What to Do When Your Well Gets Sick

Imagine that you are outside working in your garden.  You have been out since 6:30 a.m., and now that cool morning air is giving way to the stifling heat and humidity, causing you to break out in a sweat that soaks your shirt.  You decide to go inside and slake your mounting thirst with a wonderfully cold glass of crystal clear water.  Even before you get there you can imagine the beads of condensation rolling down the glass, and the moist coolness that meets your hand as you grab it.  The image is intensely inviting.  You grasp an empty glass from the cupboard with the knowledge that because of the miracle of modern plumbing, your thirst will be quenched in a matter of seconds.

Placing your glass under the faucet you reach out and turn on the tap that will bring cold water from your well, holding your glass with expectation.

Now imagine that the water that comes out of your faucet is dingy, muddy brown.

This happened to my mother.  For more than a year, every time it rains, her well water turns a murky brown that is unsavory and worrisome.  Not only does it come out brown from her taps, she has brown water in her toilets, brown water in her washing machine, and brown water in her dishwasher.  The water does not turn brown for a few hours.  It turns brown for days or weeks at a time depending on how much rain she gets.

So imagine… What would you do if your shower water were muddy? How would you clean your dishes?  What about washing white clothes?  Fortunately, before the muddy water problem started, my mom had an osmotic water filter installed that keeps her drinking water purified.  Being the resourceful woman that she is, my mother has developed a series of systems using her purified water that allow her, and her house, to remain clean.  But maintaining these systems is time consuming and tiring. Mom’s osmotic water system only holds two gallons of water.  When that is depleted, it needs time to fill back up.  Every task involving water takes planning and preparation.  Attempts to solve the problem have been unsuccessful, expensive, and overwhelming.

Read the full article on homestead.org

Image credit: homestead.org