Once Again: Can You Really Trust the Safety of Your Well Water to Your Local Government?

Photo by Dave Gatley/FEMA News Photo

I’m not sure if you have been following my other posts, but here’s another case where local health officials may have hid their heads in the sand when it comes to looking out for well owners.

The incident in the article I found is a case of he-said, she-said. I don’t know who to believe, but if I was a well owner and wanted to protect myself and my family following a flood, I’d be getting my well water tested ASAP! I wouldn’t be waiting around to see if my local health department was going to do it for me.

You can read the original article here.

I’m not saying that all local officials responsible for the quality of the drinking water in their area bury their head in the sand, but I’m not going to put something so important to me off onto someone else. I’d be looking for a professional testing lab I can trust to test enough parameters and who know the right parameters to test for so I know if I need to take steps to overcome any problems they may find.

The most serious problem requiring immediate action would be if a pathogenic bacteria like e-coli was found to be above the recommended level published by the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency). You don’t want to be messing with bacteria. The way to overcome this issue is to sanitize your well. You can get access to a free video about the reasons for doing this and the right way to sanitize your well through chlorination by going to this page. 

But….

…you also need to be aware of the results for other contaminants like metals and  volatile organic compounds. These contaminants can affect you and your family over time, since many are known carcinogens that can cause brain damage and cancer. Most of these can be handled by installing simple filters. Some may require other treatments. We are often asked by our customers to recommend the appropriate treatment following their water treatment.

So, bottom-line…

…if you use  a well for your drinking water and your property has been the victim of a flood, take action quickly and have your water tested by a professional lab. That’s what we do–test drinking water in our own professional lab. We are one of the oldest and largest mail-order water testing companies in in the U.S. We use only US EPA testing methods and our lab technicians have been working together for over 15 years. Our lab director has been in the water testing business over 25 years.

You can learn more about our most popular and most appropriate water testing service for well owners here.