How Often Should You Test Your Well Drinking Water And Why Is It Important?

The quality of your well drinking water matters a lot. The water is treated and filtered regularly to ensure it is safe to drink. To maintain such high water quality standards, well drinking water requires regular testing.

What Is Well Drinking Water Testing?

Every well water system is prone to contamination. These contaminants stem from rainfall, storm events, and spring runoffs. Lead pipes used to construct well systems can also wear out and contaminate your drinking water.

Water quality indicator(WQI) tests identify contamination in your water well. The following are some water quality indicators identified during well water testing.

• Total coliforms. These microbes do not necessarily cause illnesses. However, if the test results indicate a high level of total coliforms, the water may also contain other disease-causing microbes.

• Fecal coliforms. When the water test results indicate the presence of fecal coliform, the water has human or animal feces and is unsafe to drink.

• pH. Water test results also indicate whether the water is basic or acidic. Therefore, water pH level influences its taste. In addition, water that has a very low pH level can corrode water pipes. The corrosion allows harmful chemicals like lead to leak into the water, making it unsafe to drink.

Other contaminants tested for include Nitrate and Volatile Organic Compounds(VOCs). These contaminants only raise the alarm when higher than the EPA-recommended standard. Otherwise, your well water will be safe to drink.

When Should You Test Your Water?

Since spring runoffs lead to well water contamination, ensure you test the water during this time of the year. However, you can also call for such services when you notice signs of contamination in your well water system. The common signs are changes in water taste and scam buildup.

It's advisable to test your well water annually for any contaminations. These tests are also crucial after replacing or repairing your water well system parts.

Why Is Well Water Testing Important?

The tests on your water sample indicate the presence of contaminants but not how to eliminate them from your water well system. You should do these tests since they help you understand the existing water quality issues. This way, you'll know the kind of water treatment measures to implement.

Conclusion

Testing your well water system for contamination is simple, so don't let it scare you. You are only required to take a sample of water from the well to a state-certified laboratory in your area. This move assures the safety of your drinking water systems, and you can rest assured that your drinking water is safe once the result comes back clean. For more information, contact a company like Oxley Softwater Co.