Bacteria

Most residences and businesses in small towns and rural areas are served by private wells or small community well systems. Municipal and community water suppliers must routinely test and treat any harmful bacteria that may enter their systems or be carried to their customers. Individual well owners are not required to test and treat bacteria in their drinking water supplies, and most do not realize that they should do so routinely.

Water from private wells does not automatically have harmful bacteria. However, if circumstances are right, bacteria can get into it and multiply quickly. Dug wells and improperly installed drilled wells are particularly vulnerable to bacterial invasion as they receive much of their water from surface and shallow groundwater flows.

Properly installed drilled wells are less likely to receive bacteria-contaminated water from their water source. Although, they can get bacteria from any small animals and microbes that may find their way down the well casings walls.

The only way to know whether your well water has harmful bacteria is to have a sample tested by a competent water quality lab. We recommend that an owner test any drilled well every three years and any dug well once a year to assure that harmful bacteria have not gotten into the drinking water.

If you do find harmful bacteria in your water supply, please contact us. Everclean will take care of the problem right away and test afterward to ensure it has gone away. We provide water sterilization services to remove harmful bacteria from both your well and distribution pipes.

Depending upon the owner’s preference, we can use either:

• Traditional chlorination (often called “shocking the well”) sterilizes the water using a dosage of chlorine bleach and followed by flushing the well and water system.
• A biodegradable sterilant that does not carry the effects of chlorine bleach breaks down relatively quickly. It can be field-tested to assure complete flushing.