Well Water Test Results and Questions...
 

Hi,

I just received a water analysis from our well. We live in Ontario, Canada,
this is a new well and we've been using it for about a year and a half with
no problems at all. The water was great, until just about a week ago.
The water has turned salty and metallic tasting. We called our water
softener guy to come and check things out and he said our TDS had gone up
substantially and of course he was right!

My question is, why did our water change so drastically all of a sudden??
What are the chances that it will go back to the way it was??
What will this water cause the way it is now? I doubt I'll be able to use
it to water my gardens outside now?

Anyway, here are the results from the lab:

Alkalinity as CaCO3: 228 mg/L

Chloride: 526 mg/L

Conductivity: 2760 uS/cm

Fluoride: 1.12 mg/L

N-NO3 (nitrate): 0.10 mg/L

pH: 7.71

Sulphate: 481 mg/L

TDS: 1930 mg/L

Hardness as CaCO3: 573 mg/L ( I believe this works out to about 33 grains
of hardness?)

Ion Balance: 0.96

Calcium : 142 mg/L

Magnesium: 53 mg/L

Potassium: 11 mg/L

Sodium: 379 mg/L

Iron: 1.30 mg/L

Maganese : 0.03 mg/L

What do you mean by "organic contaminants"? We tested for coliform and
e-coli and those tests were perfect.


"Duane Bozarth" wrote in message
...
wrote:

Hi,

I just received a water analysis from our well. We live in Ontario,
Canada,
this is a new well and we've been using it for about a year and a half
with
no problems at all. The water was great, until just about a week ago.
The water has turned salty and metallic tasting. We called our water
softener guy to come and check things out and he said our TDS had gone
up
substantially and of course he was right!

My question is, why did our water change so drastically all of a
sudden??

Can't tell from here...need to talk to somebody local who knows the area
water tables, etc. A sudden change implies something changed--may well
be external contamination source or somesuch...

What are the chances that it will go back to the way it was??

Depends on what the cause is...

Was there any test for organic contaminants to help pinpoint a possible
contaminant source?

On Tue, 4 Oct 2005 09:07:49 -0400, wrote:

Hi,

I just received a water analysis from our well. We live in Ontario, Canada,
this is a new well and we've been using it for about a year and a half with
no problems at all. The water was great, until just about a week ago.
The water has turned salty and metallic tasting. We called our water
softener guy to come and check things out and he said our TDS had gone up
substantially and of course he was right!

My question is, why did our water change so drastically all of a sudden??
What are the chances that it will go back to the way it was??
What will this water cause the way it is now? I doubt I'll be able to use
it to water my gardens outside now?

Well, the EPA standard for primary drinking water is he
http://www.epa.gov/OGWDW/mcl.html#mcls
although it's for the wrong country.

I'm a little suprised that the report doesn't list
the legal limits alongside the found levels for substances
that have such limits. That's what my water-tests
always say:
"We found this much X, the maximum acceptable limit
is Y. " Right down the list.

Hi again,

I called the drilling company who drilled the well across the street and
they said that it was almost 100% sure that our water changed like that
because of their drilling that new well.
They said it is not uncommon at all for this to happen in rural
subdivisions.
We were told to run a hose out to the ditch and run the water for at least
12 hours. We have done this and all the salt taste is gone. The water
tastes as it did before! She did say that we may have to repeat it a couple
of times, but so far so good!!
I'll still wait a few weeks and then go and get it re-tested at the lab just
to compare.
Hopefully it will stay like this now.


"Goedjn" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 4 Oct 2005 09:07:49 -0400, wrote:

Hi,

I just received a water analysis from our well. We live in Ontario,
Canada,
this is a new well and we've been using it for about a year and a half
with
no problems at all. The water was great, until just about a week ago.
The water has turned salty and metallic tasting. We called our water
softener guy to come and check things out and he said our TDS had gone up
substantially and of course he was right!

My question is, why did our water change so drastically all of a sudden??
What are the chances that it will go back to the way it was??
What will this water cause the way it is now? I doubt I'll be able to
use
it to water my gardens outside now?

Well, the EPA standard for primary drinking water is he
http://www.epa.gov/OGWDW/mcl.html#mcls
although it's for the wrong country.

I'm a little suprised that the report doesn't list
the legal limits alongside the found levels for substances
that have such limits. That's what my water-tests
always say:
"We found this much X, the maximum acceptable limit
is Y. " Right down the list.