9 Common Well Water Problems and How to Easily Solve Them

Got Well Water Problems? We Can Help!

Owning a private well or getting water from a city with a well can make you paranoid. After all, well water doesn’t receive any municipal water treatment. So, it’s natural to feel on edge when you never know what will come out of your tap.

What well water problems will you encounter next—strange colors, rancid smell, poor taste? It’s enough to make anyone sweat!

Fortunately, for every well water problem, there’s a solution. And at Angel Water, we’re all about solving well water problems for homeowners in Chicagoland and South Florida! So, we’ve put together this list of the nine well water issues we’ve encountered most frequently and how to solve them.

1. Is Well Water Safe to Drink?

Let’s be frank. Drinking well water can feel uncomfortable, especially when you have the sneaking suspicion it could harm your health!

The good news is, most of the time, well water is safe to drink. The water comes from natural aquifers, which usually don’t contain any life-threatening contaminants.

The key term there is “usually.”

Unfortunately, we can never be 100% sure that well water is completely safe. Since it sits within the earth, you never know what natural or human-caused contaminants could make their way into the water. And, as we will see below, those contaminants can cause some serious problems for homeowners.

The best way to make sure well water is safe to drink is by regularly testing it at an EPA-certified testing facility. By testing it at least once a year, you will be able to adapt to any new pollutants that make their way into your aquifer.

The next step is to invest in a trustworthy water filter like a whole house reverse osmosis system. Reverse osmosis filters are highly effective at removing a wide variety of contaminants. And it never hurts to have an extra layer of protection.

2. Why Does Well Water Leave White Film on My Dishes?

If you have this problem, then you’ve likely also asked yourself these questions:

• Why are my clothes dingy or faded after I wash them?
• Why do my skin and hair feel so dry and brittle after a shower?
• What’s causing my low water pressure?

All of these problems have the same root cause: hard water.

Well water becomes hard when it contains too much calcium and/or magnesium. While these elements don’t pose major health risks, they can create expensive headaches for homeowners.

For example, consider the extra money homeowners often spend on dish soap as they use more to try to remove the white film. They also often spend more on new clothes as their wardrobe becomes discolored. And worst of all, there can be expensive plumbing bills when the left-over calcium and magnesium clog up the plumbing!

These extra costs add up and make it more than worthwhile to pursue a trustworthy solution.

The best long-term fix for this problem is a water softener. Softeners remove the calcium and magnesium, which results in water that won’t cloud your dishes, dry your skin or wreck your plumbing. Seems like a worthwhile investment to us!

3. Why Does My Water Smell Like Rotten Eggs?

Country living is pleasant. What’s not so pleasant is the rotten egg smell that often plagues country homes with well water. Where does that smell come from anyway?

The answer is likely one of two sources: iron bacteria or hydrogen sulfide. When these contaminants infiltrate an aquifer in large quantities, it can certainly make for a pungent shower.

So, which one is causing the foul odor in your water? An EPA-certified water test should be able to determine whether it’s iron bacteria or hydrogen sulfide.

If iron bacteria are the culprit, then chlorination is the solution. You can either treat your well with shock chlorination or get a chlorine injection system. A chlorine injection system is like your own private water tower for your well. It takes the well water, runs it through a tank where it’s shocked with chlorine and then filters the excess chlorine out. The result is odorless tap water that you can enjoy!

On the other hand, if hydrogen sulfide produces the smell, then the solution is a bit more complicated. It requires disinfecting the well and investing in a specialty filter to remove the hydrogen sulfide for good. A licensed expert can help you pick the right type of filter for your well.

4. Why Does Well Water Leave Orange Stains?

Many homeowners with well water discover unsightly orange stains in their sinks, tubs, showers and toilets. There are two common causes for this: iron and tannins. And fortunately, both are preventable.

Water with high iron content often comes out of the tap crystal clear. However, it turns orange as it mixes with oxygen. Conversely, tannins are natural organic materials that cause water to have a faintly yellow color.

Removing orange stains from either iron or tannins requires special cleaning supplies. Using a sponge with white vinegar or lemon juice often does the trick. However, you may need to use a mixture of white vinegar and baking soda for more difficult stains. You can also try an industrial-strength cleaner like CLR for stains that have been there a while.

Of course, while it’s nice to remove the stains, you want to keep them from coming back. And the best way to do that is with the right water treatment equipment.

The top solution to eliminate iron is a chlorine injection system, which effectively neutralizes the contaminant. On the other hand, getting rid of tannins requires first treating the water with a water softener and using an anion exchange resin system. This specialty system trades negatively charged ions for the tannins and then removes the tannins from the water.