I live outside the city of Bandon and our water source is a shallow well. Over the past 6 to 8 weeks we have been having some water quality issues. For the most part a little sediment in the toilet bowels and occasional smell to the water has been inconvenient but tolerable. I visited the local well driller but no answers as to why the sudden change. All they could recommend is a charcoal 5 micron filter that didn’t help. But things are getting progressively worse as the odor is getting stronger and we have seen iron stains in cloths.
It has finally gotten to the point where something has to be done.
The embarrassing thing is that until today It hadn’t occurred to me to Google the problem. Two Google searches later and I had the answer and a very good resource for well owners. According to their page on diagnosing well problems, our problem appears to be biofouling:
Biofouling
Installing and pumping a well increases the level of oxygen and nutrients in the well and in the surrounding aquifer. Bacteria, such as iron bacteria, may thrive under these conditions. They can form a gel-like slime or biofilm that captures chemicals, minerals and other particles such as sand, clays and silts. Minerals, such as iron, oxidize and get trapped in the biofilm. …
The solution appears to be a shock clorination treatment. This sounds like something I could do myself, however as an exercise, I am going to see if any of the well drillers in the area offer this as a service. I’ll post an update as to what I find.
A quick check of the listings on RealWorld show that about 17% of all residential listings have wells as their primary water source. I would definitely recommend you add this site to any list of resources you hand out to new home owners if their new home is supplied by a well.