I get the best well water treatment results because I insist upon starting with a thorough well water test. It is the water test that tells me how I must address the water chemistry to achieve the homeowner’s goals.
Just yesterday a woman from North Carolina called me. She asked me what I thought of the Pelican carbon filter for her well water. I told her the Pelican was for city water and asked if she had a well water test. She said she did and recited the following test results:
turbidity: 0
total dissolved solids: 53 ppm (parts per million)
hardness: 1.87 grains (grains per gallon)
pH: 5.5
iron: 0.153 ppm
manganese: 0.06 ppm
tannins: 0
I told her that this was not a bad test but that the well water test I offer tests for 83 different items. Based on the results she told me what she needs is an acid neutralizer system to raise the pH. That’s the only problem identified by these test results. A pH of 5.5 will dissolve her pipes and her fixtures and cause her to drink the metals from her dissolving fixtures.
I asked if there was farming nearby because if there was then pesticides could also be an issue. She said no, but that her land had been a dairy farm. An issue with livestock is the presence of nitrates so I suggested she test for those at a minimum. Nitrates are dangerous, causing cancer, at levels far below the levels allowed by EPA. So if you have nitrates you want to be aware of them. Nitrates can be present in the well water long after the farming or dairy operation has ended. (see my blog post on the dangers of nitrates)
This woman was about to purchase the wrong product. A carbon filter would have done nothing at all for her water.
Another woman with a well next to a river called and told me her water was brown and drinking it made her physically ill. Yet she had purchased an alkaline ionizer as her drinking water solution. Bad mistake.
Whether you have private well water or public water you must first identify the contaminants in your water by buying a well water test kit or reviewing your local water quality report. Only then can you can buy the whole house water filter, well water treatment system, or kitchen filter that will actually remove the contaminants present in your water.
