What causes well water to have a yellow brown colour?
We recently moved to a rural site that has a well water and septic system. As city folk, what should we do to take care of the water colour issue and secondily any maintenence to the septic sysytem?
Well water should not be yellowish or brown. Was it tested before you guys closed on the house?
Any of a number of things could cause that, a high bacterial count, rust, clay.. etc.. If it tests out fine, you can always add a filtration system. I wouldn’t recommend drinking the water though. Even if it’s not bacteria, if it has that much sediment in it you could cause yourself to get kidney stones or cysts. Though, you could set up a reverse osmosis faucet at the kitchen sink for drinking water. If you’re in the states, you could go to a store like Home Depot and ask them if they have people that will install a reverse osmosis setup. If it’s got a high bacterial count, nothing will fix it but getting a new well.
what kind of well is it? Just a pipe going into the ground, or a pit with a pipe going into it through a cover?
If it’s the latter type, never drink the water. That’s called a pit well. Your local area may still approve them, but, in general they are highly unsafe. We have one and the water from it almost killed my dog not one week after the local ‘environmental and health’ department said it was just fine.
sounds like someone has been using it for a urinal.
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Could be rust in the pipes. Sometimes when water has not been ran in a house, there is build up. When it is finally turned on, the rushing water moves the rust which makes the water appear brown.
Just let it run for a few minutes, eventually it will clear up, however I would consider getting a britta or other water filter because there may be a lot of mineral and metal deposits.
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its hard water…. you can buy a water softener for it and that will help some. Do not drink the water. Buy bottled water and if you use the well water for cooking just boil it first. Have you cleanned out the well or systerin lately? Sludge builds up in there… but wait for it to empty and use a pressure washer to clean it
I moved from the city after living there my whole life to the country… things like this are hard to get used to but this is part of country living and the benefits will be worth it
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Well water should not be yellowish or brown. Was it tested before you guys closed on the house?
Any of a number of things could cause that, a high bacterial count, rust, clay.. etc.. If it tests out fine, you can always add a filtration system. I wouldn’t recommend drinking the water though. Even if it’s not bacteria, if it has that much sediment in it you could cause yourself to get kidney stones or cysts. Though, you could set up a reverse osmosis faucet at the kitchen sink for drinking water. If you’re in the states, you could go to a store like Home Depot and ask them if they have people that will install a reverse osmosis setup. If it’s got a high bacterial count, nothing will fix it but getting a new well.
what kind of well is it? Just a pipe going into the ground, or a pit with a pipe going into it through a cover?
If it’s the latter type, never drink the water. That’s called a pit well. Your local area may still approve them, but, in general they are highly unsafe. We have one and the water from it almost killed my dog not one week after the local ‘environmental and health’ department said it was just fine.
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Could be a number of things. Rust in the iron pipes, if you have iron pipes. Could be iron in the ground water. It can also be brown algae in the well. Rust in the pipes, running the water for a wild might help. Iron in the water, water filter might help. Brown algae in the well pore bleach down the well and run the water through the pipes until you smell the bleach at every outlet then let the water set overnight and then run the water until you cannot smell the bleach anymore. Any of the bleach left in the pipes really won’t hurt you it is the same as chlorinated water.
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Ask your neighbors is they have the same thing. If so, it could just be iron in the water and that won’t hurt you. You might consider contacting your state University and sending them a water sample. They’ll probably do it for free and give you a complete report. Or you can contact your County and they’ll offer some help.
Either way you’ll have to add something in when you do your laundry or it will all begin to be yellow stained. Especially your whites. I use Oxy-Clean. It works great.
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