a condition known as blue baby.  

 

In Nekoosa, Wisconsin, levels of nitrates from fertilizer were found in the well water of 40% of the town’s residents. The nitrate levels in those wells was significantly higher than legal limits. The terribly unfortunate and unnecessary event that led to the discovery of the toxic levels of nitrates was when a mother, Celina Stewart, had her baby daughter pass away due to a fatal brain malformation directly associated with high levels of nitrates

 

3. Bacteria and Microorganisms

 

Fungi, bacteria, parasites, and viruses frequently contaminate well water. The main source of these comes from human and animal waste. Usually, the source of the bacteria is from farm animals. The animals leave a tremendous amount of manure on the ground, and farmers add more through the additional application of the animal waste and sewage sludge on the land as a fertilizer. All the bacteria from this waste saturate the soil and seeps into the aquifer. Outbreaks of giardiasis, shigellosis, and salmonella have been seen in private wells in areas with very high animal populations, such as on factory farms.

 

In Batavia, New York, residents’ wells were discovered to be contaminated with a potentially harmful intestinal bacteria E.coli. A group of the affected homeowners reported having stomach issues possibly related to the contamination. A nearby factory farm was initially thought to be the source of the bacteria. The farm had over 5,000 cows and regularly applied manure to the local fields. Lab tests done on the bacteria confirmed that the farm was the source. However, it was later discovered in addition to the farm, some of the wells were being contaminated from the residents’ own septic systems. 

 

The residential wells in the area were old and did not meet the standards that newer wells have regarding protections for infiltration. Because of that, bacteria from their septic was able to penetrate into them. In addition, setbacks from septic systems and the depth of the wells also played a factor in the dual contamination. The farm agreed to pay for a water system in the homes with contaminated wells, and, hopefully, the homeowners will be either installing new wells or more frequently testing their water.  Older wells do present problems; they need to be tested more frequently to ensure the water is not contaminated.

 

The county of Morrison, Wisconsin, is home to more than 41,000 dairy cows. Every year, these cows create 260 million gallons of manure. Much of that manure is spread onto the fields. Some of the farms grow grain crops; others get paid by the cow farms to let them dispose of the manure on their lands. There is a balance between the amount of manure that is fertilizer on the land and an excess that simply can’t be absorbed into the soil. This excess runs off or seeps down to the water below. In Morrison, over 100 private wells were polluted in a period of a few months. Parasites and bacteria infiltrated into the wells, causing people drinking the water to get stomach illnesses, ear infections, and diarrhea. One resident was quoted in the New York Times as saying, “Sometimes, it smells like a barn coming out of the faucet.” Water in her water and nearby areas tested positive for E. coli bacteria, coliform, and other contaminants found in manure. Her son wound up with an ear infection so serious it required an operation, and the doctor believed a likely cause was using the polluted water to bathe. 

 

The problems and examples of contaminated and poisoned wells can go on and on. The key here, though, is to take precautions to ensure that the well that you and your family depend on is not compromised and creating health issues. The possible sources of pollution are wide-ranging. However, there are several things you can do to minimize the possibility you may be drinking contaminated water.

 

The most important thing is to make an assessment of what is near where you are located. Since most homes with private wells are located in more rural areas, it is important to know the potential sources that could contaminate your well and the water. Especially in these rural areas, check for any factory farms in addition to agricultural operations. Take special care if you are near a landfill, toxic waste site, military base, or any specific hazard.

 

In areas where well water is common, the health department usually has a required distance between a septic tank and its field and the well. A home inspection company can make certain this was followed. They would or should also ensure the septic field or drainage area from the septic tank flow away from the well area to avoid groundwater contamination. Also, check any neighboring septic tanks as well using the map that the property filed. Maps for these are usually filed with the county health department and are easy to find. 

 

The depth of the well is also important. Shallow wells tend to be polluted from surface runoff and shallow contamination sources much more than deeper ones. The chances of contaminantes reaching the upper aquifers is higher than deep down contamination. It is quite expensive to drill deep wells and install the well casing, but a properly drilled well should last for about 30 years. The best material for the well casing is steel as it does not corrode or crack easily, both of which would allow contaminants to enter the water. Plastic, especially PVC, is less expensive; however, it may crack much more easily, and you may not even get ten good years from it. Once the casing allows intrusion from groundwater, repairing it or even needing to drill another well is possible. The well pump usually will last for about 10 years but is easily replaced. Shallow wells tend to be polluted from surface runoff and shallow contamination sources much more than deeper ones. The chances of contaminantes reaching the upper aquifers is higher than deep down contamination. 

 

One word of caution, though. In areas where there are industrial waste injection wells and oil and gas wells, a deeper well isn’t always a safer well. 

 

Once you know what the potential contamination risks are, the other important step in protecting you and your family is testing. If you are drilling a new well for a new house, you usually are required to run a basic water test package on a sample for the health department. In most places, it’s part of getting the certificate of occupancy. A usual basic test package will vary depending on the location but usually consists of a group known as primary pollutants, such as nitrates and VOCs, short for volatile organic compounds. VOCs are frequently used in manufacturing, cleaning, and gasoline products. Tests also commonly look for harmful microbial bacteria that may indicate contamination from nearby farms or even your own septic tank.

 

Testing a well once isn’t enough, though. Test your well for contamination and pollutants on an annual schedule at minimum. This practice is critical to catch any issues that may have arisen since the last time it was tested. Too many people don’t retest their wells to save some money. Another frequently cited reason to skip retests is that there didn’t seem like there was any need to check again. The first test came back fine, and nothing seemed to have changed. 

 

Even when we can’t see them, many things change. Pollutants in underground water supplies travel. Plumes of gasoline, dry cleaning fluids, and chemicals from a toxic waste site have all been known to travel over a mile from the source of contamination. Movement of the plume and any new ones may contaminate your private well water even though the past tests indicated there was no problem.

 

Once you determine what contaminants you are dealing with or watching for, you can decide if the levels need to be remediated. There are filters on the market that can do almost anything. The question for you is what is in your water and how clean do you want your water to be?