Hand Dug Well/testing Water

[jaideeguy]

I did a search that didn't yeld any results, so I'm posting this in the hopes that someone can advise me......

I just dug my 3rd well by hand this time, 1m diameter, 2m hit water, dug 2 m more and seems fast recovery.

well #2 is 8m deep borehole.

well #3 is 23m borehole

You may be wondering why I have so many wells......both #2 and #3 have high calcium contents that stain all household fixtures, glass, truck, windows as well as causing lots of problems with my swimming pool.

My quick home test for calcium content is to pour a glass of water on my clean truck hood/bonnet and let it evaporate and the amount of white residue seems a rough test of calcium content. I did and it failed.....showing the same amount of white residue as well #1 & #2. There must be a vein of calcium running under my place, as my neighbors 150 mtrs away don't have any calcium problems.

Now, with the new well, I would like to test it for bacteria, as i may consider using it for household water.....bathing, washing dishes and might as well plumb it into my swimming pool....if the bacteria levels are safe.

question is.....does anyone know of any government services that test water for bacteria and other polutants?? I live in the Chiang Mai area. There are private labs, but they want an arm and a leg for this simple [?] test.

[Maizefarmer]

Any hospital (govenrment hospital) - but you'll need to say which bacteria youre looking for.

No need to check - at that depth there will be loads, if only decomposing organic matter, but if youre anywhere near an urban or industrial area good chance the bacteria will be rather more unpleasent.

If its a rural area, colour (clarity) & taste is as good a check as any - but a decent sand filter is in any event always a good idea.

The calcium issue with well/borehole water s just about every where in Thailand.

[jaideeguy]

MF.....any idea what bacteria that I should be concerned about? e-coli for sure, any others??

And as I said , we live in a sparcely populated area with nearest moobaan 700 mtrs away.

You say that calcium issues are everywhere in Thailand......mine seems worse than any I have seen in my area....even nearest neighbor 150m away doesn't have as much calcium as me.

[rice555]

Hello jaideeguy, I've been looking into ways to stop mineral build ups in my drip irrigation and ran across this site:

http://www.water-research.net/homeowner.htm

It gives some info on different tests, and US prices for the tests for rough idea.

rice555

[Maizefarmer]

MF.....any idea what bacteria that I should be concerned about? e-coli for sure, any others??

And as I said , we live in a sparcely populated area with nearest moobaan 700 mtrs away.

You say that calcium issues are everywhere in Thailand......mine seems worse than any I have seen in my area....even nearest neighbor 150m away doesn't have as much calcium as me.

My other half is the clever one when it comes to the names and types of the nasty pathogens we find here in ground water - and what they do. I'll get the run down from her, but E Coli (157 strain I think its called) is a big risk in urban area ground water - and 700meters is as good as 7cm in terms of ground water i.e. its no barrier. There are a whol ebunch associated with disposed food and sewerage - primarily run off from paved areas, that then seeps into the ground water by way of the poor urban drainage system we have in Thailand.

Dealing with them (at least to the point that they don't present a human/animal risk) is not to complicated - there are lots of ways to go about it.

Calcium: yes - levels can and do flucuate consideribly, depending on the geology of the rock structure the water is taken from - changing over a distance of 100 yards is not uncommon.

The other thing to take about is related to storage of borehole water - storage tanks are mosquito magnets: they will get in and use them for laying eggs if they are not sealed

[jaideeguy]

Great link rice555.....informative in plain English and leads me to believe that e coli[ Coliform bacteria] is the danger one for home use and most common in ground water, as MF states.

Will chew on that site for a while and inform myself more and share if anyone wants......

Calcium is just a nusance compared with the dangers of Coliform bacteria, but bacteria can be dealt with easily in my swimming pool as I keep the cholorine levels up to standard. Calcium seems more of a challange for pools etc.

Thanks for your inputs......

[Maizefarmer]

I am told by the "all knowledgable one" (i.e. the wife) that you should invest in an ultra violet light - the sort of ultra violet light tube that is used in marine aquarim setups to sterilise water. I have attahced to this note and picture of one - essentially a plastic or PVC tube which has a flourecent type UV bulb sealed inside (meaning sealed from the water flowing through).

What is real important as far as using it for potable water is concerned are follwing points before spending your hard earned money:

1) establish the correct UV flourecent tube frequency to purchase (i.e. the frequency as used in marine fish tanks may not neccessarily be the same or the best to deal with ground water pathogens)

2) the exposure time to kill the various pathogen types (i.e. the length of time the water needs to be exposed to the UV light source - hence the flow rate through the tube - too fast a flow rate will defeat the purpose).

3) and thirdly - a spin off of the above 2 points to a large extent: intensity, or bulb wattage (which is why they are built in tubes - the distance between the outer tube PVC inner diameter, and the quatz glass sealing the flourecent tube is limited to whatever (I guess around 5mm - 1mm at most) so as to ensure all the water passing by the light source gets good exposure).

Note - these are good for dealing with pathogens, but will of course not deal with dirt in the water - should still construct a decent sand filter.

Edited April 20, 2009 by Maizefarmer

[jaideeguy]

MF....any idea where to get one of these uv set-ups here in LOS??

and secondly....a sand filter does not remove calcium from water, I'm using a big sand filter for my swimming pool water filtration and it just passes. The only way, short of reverse osmosis to remove calcium is a resin bead water softner.........confirmed by rice555's excellent link.

[rice555]

Hello jaideeguy, what do you want in a filtering system? Just the UV? Some of the RO systems sold at Lotus, Home Pro and other stores have UV, but how much water do you need treated per hr/day?

Here's another link I ran across while researching VC(vapor compression distillation), as a cheaper than RO in using saline water for in hydroponics and using UV in the filtering system.

rice555

http://www.cmhc-schl.gc.ca/en/co/maho/wawa/wawa_002.cfm

http://www.aquatechnology.net/Ultraviolet_systems.html

http://phuketindex.com/ounjai-watertreatment/

http://www.thaipr.net/nc/readnews.aspx?new...F64922E891EC2DB

http://www.triangularwave.com/

http://www.eguide.co.th/TH/SEARCH/Generators,%20Others/1

http://www.thaipurchasing.com/sub-industri...n-I07002-1.html

http://www.google.co.th/search?hl=en&q...=cr%3DcountryTH

http://www.aquatechnology.net/Ultraviolet_systems.html

I don't know if this one will work, maybe cut and paste?

http://72.14.203.132/translate_c?hl=en&amp...aK5HwBJpPJD-MuQ

I've been busy reading all this stuff.

I worked for a small local water system(2500 people) and all we did is pump and doss it with chlorine gas. Had 3 wells with electric pumps, 120' deep, one had a 4cyl gas backup engine. This all went into a 1 Million gal. ground holding tank, the water was pumped up 110' to a 250,000 gal tower. In center the control room(12'X20') was a V8 diesel-pump to feed the tower when the power failed.

[Lickey]

I worked for a small local water system(2500 people) and all we did is pump and doss it with chlorine gas. Had 3 wells with electric pumps, 120' deep, one had a 4cyl gas backup engine. This all went into a 1 Million gal. ground holding tank, the water was pumped up 110' to a 250,000 gal tower. In center the control room(12'X20') was a V8 diesel-pump to feed the tower when the power failed.

Would that be Horseley Cross in Essex UK, they had a very similar set-up, Cheers Lickey,

[rice555]

Hello Lickey, my moms parents were smart enough to leave Red Ruth, Cornwall and my mom was born in Rossland BC Canada.

The system I worked on was back east as we say on the US west coast.

Anything east of Mustang Nevada(9 miles E of Reno NV) was back east.

rice555

[jaideeguy]

I estimate that we consume at least 3,000 liters for swimming pool topping off and irrigation [ more in dry season] and at least 1,500 liters per day for household use. Quite a lot for reverse osmosis, I would think. Does anyone know prices of large RO units?/ All I see at homepro and other small vendors are small output....less than 150litrs/day.

[getgoin]

Did anyone ever find a place in Chiang Mai to get water tested?

[c64]

You might be looking for this kind of equipment.

We have those for water testing amongst others on the vessels I'm working on.

Their homepage have all kinds of eq that you might need (salinity testers etc).

BTW they don't come cheap

Regards

-C64-

Vannm_lere__Thermo_Orion_3_star____Bruksanvisning.pdf

[ozzydom]

Did anyone ever find a place in Chiang Mai to get water tested?

The local Water Authority would be the best place to ask , E.Colli testing , I believe is still carried out by incubating a sample in a lab.

[Trickcyclist]

anyone know where to buy a small counter top household water distiller machine?????

Hua Hin area, or, downtown Bangkok,

Thanks

I did a search that didn't yeld any results, so I'm posting this in the hopes that someone can advise me......

I just dug my 3rd well by hand this time, 1m diameter, 2m hit water, dug 2 m more and seems fast recovery.

well #2 is 8m deep borehole.

well #3 is 23m borehole

You may be wondering why I have so many wells......both #2 and #3 have high calcium contents that stain all household fixtures, glass, truck, windows as well as causing lots of problems with my swimming pool.

My quick home test for calcium content is to pour a glass of water on my clean truck hood/bonnet and let it evaporate and the amount of white residue seems a rough test of calcium content. I did and it failed.....showing the same amount of white residue as well #1 & #2. There must be a vein of calcium running under my place, as my neighbors 150 mtrs away don't have any calcium problems.

Now, with the new well, I would like to test it for bacteria, as i may consider using it for household water.....bathing, washing dishes and might as well plumb it into my swimming pool....if the bacteria levels are safe.

question is.....does anyone know of any government services that test water for bacteria and other polutants?? I live in the Chiang Mai area. There are private labs, but they want an arm and a leg for this simple [?] test.