Mod note: the OP has requested permission for this thread and it was granted by the staff. ~Loach- Marketplace Mod
Hello and thank you for taking the time to learn of our problem.
We live on 6 acres in the country. Our water currently comes from a 40 foot bored well that has been tested by the county health department and found to be contaminated with coliform and e-coli bacteria. Coliform is relatively harmless but e-coli can be dangerous if not lethal. Chemical or mechanical remediation is possible but not acceptable to the health department as there is no guarantee that the bacteria will not return at any time. The only safe and acceptable solution is to drill a new well; a drilled well instead of a bored well. Bored wells are no longer done as they can easily become contaminated by surface water as ours has done. Drilled wells go much deeper to subterranean water where there is not enough oxygen to allow bacteria to grow.
I have researched well drilling and well drilling companies and have learned that the cost for drilling is calculated by the foot; the deeper you have to go, the more it will cost. I have called all my neighbors and friends nearby to get an average on what the depth of drilled wells are in this area to obtain clean water. It appears that the average well depth in our part of the country would run about $3000.00 for drilling and about $2000.00 for permits, hardware, other labor and inspections.
I am especially concerned about our water quality as I am currently undergoing infusion treatments with a drug called Remicade for a GI disorder. The treatments are working fine but for an unfortunate side effect of compromising my immune system. Contracting an e-coli infection would be, to put it mildly, a very bad thing.
That is not my only concern, however. If you look at my photo, you will see the three most precious things in my life, my wife and two daughters. They are running the same risk as I am with contaminated water. Not only that, the people next door share our well and the house is operated as a Family Group Home. This is where adults, who cannot completely care for themselves, for a multitude of reasons, live together under the direct supervision of a caregiver. They have enough problems living life day-to-day without the complication of the risk of becoming sick from dirty water.
Right now, we are following proper procedures to chemically and mechanically treat our water and I check the system every day but that can never be enough. What we are doing now can never completely cure the problem; we have to have a new well.
Please contribute if you can and share our story with everyone you know. Thank you for your time in reading and sharing our story.
As per the Registration Agreement:
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I do not believe your intention was to spam or break the rules. The Marketplace is the only place for members to solicit. However it is for items of value not charity or causes. For those cases prior permission must be sought. I am going to close this and remove the links. No warning issued.
The OP sent me a message and requested for approval for this thread as per the current rules. After discussion with the staff permission was granted. Of course that does not mean it is an official endorsement of the cause by the SMDB, your mileage may vary, for topical use only do not take internally, etc.
Also, moved to MPSIMS where these types of threads go.
I’m wondering why you need to drill a new well, since there is no guarantee that you will obtain a safe water source for any depth and at any cost. Yes, deeper is better, but the geology of your area could screw you up something fierce.
You may end up with a very expensive hole in the ground that is no better than the one you have now, and you may have to treat it anyway. Why not explore that option first? The cost of a whole-house treatment system is high, but far less than a new well.
I suggest you speak with your county’s Soil & Water Dept. (or whatever they call it there) and/or consult with a plumber. (The Sanitarian’s office may not be the same.) There are many kinds of water treatment systems (osmosis, ultraviolet, filtration, etc.) and a legitimate, qualified expert can tailor the system to your specific needs.
I find it hard to believe your local government won’t allow a proper treatment system. There are places in the country where NO untreated wells are safe, but modern treatment systems allow people to live there anyway.
My own county has water safety problems due to the shallow soil and karst conditions. The County’s Soil & Water Dept. is available for consultation to any homeowner or business and AFAIK, there hasn’t been a situation that couldn’t be handled somehow.
I’m also surprised the county didn’t suggest “shocking” the well as the cheapest and first option. This involves injecting chlorine into the well to kill the bacteria, then flushing it out. Sometimes that fixes everything for near-zero cost (if you do it yourself), or a few hundred dollars if a plumber or well driller does it. Sure, you have to keep testing it periodically, but that’s a good idea for all wells.
No, I am not a water expert, only a Realtor[sup]TM[/sup] who often runs across this problem during real estate sales in rural areas.
I feel your pain. Our well used to have so much sulphur in it I would yell “Hurry up and come eat before the ice in the tea starts farting!” But as far as I know it was safe to drink.
Is the Family Group Home next door that shares the well a recognized facility? Because it seems like the county or state would step in to at least help cover the cost, and in wanting to keep the cost down they would ascertain the best steps to take to insure the safety of the water.
Reading some of the older posts by the OP, I’m going to guess that his shallow well is contaminated with goose shit. Depending on how the surface water is reaching the well, it could either be an easy or difficult situation to remedy. A new deep well with a good wellhead seal should fix the problem.
We have a UV system on our existing well BUT state regulations do not allow chemical or mechanical remediation on wells that serve Family Group Homes. We run one next door and they are on the same well.
I see. Let’s hope a new well will solve the problem.
It sounds like commercial installations are treated differently in your area than single residences. Good thing that doesn’t work here – we had a very nice, new restaurant that had serious problems a few years ago, where several diners were sent to the hospital. They were forced to put in an elaborate treatment system until the pollution source was found. The cause was the septic tank installer forgetting to connect the tanks and the effluent went from the toilets to the faucets with not much in between. A new well wouldn’t have fixed their problem.
Fund raising is at $1785.00 as of 12 Feb. We decided last week to go ahead and schedule the drilling as it takes a while to get the equipment on site and for the work to be done. Drilling is always the open ended expense as you never know how deep they’ll have to go to get water; the average in the southern end of our county is 250-275 feet.
We planned to using our tax refund and additional fundraising to at least get the drilling done while the weather was not as bad as it could have been.
They finished drilling at 605 feet (over two times the average depth here!) and obtained a 2 gallon per minute recovery rate. That’s not great but with 585 feet of water in the casing, there’s plenty of volume for drawdown. That’s the GOOD news; the BAD news is that with drilling, casing and grouting the bill totalled $7,235.00!!!
This blows our estimated cost for the whole project out of sight! We have 30 days before we are past due and the tax refund just isn’t enough.
We’re asking for your help in getting this resolved; we can work on getting the pump, piping, tank, etc, installed later.
We thank everyone again who has contributed so far.