Treating A Well For Total Coliform

Hopefully treating the coliform in the well piping to the pressure tank and the tank itself will take care of the problem.

Treating a well for total coliform.

Is yours one of them. In water coliform bacteria have no taste smell or colour. If your water tests positive for total coliforms and positive for e coli there s a fecal contamination source which could be a leaking septic system or agricultural runoff containing animal waste. If total coliform bacteria are found to be present then additional testing for fecal coliform bacteria or e.

They can only be detected through a laboratory test. Once you have determined that your well contains the coliform microbes you will need to chemically treat the water. Poor well construction or poor maintenance can increase the risk of groundwater contamination. How to treat my well water for coliform bacteria i just bought a home on well water and found out the well has coliform bacteria.

How to treat drinking water for bacteria. Many state health departments provide well water sampling kits for the homeowner to test the source of drinking water. Water containing any form of total coliform should not be used for drinking or cooking unless boiled for 5 minutes. I understand i can use an ultraviolet light filter to kill the bacteria or i can install a chlorinator.

The canadian drinking water quality guideline for total coliforms is none detectable per 100 ml. Recently back in dec of 2014 parkland county leduc and sturgeon county residents using well water were advised by alberta health services to avoid drinking their water due to other sources of contamination. Of course you do need to be careful and take precautions as it can be dangerous when you are handling chemicals like chlorine. Coli may be warranted.

Treatment solutions before taking any treatment action the original source of contamination should be determined so changes can be made to prevent the contamination in the future. Because the origins of fecal coliforms are more specific than the origins of the more general total coliform group of bacteria fecal coliforms are considered a more accurate indication of animal or human waste than the total coliforms. Generally speaking if your water tests positive for total coliforms but negative for e coli surface water has infiltrated the well. Research shows that total coliform including e coli is present in 16 1 of private water wells in alberta.

If you are thinking of shocking a well for coliform but are intimidated then i hope this article has shown you that it isn t as scary a thought as it seems. Testing for coliform bacteria is generally less expensive than testing for other pathogens such as viruses.