Deep Well Water Results / OK To Drink?

[farang712093]

Evening Everyone,

 

I just got the results back from a test of my deep well water.  (290m deep well) To me, it all looks good - but I'm no expert.  I was wondering if anyone on here drinks their well water?

 

I'm going to install filters to filter iron/manganese/fluoride and a UV system to kill all bacteria.

 

I'm just wondering if you would drink it?   My other thought is to install an R/O system purely for our drinking water.

 

I really hate using plastic bottles here in Thailand and would much prefer to drink my own water.

 

Thanks in advance!
 

Test Report RS22824.pdf

[KhunLA]

NO, I wouldn't drink it, unless it tested better after filtering.  Curious what it cost to drill ?  That's really deep, and hope you need it for other than just the household.  ROI may be long time coming, unless that was your only option for water supply.

 

We drink rain water.

[farang712093]

Hi There,

 

I would test it again after filtering to see how it is.  I guess that then brings the question, how often would you need to keep testing it due to possible changes?

It was around 400,000 baht for that well.  It was our only option as I wanted my own water source (not going to pay water trucks here) plus it's for a large 5-bedroom villa.  I also have storage tanks to collect our well water.

Maybe I'll just go with an R/O system for drinking.  (I'll test that as well!)

Thanks.
 

[Lacessit]

The arsenic figure is high, as is the fluoride.

One cannot filter fluoride out, it would need an ion exchange column to do so.

I would not cook with it or drink it. Showering in it or washing dishes would be risky unless first sterilized.

The calcium hardness means one can expect a fair amount of scaling in pipes.

[MJCM]

290M deep wow, ours is only 40ish

 

Edit: You should have gone with rain water storage

 

200k approx for this and stores around 50k Litres 

 

 

Edit: Only used for Dishes / Showers / Washing and NOT for drinking

Edited November 2, 2022 by MJCM

[Lacessit]

Reading the report again, I have noticed there is no analysis of trivalent and hexavalent chromium content.

Hexavalent chromium is a known human carcinogen.

No analysis of boron content either, not significant for humans, but most plants don't like it.

[farang712093]

22 minutes ago, Lacessit said:

The arsenic figure is high, as is the fluoride.

One cannot filter fluoride out, it would need an ion exchange column to do so.

I would not cook with it or drink it. Showering in it or washing dishes would be risky unless first sterilized.

The calcium hardness means one can expect a fair amount of scaling in pipes.

Thanks for the feedback. 

 

I didn't think the arsenic is high at 0.0069mg/L when it says maximum allowable 0.05mg/L ?  I guess I'll need to research this more...

I thought you could use PFA-2 filters for fluoride?

 

Anyway, no problem, we certainly won't drink it.   How about if we want to use it for showering/washing dishes?  How could we treat the water to make it OK for this?

I'll try and find out if there is a lab that could test trivalent and hexavalent chromium content.

One other thing about our well is the water coming out is hot.  The deep well company said they have never seen this before on Samui.

 

[farang712093]

16 minutes ago, MJCM said:

290M deep wow, ours is only 40ish

 

Edit: You should have gone with rain water storage

 

200k approx for this and stores around 50k Litres 

 

 

Edit: Only used for Dishes / Showers / Washing and NOT for drinking

Very cool, but I didn't want to take up so much space.  I have 4 x 5000L tanks for storing rain water.

 

[Lacessit]

1 minute ago, farang712093 said:

Thanks for the feedback. 

 

I didn't think the arsenic is high at 0.0069mg/L when it says maximum allowable 0.05mg/L ?  I guess I'll need to research this more...

I thought you could use PFA-2 filters for fluoride?

 

Anyway, no problem, we certainly won't drink it.   How about if we want to use it for showering/washing dishes?  How could we treat the water to make it OK for this?

I'll try and find out if there is a lab that could test trivalent and hexavalent chromium content.

One other thing about our well is the water coming out is hot.  The deep well company said they have never seen this before on Samui.

 

There is no filter which can remove fluoride, it is a very small ion and one of the most soluble around. Only ion exchange can extract it.

Showering/washing dishes will be fine, provided you knock over the coliforms first with sterilization.

Coliforms are an indicator of bacterial contamination, used to infer there may be pathogenic bacteria or viruses present.

[farang712093]

How about the arsenic content?  That has me worried...

 

I read online that the EPA sets a limit of 0.01 mg/l.   The reading from my well is 0.0069 milligram/mL.  

 

This seems to be well under the limit?  Or have I got my calculations wrong?

 

 

[talahtnut]

1 hour ago, farang712093 said:

(290m deep well) To me, it all looks good - but I'm no expert. 

Holy Smoke, another 6 inches and you would have seen daylight.

We have a dew well going back to the time of Henry VIII, for all

I know he could have taken a slash in it, before he creamed the

local Abbey, indeed the monks used the well for making their beer,

the brewery still stands, now a house, but all the monks died.

The water seems very good, been drinking for 60 years, and

never had hard pad or gout.

 

 

[unheard]

15 hours ago, Lacessit said:

The arsenic figure is high, as is the fluoride.

One cannot filter fluoride out, it would need an ion exchange column to do so.

The arsenic content is virtually non-existent in his water.

Are we looking at the same report?

Fluoride is slightly elevated but still within the American EPA guidelines.

His report shows slightly elevated manganese.

But the most concerning part is the significant presence of Coliform Bacteria.

[unheard]

15 hours ago, farang712093 said:

How about the arsenic content?  That has me worried...

 

I read online that the EPA sets a limit of 0.01 mg/l.   The reading from my well is 0.0069 milligram/mL.  

 

This seems to be well under the limit?  Or have I got my calculations wrong?

You're correct - nothing is wrong with you calcuations.

[unheard]

15 hours ago, farang712093 said:

TI thought you could use PFA-2 filters for fluoride?

 

Anyway, no problem, we certainly won't drink it.   How about if we want to use it for showering/washing dishes?  How could we treat the water to make it OK for this?

I'll try and find out if there is a lab that could test trivalent and hexavalent chromium content.

RO systems will filter fluoride out making it perfectly suitable for drinking.

Your untreated water should be fine for showering/washing dishes.

I don't know what's the deal with hexavalent chromium content and why it should be a requirement to be included in the drinking water lab tests.

In other words - don't bother.

Edited November 3, 2022 by unheard

[unheard]

@farang712093

Regarding the bacterial count.

Wonder what containers were used to send the water samples to the lab?

The lab suggests buying drinking water bottles, then emptying them out and immediately refilling with water to be tested in their lab.

All done in order to prevent bacterial cross-contamination.

[unheard]

15 hours ago, Lacessit said:

There is no filter which can remove fluoride, it is a very small ion and one of the most soluble around. Only ion exchange can extract it.

Can you substantiate your claim?

[unheard]

16 hours ago, MJCM said:

290M deep wow, ours is only 40ish

 

Edit: You should have gone with rain water storage

Why?

[farang712093]

4 hours ago, unheard said:

@farang712093

Regarding the bacterial count.

Wonder what containers were used to send the water samples to the lab?

The lab suggests buying drinking water bottles, then emptying them out and immediately refilling with water to be tested in their lab.

All done in order to prevent bacterial cross-contamination.

Thanks for taking the time to reply.   I used brand-new water bottles from 7/11 and emptied them out.

This is my plan for filtering...

For filtering, I'm going to look at building an aeration tank to oxidise the manganese/iron pre filter, then filters/water softeners for the iron/manganese/calcium carbonate, and finally a UV system to kill the bacteria.

For drinking an R/O system on the main kitchen tap.

Please also note, I make a mistake, the deep well is 190m

[unheard]

54 minutes ago, farang712093 said:

For filtering, I'm going to look at building an aeration tank to oxidise the manganese/iron pre filter, then filters/water softeners for the iron/manganese/calcium carbonate, and finally a UV system to kill the bacteria.

I think the better and cheaper option would be to install filters consisting of manganese dioxide, carbon and resin - no aeration tanks necessary.

Your water report is not bad at all, why to spend on the unnecessary stuff.

UV won't hurt but I don't see much of a benefit, considering the cost if you intend on installing RO for drinking.

I would not pay that much of attention to the elevated bacterial count:

I don't particularly trust that metric on their report.

If your well bore is properly sealed from the surface water ingress then it shouldn't have any problem with bacteria at those depths.

 

Edited November 3, 2022 by unheard

[farang712093]

43 minutes ago, unheard said:

I think the better and cheaper option would be to install filters consisting of manganese dioxide, carbon and resin - no aeration tanks necessary.

UV won't hurt but I don't see much of a benefit, considering the cost if you intend on installing RO for drinking.

I would not pay that much of attention to the elevated bacterial count:

I don't particularly trust that metric on their report.

If your well bore is properly sealed from the surface water ingress then it shouldn't have any problem with bacteria at those depths.

 

Thanks again for the reply.  For Aeration, I was just going to install a compressor pump in the deep well reservoir tank to pump a load of air bubbles for it, it's not hard to do this, so can't hurt?  I'll also add an oxidation tray on the top from the deep well feed, they're easy to make from pipe.  ????   So plenty of oxygen in the water.

[farang712093]

5 hours ago, unheard said:

Can you substantiate your claim?

In the UK we used Berkey filters for the tap water there to remove fluoride...

https://www.berkeywaterfilterseurope.co.uk/berkey-pf-2-fluoride-filters

[MJCM]

6 hours ago, unheard said:

Why?

No particular reason why but 290M deep well cost a lot to drill and the same amount would have given the money to buy the tanks (and some money left) to store the Rain Water

[unheard]

2 hours ago, MJCM said:

No particular reason why but 290M deep well cost a lot to drill and the same amount would have given the money to buy the tanks (and some money left) to store the Rain Water

He has corrected himself that the well is actually 190m deep.

It depends on the contractor, but from what I've seen the price is pre-negotiated in advance, regardless of depth as long as it's a working well with specifically mentioned minimally acceptable water flow rates.

If the initial bore location doesn't deliver for whatever reason, they will drill another one without any extra surcharges.

Better equipped well drillers don't charge by the meter: a 30m well would be the same price as a 190m one if they choose to go that deep without trying a different spot.

 

Rain water has multiple downsides.

 

1. Availability

In most areas of Thailand precipitation amounts vary  significantly by season.

Most areas get almost no rain for several months.

 

2. Storage

The prolonged storage of rain water in plastic tanks would require constant sanitation. Plastic in itself is not a great material for long storage, regardless of the material safety ratings.

 

3. Water quality

Rain water is almost always contaminated by bacteria, much more so than deep well water that is being sourced from the relatively bacteria-free environment.

Over time the bacteria tend to multiply creating real danger if the tanks are not sanitized.

Sources of bacteria: to the lesser extent the atmosphere, but the main source of contamination being water collecting surfaces (roof).

Edited November 3, 2022 by unheard

[MJCM]

10 minutes ago, unheard said:

He has corrected himself that the well is actually 190m deep.

It depends on the contractor, but from what I've seen the price is pre-negotiated in advance, regardless of depth as long as it's a working well with specifically mentioned minimally acceptable water flow rates.

If the initial bore location doesn't deliver for whatever reason, they will drill another one without any extra surcharges.

Better equipped well drillers don't charge by the meter: a 30m well would be the same price as a 190m one if they choose to go that deep without trying a different spot.

 

Rain water has multiple downsides.

 

1. Availability

In most areas of Thailand precipitation amounts vary quite significantly by season.

Most areas get almost no rain for several months.

 

2. Storage

The prolonged storage of rain water in plastic tanks would require constant sanitation. Plastic in itself is not a great material for long storage, regardless of the material safety ratings.

 

3. Water quality

Rain water is almost always contaminated by bacteria, much more so than deep well water that is being sourced from the relatively bacteria-free environment.

Over time the bacteria tend to multiply creating real danger if the tanks are not sanitized.

Sources of bacteria: to the lesser extent the atmosphere, but the main source of contamination being water collecting surfaces (roof).

We are using it (rain water that is) for over 2 years now and no ill effects, but please note we don’t use it for drinking only showering dishes etc etc

 

Edited November 3, 2022 by MJCM
SpElLiNg

[unheard]

44 minutes ago, MJCM said:

We are using it (rain water that is) for over 2 years now and no ill effects, but please note we don’t use it for drinking only showering dishes etc etc

Sure, I also have a big (real big), custom built concrete rain water storage tank that has been used by my in laws for many years as a primary source of household water , without known ill effects.

But I've never considered it as a reliable, preferred or even equal solution when compared to a deep water well, which is significantly more expensive to build.

Edited November 3, 2022 by unheard

[tweedledee2]

On 11/2/2022 at 5:57 PM, KhunLA said:

We drink rain water.

   Filtered?

    

[KhunLA]

4 hours ago, tweedledee2 said:

   Filtered?

    

Yes, but really don't think it's necessary.  Just a 2 stage, carbon & ceramic filters.

[tweedledee2]

  Rainwater contains a lot of airborne and surface contaminates. Your 2-stage filter process might be okay for washing and cleaning, but I myself wouldn't drink it.

   I filter our well-water using a 3-stage system for our home and a separate 5-stage system for the drinking water. 

   Here's an article I read a couple of days ago.  

              

             https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/can-you-drink-rain-water

[farang712093]

On 11/4/2022 at 3:14 AM, tweedledee2 said:

  Rainwater contains a lot of airborne and surface contaminates. Your 2-stage filter process might be okay for washing and cleaning, but I myself wouldn't drink it.

   I filter our well-water using a 3-stage system for our home and a separate 5-stage system for the drinking water. 

   Here's an article I read a couple of days ago.  

              

             https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/can-you-drink-rain-water

Could you post some details of your filter systems?

[Sparktrader]

On 11/2/2022 at 6:48 PM, Lacessit said:

There is no filter which can remove fluoride

https://au-espwaterproducts.glopalstore.com/how-to-remove-fluoride-from-water/

 

RO removes 90%