Daisy said:
When I installed my new pump and pressure tank I noticed that the old pump was totally clogged with bacterial iron. I put some bleach into the well and it cleared up for about 10 days. I also have a septic tank. My question is-- Is there anything that can treat the water in the well that is safe for a septic tank?
The short answer is yes, a chlorine pellet dropper can be installed on the well. The down side in chlorinating a well can cause problems with the pump, cable and drop pipe and cause water quality problems. That applies to shocking a well or constant chlorination.
Any water treatment dealer, pump guy, well driller, lab, pump or plumbing supply houses or the county folks can test water. There is no need for any of them to lie to you about what and how much of it is in your water, you already know the water has problems.
What you need to know is all the choices you have in what type of equipment will successfully treat the problem. To treat any type of reducing bacteria, like IRB, you need a disinfectant. They are chlorine, three types of equipment are used for chlorine, or hydrogen peroxide although it doesn't work very well for that type of bacteria problems and requires a solution feeder, or ozone which is generated on site and very expensive.
All those types of treatment require a proper retention and a turbidity filter. How you introduce the disinfectant varies; solution feeders require a lot of baby sitting, well casing mounted droppers stand on top the well about 3' high, inline erosion pellet chlorinators install in your plumbing past the pressure tank and are my choice because they are compact, take up no floor space, are inexpensive, have no moving parts and don't need electric and you don't have to mix any solutions or have an ozone generator or air dryer and their expense.
If you shock a well for IRB or other bacteria, that is at best a temporary 'fix' because the bacteria re-enters the well with the recovery water and recontaminates the well and pump etc..
All systems above can use a special carbon filter to remove the chlorine etc. from the water so you do not have the smell or taste of it in the water and thereby the septic system is not bothered by the disinfectant.