Most people in rural Canada rely on wells to provide their homes and farms with safe water. Whether it be for drinking, washing, or watering, wells are important. Monitoring your water quality by having it tested regularly is an important part of maintaining a safe, reliable source.
If you live in rural Canada and have an underground well to provide water, chances are you also have an underground sewage system. Contamination of underground water sources by sewage usually occurs from a ruptured septic tank or underground sewage lines. Bacteria and waste leach through the soil to contaminate underground aquifers and running water. Outhouses also can be dangerous to have near wells, as waste is untreated and concentrated in a big hole. However, this kind of contaminate is mitigated if water sources are beneath nonporous rocks and protected from seepage above.
Rotting vegetation, deal animals, pesticides and fertilizers can also be problematic for well owners by seepage into the earth around a well.
Another danger that can arise are mineral impurities. The surrounding rock of where a well is located may contain heavy metals such as arsenic, lead, or other minerals such as manganese or rock salts. These various compounds may be toxic if continuously ingested, and most minerals also impart an unpleasant odor or taste to well water. (see blog post- "What's that smell" for more info on minerals and unpleasant odors, tastes, or stains)
The best way to ensure your well is reliable and safe is regular testing, and regular treatment.
Do you test your well often? If not, will you now?
Sources:
Water Quality Testing
Well Water Dangers
www.greenshock.ca
One of the most common chemicals for water treatment is chlorine. I don't know about you, but when I think of chlorine I think of that distinct swimming pool smell, and burning eyes after trying to swim with my eyes open as a child. This is what goes into our drinking water?!
While chlorine as drinking water treatment is obviously less potent than that of swimming water treatment, it still can bring risks when ingested.
Chlorine is used to combat microbial contamination, But it can react with organic matter in the water and form dangerous, carcinogenic Trihalomethanes. According to Dr. Joseph M. Price, MD, in Moseby's Medical Dictionary, "Chlorine is the greatest crippler and killer of modern times. It is an insidious poison."
Lab animals exposed to very high levels of THM's have an increased risk of cancer. Several studies on humans have also found a link between long-term exposure to high levels of chlorination by-products and an increased risk of cancer. For example, a recent study showed an increased risk of bladder and possibly colon cancer in people who drank chlorinated water for 35 years or more.
High levels of THM's may also have an effect on pregnancy. A California study found that pregnant women who drank large amounts of tap water with high THM's had an increased risk of miscarriage.
While ingesting one or two glasses of water treated with chlorine most likely won't harm your body, the long term effects don't look very promising. Is it worth it? Especially considering there are other options out there? What are your thoughts on treating water with chlorine?
Sources: www.pure-earth.com/chlorine.html
www.hc-sc.gc.ca/hl-vsv/environ/chlor-eng.php
www.greenshock.ca
It's Monday morning and your alarm clock goes off for the 4th time... you know it's time to stop hitting that snooze button and drag yourself out of bed. You make your way to the bathroom, and turn the shower dial on to warm up, and before you know it... rotten eggs.
It's definitely not the most pleasant of smells to start your week off, and unfortunately most of us just learn to "live with it". Did you know that nose turning rotten egg smell is caused by Hydrogen Sulphide? and did you know you don't have to "just live with it", treating your water can eliminate it!
When your well water is having an unpleasant effect on you, your plumbing fixtures, your laundry, etc... you can bet there is a reason! Here is a list of common well water complaints and their causes.
Hard Water (Scales/deposits in kettles and water heaters): Excess Calcium
Rusty (red to brown) staining of fixtures and laundry; and/or metallic taste: Excess Iron
Black staining of fixtures and laundry; and/or metallic taste: Excess Manganese
Rotten egg smell: Hydrogen Sulphide
Water has laxative effect: Excess Sulphates
Turbidity/grittiness: mud/salt/clay/sediments in water
Organic (tea) colour: Tannins (natural organic matter that can result from nature’s fermentation process)
Do you have any of these problems? Did you realize there were causes behind them? Surprisingly many well owners just believe these things come with owning a well. It doesn't have to be that way!
www.greenshock.ca
Green Shock uses an environmentally friendly approach to well maintenance! We break away from conventional chlorine treatments to bring you something ground breaking.
Introducing Hypochlorous Acid. Don't let the name fool you. It may not sound environmentally friendly but let's let the facts speak for themselves!
There are many options out there for treating water. From bleach and chlorine, to bromochlorodimethyl hydantoin and Sodium hypochlorite. While each treatment has unique advantages, they also carry unique disadvantages. Hyperchlorous Acid, or HOCl is found to have the advantages of other biocidal alternates, without their disadvantages.
HOCl is being found to bring a significant, new standard of safety to well owners by being able to completely eliminate pathogens from water, while also eliminating scale from every faucet, every piece of water-using equipment and every other plumbing outlet.
Tests show that not only is HOCl a sanitizer, and disinfectant, it is also a sporicidal (eliminates bacterial spores and biofilm). HOCl also prevents the formation of insoluble calcium and magnesium salts such as carbonates and chlorides. This conditioning effect of water is found to be similar, in some ways superior, to other conditioning systems like filtering and reverse osmosis, which wastes large quantities of water and still allows a passage of percentage of minerals.
FDA certified lab testing proved HOCl is non-hazardous, non-irritating to the skin, eyes, nor the environment. HOCl is rated safe for transportation and storage and does not require containment or ventilation. The only place HOCl should not be stored is in direct sun as it will break down the components making the treatment ineffective.
Because HOCl is safe and tasteless, the water can be consumed and used without disruption, or the slightest notice, of the home patrons.
Hand washing in sinks supplying treated water will result in greater eradication of bacteria on the hands and, subsequently, fewer cases of cross contamination and nosocomial infection.
Source: An Overview of Hypochlorous Acid
