Switching from well with IRB to city water

[mancjim]

I have a home fed by well water that 2 years ago suddenly started showing rust stains when there had been none before. This was right after a well technician came out and fixed a small leak in the well head. I installed a filter system (self-assembled with four filters from 100m to 5m) which has stopped the staining, but need to be changed out every 2 weeks, otherwise the pressure drops from 60psi to 20psi due to clogging.

Yesterday I started an IRB test on my post filter water, and after 24 hours I have a green / brown slime at the bottom of the test. Given this and the difficulties I have heard of in ongoing control IRB, I am thinking about trying to tap into the (chlorinated) city water which is available at the street. I am not sure why the previous owners of the house didn't use this and instead had a well installed, but it is an option for me (albeit an expensive one as I will need to connect around 400 yards to the road from my house).

Do I need to be concerned about lingering IRB in my plumbing if I tap into the city supply, or will their chlorination effectively control the IRB already present in my pressure tank / pipes / HWTs? Anything else I should be aware of?

Thanks!
Jim

 

[ditttohead]

I would highly recommend a proper plumbing sanitization after you connect to the city water. You would typically need to maintain 50-100 PPM chlorine residual in the plumbing for 24 hours. Once this is completed you should be good to go with the low levels of chlorine the city water will supply.