An Old Well

[Momma J]

I am wondering if it is dangerous to pump water from an old well. We have a well with a solid lid, that has not been used since water was plumbed to the property from the local water district. I think this was completed in the early 90's.

I have heard that water sitting in an old well is unsafe for consumption. Would it also be unsafe for pumping for the trees and garden? Can the stagnant water be flushed out?

Is it possible to bring the well back to a healthy standard? Is this a "professional only" area of expertise?

Do I leave it covered and walk away? We have not attempted to remove the cover and check it out.

*side note* The lattice is covering screens. That is our enclosed BBQ porch with a 9' brick BBQ pit

[farmerchick]

. i am guessing that you are in city limits with your description. You could have contaminated water, but to know for sure you could do a water test. You could call the county or city and ask some questions, although when you do that they would become aware you have an unfilled well on your property that they may require you fill in at your own expense. Here in the pnw, wells are very common in the more rural areas and water quality is all over the scale...from tapping into underground glacial run off which is excellent to Wells that have salt water in them which can't be used. Water quality can be Improved with a filter to remove mineral content or change the pH levels, but you should consult someone who knows the local area. It is also possible to shock a well with chlorine to clean up iron algae or improve bacteria but there could be other natural occurring issues you don't know about in the water source. It could be the water would be suitable for animals or a garden and the city has rules against allowing you to pump it. So yes i would recommend you consult an expert in your area and do your own research.

[Momma J]

This is our little house in the country. No city rules and regulations. Out in the country we have water Co-ops or MUD districts. We are not on city water. The farms and ranches out here are all tied to a small Co-op. We are lucky that some wealthy ranchers surrounding us helped to get it established.

From what we have learned, all the families in the area were asked if they wanted to be tied in when the ranches were piped in. The family living in our house opted in and their well has sat. The power to the well was disconnected and removed completely as well as the pump and the pump house (Which was converted into our laundry room)

I have no idea... YET.... as to the logistics of hooking up a pump, testing the water, flushing.... etc

[BigT]

Sounds like something you should definitely pursue. Water is one of my greatest concerns.

[tribrac]

Wasn't it said you shouldn't put a new pump into an old well?

Or maybe that was wine in bottles, I forget....

[Niemand]

It may be worth getting it tested. One of the main concerns is agricultural run off. Some supplies also have bugs in them (one of my childhood homes had this issue) and natural contamination due to local geology (there is a town about twenty miles from here with lead in the stream water for example.)

[Sunain]

It may be worth getting it tested. One of the main concerns is agricultural run off. Some supplies also have bugs in them (one of my childhood homes had this issue) and natural contamination due to local geology (there is a town about twenty miles from here with lead in the stream water for example.)

Yep definitely test it. If it comes back okay, you can get multi stage filters, sediment, UV and carbon that aren't too expensive to add to the supply line.

[farmerchick]

This is our little house in the country. No city rules and regulations. Out in the country we have water Co-ops or MUD districts. We are not on city water. The farms and ranches out here are all tied to a small Co-op. We are lucky that some wealthy ranchers surrounding us helped to get it established.

From what we have learned, all the families in the area were asked if they wanted to be tied in when the ranches were piped in. The family living in our house opted in and their well has sat. The power to the well was disconnected and removed completely as well as the pump and the pump house (Which was converted into our laundry room)

I have no idea... YET.... as to the logistics of hooking up a pump, testing the water, flushing.... etc

ok..good for you on being out of the city...your water is probably good...you need to call your local well driller/water company and ask what services they can provide....here we have tons of companies who will come out and test your water and recommend treatment or a person to install the pump and get a pressure tank installed. We do this all the time. You can also take a sample to the local health dept and get an analysis done fairly cheaply,,, here a regular bacteria test costs around 40.00 and nitrate test cost like 50.00...also there are well records at the court house or online that you can tap into to see how many gallons per minute you have...gpm for short and how deep the well is....the deeper the well the more expensive it will be to put in a pump....but on the flip side if its too shallow it may be ground water basically which doesn't usually taste good or has minerals in it you don't want......once you establish you have enough water to pump and its decent you can then find someone to install the pump wire it up and put in the pressure tanks...we have put pressure tanks inside of garages or porches so that you don't have to have a freestanding pump house unless you want that...in the winter you have to have a heat light to prevent freezing up during cold weather so we try not to have freestanding pump houses if possible. I would wonder why they decided on getting water from the coop....maybe it's not really great tasting water or something.....maybe its cheaper and easier thru the coop....but I would try to find out from the old timers in the neighborhood why people hooked up to the coop....that could answer alot of questions.

[Momma J]

Fantastic info guys. I truly appreciate your feedback!

[harakim]

If you are in the mountain states or at least between the Sierra Nevada and Kansas City, then I don't know if anything I say is applicable to you. Assuming you're in the Pacific Northwest or far east enough that your well is shallow, this will be good advice. I would probably consider anything less than 500 feet shallow. Two hundred and fifty is definitely shallow.

Well pumps are so easy to put in if you can determine how deep your well is. You'll need to know how far down it is to water and how far down it is until you hit the bottom of the well (mud). In my opinion, that is by far the hardest part of turning a drilled well into a usable well.
I agree with everyone that you will need to get your water tested. Once you do that, if it comes back good, then you're good. If it comes back bad you have two options:
1. Filter all your culinary water. You can use something like a Berkey even. Unless you're old enough that you've lost a lot of muscle mass, this is really going to be an okay way to do it. You could even install a faucet above the Berkey. You can also pay a fortune to get a filter installed directly into your water lines.
2. The better option is to shock the well and then get it retested. You basically dump bleach in, pump out a bunch of water, dump bleach in again and pump it out again. At that point you send it in for testing. If it comes back good, you're theoretically good. You need to have a well cover if you don't already have one.
EDIT: I see you have one, but you will need to cover the holes so nothing can get in. That's the most important part of having a sterile well. Every time you uncover the well, you theoretically need to get it retested.

Even if it's full of bacteria, you can use it for watering plants. Unless you're immuno-compromised or you have a skin disease, you can also use it for things like taking a shower and toilets. In short, the bacteria has to get into you to make you sick and your skin is almost 100% effective at keeping bacteria out.

I would buy a well pump while you still can. I would also consider powering it with solar, but I probably wouldn't drop the money for that at this point. The way things go, you might not have much time to act when the situation comes up, so knowing what you need will give you enough of a head start to get it. You can also consider a hand pump since if you're not able to get grid water, you might not be able to get grid electricity. I have seem them run from 50 dollars to 2000 dollars but I don't know why there is such a huge difference.

Water is so essential, any investment that can provide you with a sure source of clean water is IMO very wise.

[Chip]

Pour a few cups of bleach down the shaft, let it sit for a few hours, then run the pump for a few hours. There should be no chlorine smell afterwards and the well will probably be as safe as it is going to be.

[Niemand]

Even if it's full of bacteria, you can use it for watering plants. Unless you're immuno-compromised or you have a skin disease, you can also use it for things like taking a shower and toilets. In short, the bacteria has to get into you to make you sick and your skin is almost 100% effective at keeping bacteria out.

That was the situation with my parents' place. The water came off the hill less than a quarter mile away. We washed in it and used it for everything else, but you couldn't drink it unboiled as some of our guests found out.

There was a stream at the bottom of our garden which I used to drink out of regularly no problems... but it was at the bottom of a slope which meant it was harder to access.

Amoebas are also a culprit along with bacteria. Some hotter places probably have issues with other contaminants.

your skin is almost 100% effective at keeping bacteria out

Safe and effective?