Thread: Stingkin' Water

Slowly getting my yard together, jumping the hoops and running the circles we all been through. Have a problem witht the water we wash with, it comes from a well beneath the house and absolutly reeks. Its odd having a shower and smelling worse after you has it!
I heard that you can get chlorine pills that you put into the well that help or else get a water tank and filter the water. Whats the best solution?

We drilled a bore rather than a well (just personal preference) and we have gone deeper than the average well. You could try drilling a bore in a different location and going deeper than the well but there are no guarantees, plus it depends on how much rock you strike etc. The smell is probably sulphur (smells like rotten eggs) so I don't know if chlorine would have any effect on it or not, but I would be careful about putting chemicals into the well as it would contaminate all the water in the well. I would start by talking to others in your neighbourhood to see if they have the same problem.

Another thought, check where your septic tanks are located.

Absolutely not cool to treat ground water while it's still in the ground - any treatment (and there are multiple methods) should be after it's sourced, before it's consumed.

Originally Posted by toucan

We drilled a bore rather than a well (just personal preference) and we have gone deeper than the average well. You could try drilling a bore in a different location and going deeper than the well but there are no guarantees, plus it depends on how much rock you strike etc. The smell is probably sulphur (smells like rotten eggs) so I don't know if chlorine would have any effect on it or not, but I would be careful about putting chemicals into the well as it would contaminate all the water in the well. I would start by talking to others in your neighbourhood to see if they have the same problem.

Another thought, check where your septic tanks are located.

Toucan,
Could you please explain the difference between a bore and a well. I thought they were the same thing and I'm trying to understand why you had a preference for a bore rather than a well.

A bore is always drilled while a well is usually hand dug even though you can use a hand auger to drill your bore. Still confused? But it's just semantic and people often use one for the other. The question is do you want to have a large hole -well- or a small one -bore- in your backyard? The advantage of a hand dug well with a large diameter hole (varies between 100 and 190cm diam) is that you can always have access to the bottom of your well to fix a foot valve, change the gravel pack or chlorinate your well lining for example. Also can use the good old pulley and bucket technique if your electricity is off. A bore is quick and effective -can tap into deeper hence better aquifers- but harder to maintain (casing/screen/pump) since it's not accessible.
As for the smelly water, it's probably sulfur as Toucan mentioned. Chlorine will effectively kill the bacterias that cause the sulfur to form but if you don't know treat the source itself, it won't be a long lasting solution. You could set up a system to aerate your water and some carbon filter on the line but it's probably not what you want to hear. Or try drilling deeper until you hit a better aquifer as someone suggested.

Originally Posted by killatone

Slowly getting my yard together, jumping the hoops and running the circles we all been through. Have a problem witht the water we wash with, it comes from a well beneath the house and absolutly reeks. Its odd having a shower and smelling worse after you has it!
I heard that you can get chlorine pills that you put into the well that help or else get a water tank and filter the water. Whats the best solution?

Try using charcoals to neutralize both the water and the odor.
I learn it from one resident there in Bali. They also use it to filter their water from wells.

We mainly chose a bore over a well as it was easier to drill deeper and hopefully access cleaner water. We also have an automatic pump to a water tank on a tower so as the level in the water tank lowers the pump connected to the bore comes on and keeps the tank full. We use this water for our 2 bathrooms, washing clothes and for washing dishes, watering the garden etc, for drinking or cooking we use bottled water. Even with the pump off we have excess water continuing to flow from the bore, this is diverted to a tap, a couple of fish ponds and an outdoor bathroom on the inlaws property next door. The inlaws previously used 2 wells for their water supply, one was connected to a pump and the other had a pulley and bucket to draw water by hand. The well water was fine but they tend to use the continuing flow of water from our bore these days as it is easier.

I know this post is from 2010 but the comment about using Charcoals to neutralize the water and odor, does anyone have any experience using this method? How, cost and where would I find these so called Charcoals? Our water smells and it also comes from an underground well. I am really anxious to find a solution. Any help appreciated!

Hi again...as doing some research, I did manage to find a site that may be helpful to other people having the same problem with stinky water.

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