Dirty Water

Hello,

I've been reading this forum for quite a while now, but still don't know what to do. Maybe someone can help.

My wife and I (2 small kids) moved into a 20 year old house back in March. Prior to buying the place, we had a well company come in to check out the system, and all they said was that the water was a little murky after a 20 minute test. I also had the water tested for bacteria at the city lab, and it came back negative.

The day we moved in, we turned on the taps and within the first few hours, the water was a dark muddy brown. It stayed like this for a day or two and slowly cleared up, but has always remained a bit cloudy. I installed a water softener (Fleck 5600SXT, 45000 grain) to soften the water after a number of local dealers (Culligan, Water Depot, etc) told us we had hard water.

The well head is in the front yard, and is raised about 6" above grade. We have a submersible pump, a bladder pressure tank, the softener and then a cheap looking inline filter (which doesn't seem to do anything). I measured to the top of the water level a couple months ago, and it was around 30 feet. I don't know how deep the well is.

At any rate, the water has been getting better. For the most part, it is almost clear, usually just a little cloudy. It does have an odour to it - I can only describe the odour as 'organic', as it sometimes smells a little sulphury and other times more like dirt. The problem is when we use too much water at once. For example, I laid sod a couple times this year and after watering it for 30-45 mins, the water turned dark brown again. It usually takes about a day to clear up to its regular cloudy state, and eventually gets quite clear - but not 'city water clear'. This has happened about 10-15 times since we've moved in.

Our toilets have a permanent ring around the water line and the tanks are quite dirty. I actually took my shop vac to the tanks after we moved in and sucked out about 3-5" of sand/grit. There was a bit of a reddish tinge to it.

I have one neighbour next door, and he also has a well - about 200' deep and he has none of these problems. He can run the tap all day and it will stay clear - no softener even! He also said to me that the previous owners used to use his water to fill their above ground pool, because they told him their water would turn brown if they used theirs. This was between 5 - 10 years ago.

So, what do you think my next step should be? I would like to do a DIY rather than spend 1000's on a dealer that I don't trust. I've had people tell me the well needs cleaning, that we have limestone in the water, that the iron content is too high, etc etc etc. I don't know where to go from here.

Thanks for any help!

First thing to do is get a water test done.

Well Problem.

I would say since the neighbors water is OK that you do have a well problem. Depending on the well construction in your area (rock or screened well), If it's a rock well you could have a leak in the casing or where the casing seats into the rock. If it's a screened well and it was properly gravel packed and grouted you shouldn't be having a problem.

I don't believe that you have a lime problem or an iron problem.

From your description it sounds more like debris getting in your well. Without more information it sounds to me like a rock well and debris is leaking at the bottom of the casing causing the debris to enter the well and cascade down to the pump intake when the well is pumped.

This may not be a DIY project. You may need to find a licensed and NGWA certified driller (www.ngwa.org) to check out the problem. The driller may even run a down hole camera in the well while it's pumping and while it's at rest to actually see where the problem is. Only then can a driller really diagnose what's causing your problem.

Installing filters and water conditioners are usually only a bandaid for the real problem.

Porky, MGWC
Master Ground Water Certified

KevinH said:

My wife and I (2 small kids) moved into a 20 year old house back in March. Prior to buying the place, we had a well company come in to check out the system, and all they said was that the water was a little murky after a 20 minute test. I also had the water tested for bacteria at the city lab, and it came back negative.

The day we moved in, we turned on the taps and within the first few hours, the water was a dark muddy brown. It stayed like this for a day or two and slowly cleared up, but has always remained a bit cloudy.


I measured to the top of the water level a couple months ago, and it was around 30 feet. I don't know how deep the well is.

At any rate, the water has been getting better. For the most part, it is almost clear, usually just a little cloudy.

The problem is when we use too much water at once. For example, I laid sod a couple times this year and after watering it for 30-45 mins, the water turned dark brown again. It usually takes about a day to clear up to its regular cloudy state, and eventually gets quite clear - but not 'city water clear'. This has happened about 10-15 times since we've moved in.

a reddish tinge to it.

I have one neighbour next door, and he also has a well - about 200' deep and he has none of these problems. He can run the tap all day and it will stay clear

He also said to me that the previous owners used to use his water to fill their above ground pool, because they told him their water would turn brown if they used theirs. This was between 5 - 10 years ago.

So, what do you think my next step should be? I would like to do a DIY rather than spend 1000's on a dealer that I don't trust. I've had people tell me the well needs cleaning, that we have limestone in the water, that the iron content is too high, etc etc etc. I don't know where to go from here.

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IMO you need to stop using so much water at one time, which is drawing the water level down too far in the well. Spread the use out over time. This is not good for the well. And you know the problem has existed for a couple decades now, so it is not going to get better and IMO, it can get worse the more it happens. Then you probably go with a new well.

I you go a camera inspection as Porky suggests, a driller may be able to cut off the dirty water from entering the well.