On this episode of “Know Your Well,” we’re discussing well construction. What all should a homeowner know about the ins and outs of construction, and what should be left to professionals? This episode will help you understand what it takes to get from Day 1 of construction to a running water well.
Today’s guest is Thom Hanna. Thom is the technical director of water well products and hydrogeologist for Johnson Screens. He is also the author of the “Guide for Using the Hydrogeologic Classification System for Water Well Boreholes,” which you can buy in the NGWA online bookstore.

“Know Your Well” is a production of the National Ground Water Association. This podcast was created and edited by NGWA’s Abby Valencic. and hosted by Ben Frech.

WellOwner.org is supported by the Rural Community Assistance Partnership, as part of the USEPA funded program “Improving Water Quality through Training and Technical Assistance to Private Well Owners.” To learn more about the Rural Community Assistance Partnership, go to RCAP.org.

Ben Frech:
Welcome to Know Your Well, presented by wellowner.org and the National Ground Water Association. On each episode of Know Your Well, we explore different topics that impact private well owners across the country, from water quality, to everyday water well maintenance. My name is Ben Frech, and I will be your host as we explore the wide world of water wells. On this episode of Know Your Well, we’re discussing well construction. What all should a homeowner know about the ins and outs of construction, and what should be left to professionals?

Ben Frech:
This episode will help you understand what it takes to get from day one of construction to a running water well. Helping us with his expertise is Thom Hannah. Thom is the technical director of water well products and a hydrogeologist for Johnson Screens. He’s also the author of Guide for Using Hydrogeologic Classification Systems For Water Well Boreholes, which you can buy at the NGWA online bookstore. Thom, welcome to the show.

Thom Hanna:
Thank you for having me on. One of my favorite topics. I love talking about water wells, so let’s get going.

Ben Frech:
Yeah, us too. Let’s get into our first question. So how did you enter this industry? It’s not an industry a lot of people think as maybe available to them, and I know a lot of people have interesting stories as to how they got placed into this industry we’re all a part of. What’s yours?

Thom Hanna:
So my story is, I actually started in graduate school. So I thought I was going to be, and I was, an exploration geologist for about six years. And when I was in grad school, things were shifting away from natural resources and mining was up and down. While I was in grad school, I took the hydrogeology classes they offered. It was kind of interesting. When a real slow period hit the mining industry, I was able to get into hydrogeology and then mining came back. And it was interesting, so I knew the mining side and I knew the hydrogeology side, so I got into mine de-watering and mine water issues, and I was off and running, and at one point, partner of a consulting firm that dealt with just mine water issues.

Ben Frech:
Interesting. The backgrounds that I’ve seen when I’ve been talking to people who have gotten into this industry, it’s always very, very diverse, and it’s cool to hear about how we all found our way here. So let’s get to why we’re talking today. Let’s talk about water wells. So, imagine you are a new homeowner who just bought a piece of property, just built a home on it. How would you start figuring out if you need to decide to build a water well or not? What would be your first approach to this?

Thom Hanna:
I would actually back it up a little bit from that. If I was thinking about buying a piece of property, I would look into the water situation before that. Because most of us, we like having water in our homes. So it’s one of those things that if you looked at it ahead of time, it may influence your decision on buying that piece of property. So maybe the place when you start looking at that piece of property is, look at are there wells in the area? Are people on sewer septic? Are they on a pipeline? What is the source of water for that piece of property? And from that, you can search some records, or if you’re curious too, again, rules and regs change by state to state. So I’d do your homework upfront before you even built the house.

Ben Frech:
Right. And so let’s just talk about that. How can I tell? What determines a good site for a well? If I determine that I want to, obviously, have water in my home, what would the landscape look like for a good well to be drilled?

Thom Hanna:
Yeah. So hydrogeology varies significantly and depends on what part of the world you’re in. For example, my house sits on about 3000 feet of shale, and it would be very, very difficult to have a water well at my house. I grew up in Michigan. Michigan is a big sandbox, so it’s very easy to have a well, and there’s many houses on well and septic in Michigan. So again, the first place to start is look at what’s around in that area. And if it’s not readily available, then you can search the state engineer’s office or some of those things.

Ben Frech:
Yeah. And so let’s get into that a little bit. In your experience, what has been, on a local level, as far as who homeowners call to see if their land is tenable to have a well, or if there are wells on their properties? Is it usually the very local level at the county? Health departments, I know in some situations, or I know it’s sometimes the Department of Natural Resources. I know you’ve worked all across the country. What have you seen as a common thread?

Thom Hanna:
Yeah, that’s a great question. It’s very interesting. Water is buried in different places in state and local government. Why is that? So in the West, quite often, it’s under the state engineer. Why? Because water was originally surface water in the building of dams and they took over the water wells. In other places, it’s the DNR, Department of Natural Resources. So again, I think the thing to do is look up in your state. The state’s going to have ultimate authority. Look up in your state and look up water well permitting. And this day and age, everything’s online. You can go and start digging up. You could go into a data search and look at that area around that property and find out about the wells in that area, because that data is probably readily available.

Ben Frech:
So let me ask. Once you’ve figured out… Let’s go through it here. You want a well, you can have a well, what would your next step be as a new homeowner or as a new property owner?

Thom Hanna:
Well, this is kind of interesting too. If you are not finding what you need, or maybe you don’t feel comfortable in that, maybe you need to contact a hydrogeologist in your area. And there are places these days where, for example, where I live right now, the county is now going to be taking over a role in permitting of local wells, and they’re going to require an evaluation of your property.

Thom Hanna:
So those types of things are changing. Another good resource are the local water well contractors themselves, too. They’ve drilled in the area, and it would be a good idea to contact a local water well contractor. He may have drilled a number of wells in that area. He can give you an idea of typically what the aquifer situation is, how deep the wells are, typically how much they produce, and he can probably give you a ballpark cost on what it might cost to complete a well in that area.

Ben Frech:
Yeah, that’s great. The website that we operate, wellowner.org, has a find your contractor tool, which you can find certified as NGWA member contractors in your area. So if you’re listening to this and you want a good stepping stone for finding a contractor, that’s a great place to start. So what should people expect? I know you’re talking about the cost estimates, and that probably has many different factors. But I mean, just for a domestic residential well of a single family home, how much of a scale is that price really going to fluctuate?

Thom Hanna:
Yeah, that’s a great question. And again, it’s going to be hydrogeology dependent. So if you are in Michigan, it could be relatively inexpensive. A 150 foot well, again, don’t hold me to these numbers, might be $3-5,000, something like that. There’s going to be a number of variables. But if you are along the front range of Colorado in the foothills there, you might have to drill over a thousand feet to get a half a gallon per minute for your house, so that well could be quite expensive.

Ben Frech:
If a well driller tells you, “I need to drill down 600 feet to 1,000 feet for your well,” is your well then, off the base, off the start, at more risk of future problems because you have to drill deeper for the water? Or once you’ve reached that point, is it going to operate, besides potential flow issues, like any other well?

Thom Hanna:
Well, again, it depends on what’s around your well. And those are things to be aware of, too, if you’re buying a piece of property. I think from a lot of standpoints, what’s in your neighborhood, and we’ve heard, there’s been many, many stories through the years of contaminants leaking off site of industrial locations and so forth. And again, those are things you’re going to need to look at. Depth may or may not play into that. There could be confining layers between you and sources.

Thom Hanna:
The other thing is, too, when you get into certain environments, it could be a fractured rock environment, you could be connecting into the same fracture your neighbor’s well is in. And this happens quite often, again, in low yield, fractured rock aquifers. If we’re all connected into the same fracture, my well might de-water my neighbor’s. So it gets kind of interesting in those aspects, too.

Ben Frech:
Right. And I mean, let’s go into that. After you’ve drilled the well, what is enough water? I mean, what are your optimum outputs you’re wanting from this thing to provide as much water as you want when you want it? Is there a point where if you’re not getting it, you should start looking into other options?

Thom Hanna:
Right. Yeah. Depends on what you’re doing with it. Most states have a limit, an upper limit on, these wells are called… The permitting requirements are much less stringent. The name escapes me of what they call them in some states, but typically there’s a maximum yield of 15 gallons per minute on those that you’re allowed to use. But I think for a household well, five gallons per minute will service your needs quite nicely. Now, again, some places you don’t get that much. Maybe you get a gallon per minute out of your well, and now you’re looking at putting in some sort of storage tank. So you would pump your well to a storage tank. It doesn’t necessarily have to be a huge storage tank, but you’ll have some form of storage that then you can use it as needed. Exemplars. That’s what I was thinking of. It’s an exemplar.

Ben Frech:
Right. Right. And so, what’s the timeframe? I mean, obviously the drilling, if it’s deeper, it’s going to take time, there’s going to be some other environmental issues, but what’s the length of time from contacting, the contractor getting out into your backyard, your field, towards when that water is coming through your faucet? I mean, what’s the best case/worst case scenario?

Thom Hanna:
Sure. First, I’d back that up a little bit further too. If it’s my property, I’m going to want to drill my well before I build my house. And there’s a couple of reasons for that. I want to know what my water situation is before I build my house, because that might dictate what kind of facilities and what I need in my house to handle that water, whether it’s water treatment for water quality, taste, odor, that kind of thing, or maybe it’s a low yield well, and I will need a tank, and so forth. So I want to be able to put that into my plans for my house, where the water lines would go, all that. So it’s easier to go that way than build the house and find out later there’s no water there. The next part is-

Ben Frech:
Great point.

Thom Hanna:
Yeah. Unfortunately, I’ve seen that happen.

Ben Frech:
I shouldn’t laugh because that must suck for the homeowners, but yeah.

Thom Hanna:
Well, yeah. You see people hauling… Where I live, I live in Southwestern Colorado, and there’s a lot of people that haul water around here. I mean that’s the alternative. If you end up on a piece of property without water, you’re going to end up hauling water. Not my favorite thing to do. But anyway, if you have a relatively shallow well, if we’re less than 300 feet and on consolidated formation, I would think that contractor could drill that well in a day or two.

Thom Hanna:
So it would be come in, might be able to do it in a day, maybe two days. That’s to drill the well, complete it. But then after you drill the well, what you want to do is do a yield test or pumping test on it, which again, depending on the aquifer, could be as much as an hour, it could be longer than an hour, but you want to know what the yield of that well is. So then, again, that’s part of the determination of what kind of surface facilities I’m going to need to service this home.

Thom Hanna:
At that point, too, you’re probably going to want to collect a water quality sample. And if it’s my well, I’m going to send that off to the lab. Typically, the health department has a one size fits all test, which is called fecal coliform, which just tests there’s a leak at the well site. But I would take my sample to a certified lab and get it tested for primary, secondary, and contaminants if it’s what I’m going to be drinking.

Ben Frech:
Right. And I guess this other question came to mind. Is there a way for people to gauge how much water they need, or how much water they use. If they’re, let’s say, moving from a house in a municipal water system, where they don’t have to worry about necessarily… Just from a supply, not from an environmental standpoint, but just from a supply, they don’t have to worry about running dry. Is there any way that they can really gauge how much water they need this well to produce to not have a change in their lifestyle?

Thom Hanna:
Sure. So there’s a number of resources for that in this day and age online. I know the NGWA also has some of that information online. What’s the typical usage of a household with so many fixtures, lawn irrigation, those types of things? So those numbers are available, and you can look at it based on your home, how much lawn irrigation, or do you have a garden, that sort of thing. So that information is available online.

Ben Frech:
Excellent. And so, getting into this… And we do have another podcast episode about once the well is drilled, just your daily maintenance of it, but I want to keep in this area of construction of the well and getting on a new well. If you are in a rural situation, but you still have neighbors who are close with a well, are there situations where, or potentially, you’re both building houses at the same time, where one well can serve more than one house, more than one residential house? And if so, is that recommended, or are there any benefits to that past sharing the initial construction costs potentially?

Thom Hanna:
Sure. So those are called community well systems and they are quite common in some areas. And again, it’s going to come back to, you’re talking to the hydrogeologist. If the hydrogeology is such that maybe you have a group of homes that sit on bedrock with a little valley below them, that’s alluvium filled, but may have a lot of water, it may be very advantageous to put in a community well that serves a small number of homes. And again, that’s going to be dictated somewhat by the state rules and regs. There could be lot size and other hurdles that might have to be jumped through to permit that well. And the permitting might be a little bit different as well, but yeah, it’s quite common.

Ben Frech:
Yeah. And I guess… So let me ask you as we wrap up here with general knowledge. You have been working in this, and obviously ground water is mainly managed by the states, as well as water well permitting and those types of things. Have you seen any trends in the last, let’s say, 5-10 years in drilling new wells that have kind of surprised you? Or have you seen any big movement towards more permitting for residential wells or less in certain states?

Thom Hanna:
It’s kind of interesting. One thing I have seen, depending on where you’re at, I think water wells have become kind of a political tool in some areas as far as growth. So if your rules and regs state that you need a certain acreage per well, that can really limit growth. And there are some places that have instituted those types of regulations. And so, good, bad, indifferent, it’s been a tool to control growth in some areas.

Ben Frech:
Excellent. And so, I’d like to remind listeners right now, check out our other podcasts about day to day, week to week, well maintenance after you have drilled your well. But Thom, is there anything else that you think new homeowners and people interested in getting their initial well, or first well, or second well drilled should know right now?

Thom Hanna:
Yeah. I guess there’s a lot of good resources out there, and one is the NGWA and the local contractors. Talk to the local contractors. They probably have the most knowledge of what’s happening, hydrogeologically around your area, what typical wells look like. Those guys are trained professionals and they’re a great source of information.

Ben Frech:
Yes. And again, we here at NGWA and wellowner.org can’t emphasize enough how much we encourage you to only use certified water well contractors, many of which you can find at WellOwner.org with our find a contractor tool. Thom, thank you so much for joining us. This has been a great episode, and that is all for this episode of Know Your Well. Know Your Well is a production of the National Ground Water Association.

Ben Frech:
This podcast was created and edited by NGWA’s Abby Valencic. I’m your host, Ben Frech. And to learn more about maintaining your well, go to wellowner.org. WellOwner.org is supported by the Rural Community Assistance Partnership as part of the US EPA funded program, improving water quality through training and technical assistance to private well owners. To learn more about the Rural Community Assistance Partnership, go to RCAP.org. Thank you very much.

On this episode of “Know Your Well,” we’re discussing water treatment. The NGWA recommends that private well owners test their water annually for bacteria, nitrate, and anything of concern in their local water system. But what happens next?

Today’s guest is Peter S. Cartwright, an engineer and the president of Cartwright Consulting Company out of Minneapolis. To contact Peter, go to Cartwright-Consulting.com.

“Know Your Well” is a production of the National Ground Water Association. This podcast was created and edited by NGWA’s Abby Valencic. and hosted by Ben Frech.

WellOwner.org is supported by the Rural Community Assistance Partnership, as part of the USEPA funded program “Improving Water Quality through Training and Technical Assistance to Private Well Owners.” To learn more about the Rural Community Assistance Partnership, go to RCAP.org.

Ben Frech:
Welcome to Know Your Well presented by WellOwner.org and the National Ground Water Association. Each episode of Know Your Well, we explore different topics that impact private well owners across the country from water quality to everyday water well maintenance. My name is Ben Frech and I will be your host as we explore the wide world of water wells.

Ben Frech:
On this episode of Know Your Well we’re discussing water treatment. The NGWA recommends that private well owners test their water annually for bacteria, nitrate, and anything of concern in their local water systems. But what happens next? Helping me to answer this question is Peter Cartwright an engineer and the president of Cartwright Consulting Company out of Minneapolis. Peter, how are you doing today?

Peter Cartwright:
I’m doing fine, Ben, thank you.

Ben Frech:
How are things going in Minneapolis?

Peter Cartwright:
About the same as everywhere else in the country.

Ben Frech:
Yeah, well, that’s good to hear.

Ben Frech:
So, let’s kick it right off here. So, can you explain to us why homeowners should be aware of water treatment options for their private wells? I mean, let’s get right to the big thing, why is this important?

Peter Cartwright:
Well, there are no two well water supplies in the world that are exactly the same as each other. So, each one is different. It’s exceedingly important that you know what is in your well. When I say what is in your well, I’m talking about contaminants, salts, microorganisms, dissolved organics. These are all contaminants in well water. And every well water supply contains various contaminants, either in very small concentrations, or significantly higher. And there are so many different contaminants that your well water supply may be very, very low in a particular contaminant, or it may be high. So, it’s, in my opinion, extremely important to have an analysis run of all of the major contaminants in your well at least once.

Peter Cartwright:
Likely they’re not going to change much except for possible microorganisms. But the other contaminants, salts and dissolved organics, are relatively constant in your well water supply. So, my recommendation is get your well water analyzed once, and then, as you said, Ben, there are certain requirements that should be evaluated every year, depending on where you are. And it’s usually things like nitrate and various pathogens, E. coli, for example. Those should be run annually. Problem you have is that some contaminants can be dangerous, or they’re called pathogenic, they will cause health issue in humans. But the vast majority of the contaminants in our well water are benign. They’ll have no effect, and some of them are even good for you to drink.

Ben Frech:
So, let’s talk a little bit about, I know you were saying there could be a variety of contaminants, and most will always be constant. What are some things of environmental changes that could bring in new contaminants that, if people see certain maybe construction, or if people should be able to look out for any kind of environmental changes around their water well, around their aquifer, or where they’re drawing water from. I mean, what would some examples of those be that introduce new contaminations into a well?

Peter Cartwright:
Well, you’re absolutely correct. Depending upon the depth of the well, and everybody knows that the shallower the well, the more likely it is to be contaminated by surface water supplies. But there are certain contaminants that may come from the surface that could significantly impact the quality of the well. Again, it depends on the kind of contaminant it is. If it’s a pathogen, let’s say for example a nitrate, that could come from runoff, an agricultural environment, or a septic tank that’s improperly located. An awful lot of water activity on the surface, heavy rain storms, flooding, this sort of thing could, certainly, impact the well by percolation through the ground, or actually getting in through the opening at the top of the ground at the surface. So, there are a number of mechanisms that could interfere with the well water quality. And these are mainly contaminants that result from, usually, human activity, right at the surface.

Ben Frech:
And I know that there’s been some issues with road salt, potentially being one of those, as well, as you’d said, during flooding. Transferring of animal feces, or other human waste into those systems can also be a problem.

Ben Frech:
And so, I guess kind of let’s get then down into this, how would a homeowner know what kind of treatment they would need for their water? Is that pretty well outlined once you know what’s in there? Or is that something that water contractor, that the individual testing your water is going to be able to tell you?

Peter Cartwright:
Yes, the short answer. Obviously, going back to what I said earlier, the only way you’ll know what your contaminants are, or be able to identify them is to have a thorough analysis run. And getting into that, it’s exceedingly important that you use a laboratory, and I’m not talking about having a water dealer do the analysis, I’m talking about a certified EPA approved laboratory run the test. Generally, this would cost in the neighborhood of $100 or so. And, if you use a local laboratory they might have a pretty good idea of what the contaminants of concern are in your particular area.

Ben Frech:
Right because they’re there.

Peter Cartwright:
So, that’s number one, you have to find out what’s in the water. Then, once you have a reliable, trustworthy contractor, and it could be a water conditioning dealer, particularly if they are certified by the Water Quality Association, they would be qualified to tell you what you need to do, what you need to install in the way of water treatment. And you mentioned earlier about chloride contamination, that’s a huge issue, particularly in, obviously, the Northern climates where road salt is a major contamination issue. And the second source of chloride that can contaminate well water is from water softener discharge into a septic system, or through percolation.

Ben Frech:
And so, when people are testing their water, is that as simple as just filling a container from your faucet and sending it away? How does that process usually work with labs, getting them the sample?

Peter Cartwright:
Well, the way to start is once you’ve identified a qualified, reliable, trustworthy lab my suggestion is give them a call and ask them what they want. Certain analyses require that they send you a particular container, because it may have a trace of acid, or something that is used as a preservative. It can be a little tricky when it comes to microorganisms because you, as a homeowner, could do it yourself. However, you have to ensure that the sample is kept refrigerated. Basically, put it in a cooler and fill the cooler with ice. And so, it depends on what you’re testing for. And the point is you’ll get all sorts of guidance from the laboratory itself.

Peter Cartwright:
Once you have this water analysis from the laboratory, then your next challenge is to identify a company that can recommend the most appropriate water treatment technology. And that is a challenge because virtually every class of contaminant, such as salts versus dissolved organics versus microorganisms, very likely would require a different suite of treatment technologies.

Ben Frech:
And so let’s get into … and now I’d like to a moment here, many of these resources will be available to private well owners on WellOwner.org, they will be able to connect you with water resources in your area. So please, if you’re listening to this podcast and you have more questions of where to find laboratories and contractors, please visit WellOwner.org.

Ben Frech:
Now, let’s go into some of these treatment systems. I mean, I know you said there’s different systems for different contaminants, but how do some of the most popular systems work? Or what are the most common water treatment systems people will encounter on their wells?

Peter Cartwright:
Well, let me back up a moment, and make a couple of general comments. The first one is that according to the EPA that has set the drinking water standards for the United States, there are two classes of contaminants. There are primary contaminants, which means these are the contaminants in drinking water that could affect your health. They’re, basically, dangerous. The second class is what’s called secondary contaminants, which is defined as those that can have an aesthetic effect within your home.

Peter Cartwright:
An example for primary contamination would be arsenic, for example, or uranium, or hydrogen sulfide, or radon, or lead, nitrates. These are just a few of the contaminants that are listed as primary. And those are the ones that, generally, have to be taken out, or should be taken out at least at the tap. Many of them will have no effect, if you take a shower with nitrate, for example. Nitrates, they can’t be inhaled and they’re not going to pass through your skin. So, you only have to worry about them in your drinking water. Therefore, the least expensive way to treat for nitrate is at the tap, at the drinking water source.

Peter Cartwright:
The secondary contaminant, an example would be hardness, softening. Everybody … well, I shouldn’t say everybody, most people that have a well have calcium and magnesium, they have hardness in the well. Hardness has absolutely no health effect. As a matter of fact, many medical experts feel you need to drink calcium and magnesium. Not that you necessarily need it from your drinking water, but it’s a healthy mineral for your body. On the other hand, it will cause scaling. Anytime you have this white deposit on the end of your faucet, or in your toilet, or your bathtub it’s almost invariably from hardness, calcium and magnesium salts that are very insoluble. To get rid of that, the most practical ways to put in a water song. So, that’s done at the entrance to the house. That’s called a point of entry treatment. And very, very traditional, works extremely well.

Peter Cartwright:
Another secondary contaminant of great concern to well owners is iron. Iron can be taken out with a water softener but, depending on how much you have in your water, you may very well need a separate treatment technology known as an iron filter, which is also installed at the point of entry. So, point of entry treatment, usually, is for secondary contaminants. Or in the case of a primary contaminant, where it could be absorbed through the skin, uranium is an example. You don’t want to take a shower with uranium.

Ben Frech:
No.

Peter Cartwright:
Radon, it can be a problem because it can be inhaled. So, again, it’s a function of what is the contaminant? And to address that issue, you really need to work with a very qualified contractor, or a consultant, who can give you advice.

Ben Frech:
Okay. And so, I know that probably the answer to this question is going to be, it varies, but we’ll go ahead and ask. How expensive are some of these treatment options that you just outlined? I mean, obviously, I would think that the ones that are at the faucet are going to be cheaper than the point of entry. But I mean, what kind of prices are we looking at here?

Peter Cartwright:
Well, I happen to be a very strong advocate, keep in mind I don’t sell anything tangible, I’m just a consultant, but I’m a very strong advocate of a drinking water treatment system called under sink reverse osmosis, or point of use reverse osmosis. This is a small system that could be installed by anybody who’s the least bit handy, normally, underneath the kitchen sink. It involves a separate faucet that only has reverse osmosis treated water. These can be purchased from a dealer, or from a DIY store like Home Depot, or Lowe’s for less than $200. And they are extremely effective. I’ve written some articles about them, some white papers on that. And it’s been proven by academic sources that have done testing that at least 65% of the contaminants in drinking water can be removed by under sink reverse osmosis.

Peter Cartwright:
Having said that, if you have a bacteria problem, iron bacteria, hydrogen sulfide generated by sulfate reducing bacteria, et cetera I would not recommend reverse osmosis. Then, you have to go to technology such as chlorination, but at any rate … So, the least expensive total treatment for drinking water would be reverse osmosis. Under sink carbon filters can be purchased for probably less than $100 and installed in a cartridge in housing. So, the low end, which is normally treating water with activated carbon, or with a sediment filter could be easily less than $100.

Peter Cartwright:
Water softener, on the other hand, again, that could be easily installed by someone who is handy. Or, again, purchased through a dealer, these would normally be in the range of at least $400 and higher, depending on whether you have it installed, et cetera. So I guess in terms of the range of treatment costs, we’re talking about something less than $100, and probably up to a 1000. There are certainly much more elaborate systems that might be put in that would be more expensive. Again, the key is to identify what your problem contaminant is, and then work with a qualified installer.

Ben Frech:
Yeah so, I guess, that brings up another point I wanted to ask you about if you’re going to be spending upwards of $400, and some of these systems possibly more, what’s the shelf life for a system? I mean, how long if you properly maintain your system, I mean, how long will a good water treatment system from a high-quality manufacturer, how long will that last a normal household with normal water usage?

Peter Cartwright:
Well, starting at the point of use single faucet area, if you’re going to remove particulates, or maybe something like a volatile organic contaminant that is found, which is very unusual, but if you’re going to use something like a cartridge filter, either a particulate filter, or a carbon filter, depending upon the quantity of contaminants, they might have to be replaced every month to three months because these filters are based on removing the contaminant inside the filter itself. So, it captures whatever you’re trying to remove. And, eventually, it’s going to load up and has to be replaced.

Ben Frech:
Just like a Brita filter would be from a Brita, right?

Peter Cartwright:
Yes. I’d rather not talk about that because they’re not high on my list of quality treatments.

Peter Cartwright:
Reverse osmosis, on the other hand, this generates a wastewater stream. In other words, the membrane, which is the key component doesn’t collect the contaminants. It can eventually become foul, but its main function is to separate the contaminants from the drinking water and these separated contaminants go down the drain.

Peter Cartwright:
Now having said that, those separated contaminants, which are in what is called a reject, or a concentrate stream can be collected, and used for non-potable applications, watering plants, et cetera is acceptable. But anyway, those membranes will, regardless of what you may hear from the company that’s selling the components, those membranes will last a minimum of 10 years.

Ben Frech:
Oh wow.

Peter Cartwright:
I’ve got a lot of experience in installing these. And I’ve had one that I recently replaced, it had never had anything done to it for 20 years. So, likewise, the life of water softening resin, particularly if it’s not full of iron, or if you have a iron filter ahead of it, and you’re not chlorinating the resin itself, which will destroy it over time, those water softening systems should last a minimum of 20 years, in my opinion, too.

Ben Frech:
Excellent.

Peter Cartwright:
A lot of these technologies are really long [inaudible 00:20:18].

Ben Frech:
And will most of these treatments, or treatment systems you get, will they come with instructions on any kind of maintenance that does need to be done? Or any things you should be looking out for with the system over that time span?

Peter Cartwright:
Yes. If you buy a system from a DIY facility, like any other appliance that you have excellent information on how to install them, how to maintain them. If you buy a system from a dealer, they may very well try to arrange a service contract. Well, they will come in and they will maintain the system for you. It depends upon how independent you are, and how much money you want to save as to whether you do all this yourself, or work through a qualified, again I want to underscore the fact that it has to be a qualified, certified reputable dealer.

Ben Frech:
Yes. And, again, we would like to encourage everyone to be checking out wellowner.org for local water resources in their area. And before we wrap up today, Peter, is there anything else on this topic of water treatment that you’d like our listeners to know, and to keep in mind?

Peter Cartwright:
I am happy to communicate with anybody who has a question. I am a consultant but I, basically, have the philosophy if I can answer a question over the phone, or with a quick email I don’t charge for it. So, I’m happy to try to help educate your viewers.

Ben Frech:
Excellent. That’s all for this episode of Know Your Well we’d like to thank you, Peter, for joining us today. Know Your Well is a production of the National Ground Water Association. This podcast was created and edited by NGWA’s, Abby Valencic. I’m your host, Ben Frech, telling you what you need to know to make that flow water flow. Thank you everybody. And to learn more about maintaining your well, go to WellOwner.org. WellOwner.org is supported by the Rural Community Assistance Partnership as part of the US EPA funded program and proven water quality through training and technical assistance to private well owners. To learn more about the Rural Community Assistance Partnership, go to RCAP.org.

On this episode of “Know Your Well,” we’re discussing water testing. What goes into testing your water? How often should you do it? Why is it important?

Today’s guest is Mike Ekberg, the manager of water resource monitoring at the Miami Conservancy District in Dayton, Ohio.

“Know Your Well” is a production of the National Ground Water Association. This podcast was created and edited by NGWA’s Abby Valencic. and hosted by Ben Frech.

WellOwner.org is supported by the Rural Community Assistance Partnership, as part of the USEPA funded program “Improving Water Quality through Training and Technical Assistance to Private Well Owners.” To learn more about the Rural Community Assistance Partnership, go to RCAP.org.

Ben Frech:
Welcome to Know Your Well, presented by WellOwner.org and the National Ground Water Association. On each episode of Know Your Well, we explore different topics that impact private well owners across the country from water quality to everyday water well maintenance. My name is Ben Frech and I will be your host as we explore the wide world of water wells. On this episode of Know Your Well, we’re discussing water testing. What goes into testing your water? How often should you do it and why is it so important? Answering these questions and many more today is Mike Ekberg, who’s the manager of Water Resource Monitoring at the Miami Conservancy District in Dayton, Ohio. Mike, welcome to the show.

Mike Ekberg:
Oh, thanks for having me, Ben. It’s good to be here.

Ben Frech:
Tell us a little bit first about what the Miami Conservancy District does in Ohio, here in Dayton, Ohio.

Mike Ekberg:
Sure. The Miami Conservancy District originated as an organization to help solve recurring flooding problems in Southwest Ohio. The Miami Conservancy District kind of arose in the aftermath of the 1913 flood, which was the flood of record in our region. It was a devastating flood. Out of that, the citizens in Southwest Ohio decided that they needed a longterm solution, so Miami Conservancy District was created. We built a flood protection system that has five dams and about 55 miles of levy that protect the communities along the Great Miami River from flooding. Flood protection is a big part of our mission, but we’re also very focused on water quality. Our region has very productive sand and gravel aquifers, and probably over 95% of the people that live in our region get their drinking water from groundwater.

Ben Frech:
Yeah.

Mike Ekberg:
A good many of those people have a private water system. So talking about getting your water tested is very timely, because it’s something that we really want to encourage owners of private water systems to do.

Ben Frech:
Yeah, it’s so important. I want to come back to that a little bit later about how flooding and water testing will oftentimes go hand-in-hand, especially with some groundwater issues. That’s interesting you’re talking about the 1913 flood. I think I remember living in and around Cincinnati seeing a lot of markers on bridges and statues and things by the river showing markers of where the 1913 flood was, or was hitting. It was always very interesting to see.

Mike Ekberg:
Yeah, if you ever come into Downtown Dayton, or even if you come to our headquarters building, we have a marker right in our front door that shows the level that the floodwaters reached during that flood and it’s really amazing.

Ben Frech:
Yeah. So let’s get into water testing, why we’re talking today. Could you tell us just in basic terms, I mean, what does water testing mean? Is it as simple as grabbing a test tube and running some tests? I mean, when you say water testing, is that basically a catch-all for any kind of tests you can do or what, I mean, what kind of water testing are you most concerned with?

Mike Ekberg:
Yeah. The angle I’m going to approach it from today when we talk about water testing, and I’m really kind of focused on owners of private water systems today, it’s testing your water or having it analyzed to see whether or not there are contaminants in the water and are they at levels that potentially impact the safety of the drinking water.

Ben Frech:
Right. Right. I mean, let’s get in, before we get into what can be in there, let’s talk about what people probably want to know right off the bat, can people test their own water wells? Is that advisable?

Mike Ekberg:
Yeah. Generally people can’t test their own water. There are a few simple tests out there, but generally speaking, you’re going to need a professional and you’re probably going to need to work with a laboratory to have a thorough analysis of your drinking water.

Ben Frech:
Yeah. We always, obviously here, we always like to promote our WellOwner.org contractor lookup tool, which we’ll put well owners into contact with contractors who can test their water. Who work with a lot of laboratories and local health departments to do that. Once you have a contractor out there, you’re working with a laboratory to test your water, what are these people looking for? Is there any way to know if you need to test your water, or should it just be something you do annually, like changing a furnace filter?

Mike Ekberg:
Generally, I would recommend that a private well owner, assuming that there’s no change in the taste or odor of the water, or there’s no reason to suspect contamination, that you get it tested once a year. If there is a reason to think that there’s a potential for, there’s some kind of change, maybe the water suddenly clouds up or tastes different, maybe the well was flooded. On occasions like that the well owner probably ought to have it tested immediately after an event like that or potentially more frequently.

Ben Frech:
Right. Let’s talk a little bit more about that. As far as people thinking potentially their water could be contaminated. If there are people who maybe move to a new house or maybe there was recently a new manufacturer or something built close to them, or is there any really kind of regionality that may drive people wanting to test their water more? Or any kind of impacts on their landscape that would, people would want to potentially get their water tested more than one year or maybe one year something happens with the weather that would prove useful to have it tested.

Mike Ekberg:
Yeah. I think if there are a lot of land use changes going on, that’s probably a good thing to get a test. I think certainly, again, I’ll go back to a change in taste or odor of the water or the appearance of the water. That would be a good reason to have it tested. The other thing is just, there are some wells that are just kind of in more vulnerable locations. If the well is subjected to, maybe it’s on the bank of a creek or near a river and can periodically be flooded. That might be a situation where the homeowner might want to look at more frequent testing. I would encourage, though, any homeowner that is in a situation like that to talk with a water well professional, maybe their local or state health departments and get some information. They may have information on other wells in that area. They might be able to give the well owner some tips and some useful information in making those kinds of decisions.

Ben Frech:
Let’s get back to that a little bit what you were just talking about, so going into the flooding aspect of this. How does actual, how does a water well become contaminated? You were saying if it’s by a creek or a river bed, how, if a water well is not contaminated one day, but becomes contaminated, how does that usually happen? How’s that connected to flooding?

Mike Ekberg:
Well, generally one of the most common ways that a well can become contaminated is if it is in an, either due to the construction of the well or the location of the well, it’s exposed to surface water, which can rapidly infiltrate into the ground, bringing potential contaminants with it to the well, or potentially, if the wells a little too close to a septic system. Situations like that can make a well more vulnerable. The aquifer type. Again, I think these are things that most private owners might not be aware of. I think if you talk with water professionals and your local health department, you can get some clues as to what the situation and what kinds of vulnerabilities wells in your region might have.

Ben Frech:
Before we start talking about what things can usually cost, let’s say somebody does get their water tested. It comes back as there’s some contamination issues with it. Tell me a little bit about how those get kind of remediated and if they can be fixed at all without having to replace their well, or if they can usually just get these treated, for the most part.

Mike Ekberg:
Well, depending upon the type of contaminant, sometimes it’s as simple as, and again, when you get the results back, it’s good to have and to consult with a water professional to assist you in interpreting those results. Solutions to contaminants can be anything from perhaps the well needs to be maintained properly. Maybe the well has a broken casing that’s allowing surface water to get in and it might need some attention. Other things can just be that there are point of use water treatment systems that are out there on the market. There are whole house treatment systems that are available, and they come with different costs and different levels of complexity. I don’t want to jump too far ahead, but I think, again, the first thing is when you get results from a water analysis is I would encourage any private well owner to sit down with a professional and go over those results. Then review options.

Ben Frech:
Right. Oftentimes the person, would the person be testing your system, also be the person offering options to remediate the issue? Will they usually be the same contractor, or can they be the same contractor usually?

Mike Ekberg:
They can be, but sometimes, there’s everything from people at the laboratory can assist sometimes in interpreting results. Certainly a drilling or a water system professional. Again, people that work at a state health department, or perhaps a state environmental protection agency can help with that. There’s a lot of people you can consult. There’s some good websites. The National Groundwater Association has some excellent information on its private well owner site. Ohio State University, Penn State University also have some. There’s a lot of good information out there. It’s just important that any well owner consult some of that information and some of that expertise.

Ben Frech:
That’s excellent. Let’s talk about, I mean, I know that you, the market obviously changes, but what could a homeowner, as far as you know right now, expect to spend just getting a general water test on their well?

Mike Ekberg:
Well, again, that’ll be dependent on what that homeowner wants to test for.

Ben Frech:
Right.

Mike Ekberg:
Generally, at the very basic level, a homeowner probably wants to test for bacteria, something like a total coliform of bacteria, which is an indicator of whether or not surface water’s getting down into the well. That’s not a very expensive test. That could run someone maybe 20 to $30.

Ben Frech:
Okay.

Mike Ekberg:
If you want to get more complex and analyze for a lot of different contaminants, you can quickly get up over a thousand dollars.

Ben Frech:
Oh. Wow.

Mike Ekberg:
Most people don’t need to do that level of testing.

Ben Frech:
What are the most common contaminants found in your average private water well system at this point in time?

Mike Ekberg:
Well, I can speak for the region that I’m-

Ben Frech:
Yeah.

Mike Ekberg:
I’m in the Dayton, Ohio area. Southwest Ohio. Generally, what I would recommend for any private water system owner, first and foremost, get it tested for bacteria. If nothing else, do total coliform, maybe do E. Coli On top of that. Total coliform will tell you whether your wells vulnerable to surface water contaminants. E. Coli will tell you if there is coliform bacteria, and it tells you, “Hey, it’s coming from a fecal source.” On top of that I’d probably encourage nitrate. Nitrates can come from fertilizers. They can be, if you have nitrate in your drinking water at high enough level, it can be harmful to infants. To people, infants under the age of say, six months. It can interfere with their blood’s ability to bind with and transport oxygen through the body.

Ben Frech:
Right. Right.

Mike Ekberg:
Certainly bacteria and nitrate.

Ben Frech:
That would especially be important to parents who are formula feeding their babies and using a lot of water in doing that prior to that six months.

Mike Ekberg:
Yeah, and again, I think the National Groundwater Association has some excellent guidance on their website, on what to test for. What I’m saying is pretty consistent with the information I think that’s on that site. If you’re a homeowner and you’re wanting to get your water tested, I’d certainly recommend looking over the information that’s available on that site.

Ben Frech:
Excellent. Excellent. Well, anything else you’d like to bring up today as far as people listening right now, wanting some basic information on water testing?

Mike Ekberg:
I think I would just reemphasize, if you’re an owner of a private water system, it’s a good idea to at least, at a minimum, get that water tested once a year. I’d encourage you to do it. It’s not that hard to do. There’s information available out there and professionals that are available out there that can walk you through the steps and help you interpret the results.

Ben Frech:
Excellent. Excellent. Mike, where can people find out more about what you guys do and the work you do around Ohio?

Mike Ekberg:
Well, you can certainly come to our website. If you come to www.mcdwater.org. We’re also involved with, we do a number of test your well events.

Ben Frech:
Oh. Great.

Mike Ekberg:
In our region. We do a number of counties, a once a year event, where people can bring in a sample of water. We’ll do some field screening on site, and then they can get sample bottles, we’ll usually work with a lab, and they can go more in depth with the lab if they want to. I mean, this year with the pandemic going on, some of those events might not be happening, but once we get through this, I’m sure we’ll continue on with those kinds of things.

Ben Frech:
Be back at it. Well, thank you very, very much for your time today. Again, if you do own a private well, we encourage you to get your water tested every year. Wellowner.org has a great contractor look up tool. You can find certified water contractors in your area who help you with that testing, for remediating any problem they may find. Mike, thank you so much for joining us again. Go Flyers. This has been an episode of Know Your Well. Know Your Well is a production of the National Groundwater Association. This podcast was created and edited by NGWAs Abby [inaudible 00:17:37]. I’m your host, Ben Frech, telling you what you need to know to make the well water flow. Thank you everybody and have a great afternoon.

On this episode of “Know Your Well,” we’re focusing on what new homeowners should look for during a home inspection concerning their water wells and some basic water well maintenance after they’ve closed on their property.

Our guest is Gary Hix, who is a Registered Professional Geologist in Arizona, specializing in hydrogeology. He was the 2019 William A. McEllhiney Distinguished Lecturer for The Groundwater Foundation. He is a former licensed water well drilling contractor and remains actively involved in the National Ground Water Association and Arizona Water Well Association.

“Know Your Well” is a production of the National Ground Water Association. This podcast was created and edited by NGWA’s Abby Valencic. and hosted by Ben Frech.

WellOwner.org is supported by the Rural Community Assistance Partnership, as part of the USEPA funded program “Improving Water Quality through Training and Technical Assistance to Private Well Owners.” To learn more about the Rural Community Assistance Partnership, go to RCAP.org.

Ben Frech:
Welcome to Know Your Well, presented by WellOwner.org and the National Ground Water Association. On each episode of Know Your Well, we’ll explore different topics that impact private well owners across the country, from water quality to everyday water well maintenance. My name is Ben Frech and I will be your host as we explore the wide world of water wells. On our first episode of Know Your Well, we will be focusing on what new homeowners should be looking for during a home inspection concerning their water wells and some basic water well maintenance after they closed on the property.

Ben Frech:
Today’s guest will be Gary Hix. Gary is a registered professional geologist in Arizona, specializing in hydrogeology. He was the 2019 William McEllhiney distinguished lecturer for The Groundwater Foundation. He’s a former licensed water well drilling contractor and remains active in the National Ground Water Association and the Arizona Water Wells Association. Thanks for joining us today, Gary.

Gary Hix:
Okay. Thank you, Ben. It’s a pleasure to be with you here. Let me begin to share the screen so I can speak to you and to the audience.

Ben Frech:
So Gary, while you’re doing that, why don’t you tell us a little bit about how you got into the water well game here?

Gary Hix:
Well, let’s see. It started many years ago. I watched my first water well being drilled in about 1951 when they were drilling a well for my parents and my family and I. And I didn’t know at the time that was going to be my profession. But in about 1977, I started setting on drill rigs as a trainee, I guess you could call it, catching samples and so on. And then finished, went back to school, finished my degree, ’79, went to work for a water utility. And from that day on, I’ve just been involved. I think I’ve been a member of the NGWA since about 1978. That’s a fair number of years. But it’s been a great experience and I’ve really enjoyed all I’ve been able to do and perform with the association.

Ben Frech:
Well, we really appreciate you taking the time today. So yeah, let’s get into it. So understanding the basics of your water well. Gary, take it from here.

Gary Hix:
Well, thank you. Thank you, Ben, for the introduction. And thank you, everyone, for tuning in today to this first podcast that we’re doing. Now there’ll be some others that will come along, I believe has been said, where we will delve into greater detail in other subjects than what we’re covering today. But I took the assumption that many of the first time well owners, let’s say it’s someone that moved from California to the state of Texas. And they brought a property with a private water well. Well, everything is going to be different for them.

Gary Hix:
So the first thing I’d say or ask them might be: Did they have the water well inspected by a professional water well contractor or inspector before they purchased the property? Because that would be a critical step to perform because you need to know just as much as you need to know what kind of a roof and a furnace and a fireplace and everything else you have, you need to know exactly what you’re going to be getting with your well inspection.

Gary Hix:
So for those who maybe have already purchased the home and have tuned in for this reason, if you can find your well inspection report and bring it out and watch this podcast, I think that will be helpful because I’m going to try to explain many of the most important components that the inspector should’ve covered during those times before you purchased the property. If not, we’ll bring you up to speed on well inspections at a later time. But for right now, I want to just make a statement that the first thing probably you ought to do for yourself is become familiar with the groundwater laws in your state.

Gary Hix:
And it’s a very big subject, a very deep one. We won’t get into it very far with our podcast here, but just let me say that Eastern states’ laws, about east of the Mississippi versus those on the Western side, the basic principles of groundwater ownership can be quite different because in, let’s say in California, the imaginary change that I was starting with, groundwater is a public resource managed by a state, or in the case of California, actually a county authority rather than one state agency covering everything.

Gary Hix:
But if you move to the state of Texas, groundwater basically goes with the land. So if you could just think of those two different aspects of what it is, and find out and be comfortable with it in your state. The other thing that I think is critically important is to know whatever the laws are, that your well is properly registered, certified, or whatever they call it, recorded with the state or county that you live in, to make sure that you know your well and your water right perhaps, is a record for that state. That’s a much bigger subject. But I want you to think about learning all you can for your state.

Gary Hix:
Now the next important step that you can do is locate your well. You need to know where it’s at. And it might very close, as in the Airbnb home on the left. Or it might be out in the field some distance away. Sometimes in some states, water is where you can find it, and it might be quite some distance between the actual well for your property and where you’re actually using it, the tanks and the other components. The other thing to look at while you’re out there is to make sure that there is always vehicular access to the well head.

Gary Hix:
As a water well contractor over the years, I ran into so many situations where unintentionally, the homeowner built obstructions between the well and the access, the road, the right of way. And this made it terribly difficult in time consuming to get to the well. So I think it’s quite important that you think about that. Always maintain vehicular access to your well head.

Ben Frech:
What should they be looking for as far as for what a well usually looks like or will look like on their property?

Gary Hix:
Well, in majority of the states, what we’re talking about, the wells are completed with what we call a pitless adapter installation. And I’ll have some photos of that in a minute. But basically, it’s just a piece of pipe. Some states, it can be PVC. But normally, it’s sticking up out of the ground. It’s five or six, maybe eight inches in diameter, sticks up out of the ground one to two feet. Some states have minimum heights that they must be, and that’s to keep water, flood waters from topping it and getting down inside it. But basically, it’s just a steel pipe.

Gary Hix:
But then if it’s a pitless adapter, then usually the tanks and the control equipment is located some distance away from the well itself. And that would be the next thing that … One other thing I would state is that here where I live in the drier, warmer climates, a lot of our well completions are what we call above ground completions, where the plumbing and the electricity just comes through conduit or plumbing, and those things are exposed, except when there’s an occasion for temperatures to drop below 30 degrees, and we put some freeze protection on it.

Gary Hix:
But steel or PVC casing sticking up out of the ground, or out of the floor of your shed. Here’s a photo of a six inch steel casing sticking about a foot and a half up out of the ground, totally surrounded by a nice concrete slab, maybe five, six feet in diameter. So this, I’m going to stress that for the homeowner to go out there and look and see what is immediately around that well casing. It should be, if it’s just in dirt, it should be, the dirt should be higher than the surrounding land so that water or rainfall, snow melt, runs away from the well, not towards it. You certainly don’t want water to pond around the well casing. And if it can have a cement slab around it, just to protect varmints and rodents and other things from digging down around it, that’s good.

Gary Hix:
The other thing is to watch and see that nothing grows within, like trees or major bushes, within 10 feet of the well casing because those roots can go down and intercept the well. So it should stand alone and be protected. This is not what you’d want to find in your well. It shows a PVC well casing sticking out of the ground with a void around the outside of the casing, where the complete handle of a hoe has gone down alongside that casing. Now whatever lands on the water on the soil in that area, whatever water lands on the soil in that area, that water can just run right down, and so can rodents, varmints, and other things, right down alongside the well casing. And that’s going to get right to your water table in very short order.

Gary Hix:
I’ve also seen, even when this was a steel casing and the ground below it was pretty solid, at times right near the shallow surface of the soil, a hole will corrode in the side of the steel casing, maybe the size of a penny. And water can run in there, and that’s what we find that people’s water became contaminated with bacteria. And when looking into it, that’s what we found out, that there was a hole in the side of the casing.

Gary Hix:
So I think it’s important for you to locate the well on your land, make sure there’s access to it, and to see that the well head is secure, water drains away from it, and that there isn’t anything that compromises. That well cap that’s on the top should be securely in place, screwed in or bolted down so that it’s not easily picked up by just someone passing by, no cracks or breaks in that cover plate. That’s what lets water or lets anything else into your drinking water, so it must be secured.

Ben Frech:
Now Gary, if folks are out there and they see their well casing, or they see there could be some kind of problem with water, contaminating their water table, what would be a first step for them to do if right away they’re looking at their well, and they see that the casing is cracked, or they can see something obviously is wrong just by first look?

Gary Hix:
Well, I suspect that most of these problems that you’re describing or visualizing are things that should be addressed by a licensed water well contractor. We know you can log onto WellOwner.org and find a list of contractors in your area that belong to NGWA.

Ben Frech:
Yes. That’s right. WellOwner.org does have a great find a contractor tool, which will actually link you with licensed water well contractors in the state, so that’s great.

Gary Hix:
Well, now there’s another major component to your system, and it’s going to be a tank of some type. It’s an essential part of the system. It may look, be a large galvanized tank. This is the style in the ’50s and ’60s. But most of them today that are being constructed and built use these captive air bladder tanks. They’re much smaller, sometimes blue, sometimes sort of a tan colored tank. But the tank is essential to work with the pressure control system, controls of your system, to regulate and turn on and off the pump in the well.

Gary Hix:
And the first thing I’d want a new homeowner to do is simply locate it, know where it is, what it looks like, and look if they can see the controls that are adjacent to it. Usually, there’s a pressure switch and a pressure gauge very nearby. And I’d like to give them a hint about some of the things to look at when they get an opportunity. But I have on the left a picture of a well inside a building, concrete floor with excellent electrical wiring and service to it. And this one happens to be inside a building, so there’s a hole in the roof in order to get the pump out. That’s always sometimes a challenge that way.

Gary Hix:
But this very neat installation is the one that I think typifies what well owners should be thinking about. I even have coined the expression paint your well gold and treat it that way, because the well is the crown jewel, the jewel in the crown, because without it: What is the value of the home if you don’t have water? Basically, you can’t even live in it. So paint your well gold and treat it that way.

Ben Frech:
How often will homeowners find their wells in buildings like that? Is that somewhat rare? Or is that more common in certain parts of the country than other parts of the country?

Gary Hix:
Yes. Different parts of the country. It’s fairly rare down here in the Southern border states and so on, with the exception that some people do it because they don’t like to have something unsightly on the outside of the house, or they didn’t have a closet to put it in. But as a water well contractor, I wasn’t often in favor of enclosing the well. If you use the pitless adapter, it can be a quarter mile from the house. All it has to do is push the water up to the tank, and nothing on a pitless adapter will freeze if it’s properly set to a proper depth and constructed.

Gary Hix:
But when the pump is inside a building like this, then I have to get the crane on the outside close enough to the building and through the roof, and then have a worker on the inside. And you can’t see their hands or get his signals while you’re working, so I’m not much in favor of that. But it is necessary sometimes. And in super cold environments, mostly the tank and controls are inside, even though the pitless adapter may be outside.

Ben Frech:
Right. That makes sense.

Gary Hix:
Now the two of the key components that a homeowner should look at and maybe even look into is what I call the pressure switch. It’s this little gray box that sets on top of the plumbing. It’s a factory made device. Normally, it comes on at a pressure setting, let’s say of 30 and 20 pounds per square inch, and shuts off 20 pounds higher at 50 PSI. So there’ll be a 20, 40, 30, 50, 40, 60, et cetera. Now it’s best, and I always installed a pressure gauge along with the pressure switch, so that the homeowner can tell me what’s going on with the system if they’re seeing something wrong with it, and knowing what the pressure is in your system is a very good thing because that can tell you if everything is working right in the system. When does it come on? What PSI does it come on? What PSI does it shut off?

Ben Frech:
And where do folks usually find that information about what their PSI, what the pressure should be in their system? Is there a universal for each system? Or are most of them, are they different between each system?

Gary Hix:
Yes, Ben. Well, very good question. And let me try and explain that. Now there will be everything from the 20, 40, very low pressure system because the people maybe feel that they don’t need any more pressure than that because they have maybe perhaps old and weak plumbing. Now other people, nominal range, might be 30, come on at 30 and go off at 50 PSI. And that gives you very decent water pressure and so on. But if you’re pushing water a long distance away from the well, or from a booster pump, and it’s going upstairs to a second property, you might have to have it set to come on at 40 and go off at 60.

Gary Hix:
And I have a photo on the screen of a pressure cap taken off. It shows that it’s a 40 on it. And here’s what it looks like a little more on the inside. This one is factory set to be a come on at 40, go off at 60 PSI. Now what this means though, and this is where homeowners, especially new owners, have to be careful is because these things cannot be just changed willy nilly. The pressure switch is adjustable, but the pre charge inside a pressure tank like this one, a bladder tank like this one, needs to be adjusted and have its pre charge, the pressure of air that’s inside the tank when there’s no water against it, set to two pounds less than the come on pressure of the switch.

Gary Hix:
If the pressure in the tank is higher than the switch setting, you’d be in the shower and the water would stop flowing completely, and then the pump would come on, and then it would start back producing water again. So if you have it two pounds less, then the pump will come on before the bladder bottoms out and shuts off your water. Here’s a very neat installation of a fractional horsepower pump stuck in the corner of a room, or the garage. And it shows the pressure switch, pressure gauge, and even a pressure relief valve, which I might talk about that in a later subject, and a system control valve that can be shut off in order to stop the flow of water out of the system.

Gary Hix:
But these two things have to be adjusted together. If you’re not comfortable with that, that’s something that you should call a licensed water well contractor to look at or look into for you.

Ben Frech:
I know we get into this a little bit. But in home inspections and regulations, are there regulations, or do home inspectors like to see the pre charge pressure at a certain place, or where the tank is placed at a certain place in the home?

Gary Hix:
Very good question, Ben. I do believe, I always check the pre charge pressure by shutting off the system briefly, draining off the water pressure that’s in the system, and checking the pre charge, and then putting it back together, watching it fill back up again, and making sure that it shut off at the proper pressure. I believe that’s all part of a respectable water well inspection. The problem or the issue that we have there from state to state is that there really are no standards for who can be a water well inspector, what kind of report the inspector must write, or what it must include. This is contrary to home inspections, septic tank inspections, and pest or termite inspections. They all have standards. But water well inspections are not … Well, they’re kind of catch as catch can.

Ben Frech:
Right, right, which is, we always talk about this, could be as many as 50 million people on water wells in the United States. And think that hopefully one day we can get some more kind of credentialing in place for these water well inspectors, maybe.

Gary Hix:
I would certainly be in favor of that. I would like to see a standardization of some form of inspection report, for one, that the new first time homeowner can understand because if it’s just a sheet of paper, eight and a half by 11, with a bunch of squares and boxes and a few comments on it, that’s like interpreting a listing of a home. Most of us just aren’t that familiar with it. There’s room for improvement there.

Gary Hix:
But in doing this tank pre charge check, you must have no water in the system when you’re doing it, and then build it back up again. Now the other component of it that’s closely tied with it is this pressure switch that I mention from time to time. And here in this photo, I can see that the pressure is high. It’s 56 pounds or so and the contacts are open. Now this pressure switch has the full 230 volts running through it because there’s four wires on it. And all four contacts are open.

Gary Hix:
Now homeowners need to be aware that this could be live voltage going through here when they take that cover off initially. If you’re going to mess with this pressure switch in any way, or attempt to clean the contacts between there, you’ve got to shut the electricity off while you’re doing it. Just be safe. These two things are the key components, the most elementary components of a private water well system.

Gary Hix:
Now the next component up the chain you might say of what’s complicated or not complicated is the electrical controls, and the motor controls and so on. The photo on the left shows a fractional horsepower starter control box, possibly this one was even installed by a homeowner. I see some undefined wires going through there that are not in conduit. But on the right hand side is another starter control box next to a well, a pitless adapted well. And I can see that the electricity is in conduit and properly wired. And this is what the homeowner needs to look at. Is your installation electronically safe? Does it follow the basic electrical contracting codes? Because states and counties do adopt codes for electrical service on new homes, on existing homes. But lots of times, they don’t come out and inspect water wells for some reason, or well modification work. A homeowner can do anything themselves, and it can be anything.

Ben Frech:
And oftentimes, will your water well contractor also be the contractor installing your pumps and dealing with the electrical unit and the motor as well? Or do they sometimes subcontract with an electrician? Or is that usually all done by a water well contractor?

Gary Hix:
Well, Ben, you brought up a very good point. It depends on the state because in some states, water well drillers do pump installations. In other states, there are water well drillers who don’t put in pumps. There are pump installers who don’t drill wells. And in some states, what comes to mind is New Mexico, the pump installer can only simply hang the pump in the well, and can do none of the electrical controls unless they have an electrical contractor’s license. So it’s across the country-

Ben Frech:
Across the board, like all things ground water, it’s a state by state issue.

Gary Hix:
It’s state by state, and in some cases, county by county. Some of the counties in my state will come out and inspect the installation on new construction of private water wells, but not modifications, or repairs, or replacements and so on. But at any rate, a homeowner should know where these components are, what they look like, excuse me, what kind of horsepower pump and motor they have in the well. And there are some of them have little red lights on them, or green lights, that tell them whether it’s running satisfactorily or has an error message on it, and so on. And if you can become familiar with that, and then you can get much better service when you call a pump contractor to come out and look at your well if you can report some of this too.

Gary Hix:
And see, some of this electrical service work is a little beyond some homeowners’ capabilities. Others, if they have electrical experience in their background, can actually put an amp meter on their own pump and see that it’s running properly. And that will go a long ways in self diagnosing your well problems, especially if you’re a long way out of town.

Gary Hix:
And along that line is what I have always advocated, is keep well data handy. So what I made for my customers was, here’s a blank drawing of a pitless adapter equipped well that I would give to them, where we can fill in the various details in numbers and specifications and so on of what their well looked like, how deep it was drilled, where the perforations were, and so on. Kind of a detailed drawing, and it could be filled in with lots of additional information.

Ben Frech:
This is great.

Gary Hix:
And I’d make this blank PDF file available to anyone that would like one. And the same way with this installation record form. Anytime I did a work on a customer’s well, I filled out one of these and presented it to them. It gives them a lot of basic information in one area, inserted sometimes, from time to time, a photograph or two of what it was I worked on, because sometimes you’re working on a property and the homeowner’s not there. You want to communicate to them as simply, clearly as you can. This form, I could also make available to anybody that wanted to bring their own personal well records up to date. And I really believe that they should.

Gary Hix:
But this, as I see it, is just about the beginning of what we could do for well owners. There’s so many different types of installations around the country. And there’s new equipment out there, where tanks of this size, these bladder tanks, have been totally replaced by nothing more than a tank about the size of a basketball because the pump and motor are being run at a variable speed to maintain a constant pressure. And I think I’ll have to hold off on that concept. But if a new homeowner has found out that the well that they have, and what they’re looking at doesn’t look like anything I’ve spoken about here today, then I’d be happy to go into it a little further, or explain it more in the advanced, modern, technically modern equipment that we use on wells.

Ben Frech:
Excellent. And of course, any homeowner who has further questions, or would like more clarification on this, of course we are always promoting WellOwner.org, which has numerous resources on well ownership, well maintenance, as well as of course the find a local contractor tool. So Gary, thank you very, very much. I think was a good way to start this podcast, and getting the ball rolling on getting more knowledge to people about their water well systems, talking about what they should be looking for, who they can contact to help inspect their systems because I think a lot of people, especially younger people, buying a home is already daunting enough. But then realizing, oh, wait, I have to provide my own water in some way. And it’s up to me, the city’s not going to be a part of it, it’s all on me, I think can also be kind of daunting. So I think it’s good to get this conversation started.

Ben Frech:
So Gary, before we sign off here, where can people kind of find you online or read more of your books? I know that you’re a published author.

Gary Hix:
Well, I’m best found at in2wells.com. That’s a website that I’ve kept for the consulting services that I can do for homeowners, and sometimes still for contractors. And yes, I have written and published two different eBooks, they’re Kindle books, only available on Amazon. At a future time, I’ll show you covers of them. And they’re for my state, the state of Arizona. One is called Domestic Water Wells in Arizona. It’s a guide for realtors and mortgage lenders because I felt that they needed to be well informed. And I like that pun.

Gary Hix:
Then the other one, I’ve just recently published is, because we have so many shared water wells in Arizona, it is A Guide to Shared Water Wells in Arizona. It’s a guide for managers and all the complex things that they can run into with manage … It’s like an HOA in some respects. But we could promote them at some point.

Ben Frech:
Excellent. Well, that’s all for the first episode of Know Your Well. Know Your Well is a production of the National Ground Water Association. This podcast was created by Abby Valencic. I’m your host, Ben Frech, telling you what you need to know to make the well water flow. Thanks, everybody. And to learn more about maintaining your water well, please visit WellOwner.org. WellOwner.org is supported by the Rural Community Assistance Partnership as part of the USEPA funded program, improving water quality through training and technical assistance to private water wells. To learn more about Rural Community Assistance Partnership, go to rcap.org. Thank you, everybody, for joining us, and we’ll see you next time.