OK this is no excuse however I live in the city and do not run across a ton of wells and when I do I have never seen a plastic covered tub? So my client is wierded out by this tub of water in the basement and now his water quality failed the total coliform and mostly likely he will relate it to this tub. Are they possibly related? And what is this tub, just a holding basin?
He should be weird-ed out by that tub. It look like it would grow all sorts of nasty stuff and if it is connected to the potable water system, well, I can’t imagine…:shock:
The saving grace for you on this one Jason is that the water failed the total coliform test. The next step is to refer to a local licensed driller to find the cause and remediate.
Could be a shallow well picking up ground water contamination. Might be the well lining gone bad or a non-sanitary well cap. Might be caused by that holding tank. Pin pointing the cause is not your problem. That is why the well guy makes the big bucks.
Like you I would also like to know the exact use of the tub. I have seen a few Rube Goldburg set ups for adding chlorine to fouled water. Maybe that is what this is. Still doesn’t matter as this issue gets referred.
Its a trickle system used to remove sulfur.
More info please.
It doesn’t appear to be any formal system and a horse trough with a visqeen cover is hardly standard equipment.
I googled trickle system and got a pick of a system very similiar to this system (minus the tub) it had a tank. So I called that company in Canada I figured since they had info on it online why not. They said it sounds like a trickle system but they would recommend ditching the tub. Also I didn’t mention before but this well is a dug well, how deep I wasn’t able to get info from realtor. So of did my job I recommended a pro after advising of the failed water. I also advised that I made a call and I would discuss w/the pro the possibility of replacing tub with tank.
Also TY to Marcel for the scoop…
You did not mention earlier that it was a dug well. Total coliform levels will always be high due to surface water contamination. Also could have other water quality issues. The coliform could be treated by routine shocking but then you are dealing with high chlorine levels in the water.
Dug wells are not longer allowed in many municipalities in our area so this would need to be run by the AHJ. I am sure that the well driller will recommend retiring the dug well and all of its components and going with a drilled well. Better long term water quality with minimum maintenance. In our area 5 to 10k average.
That horse trough is basically a cistern (storage tank).
I’ve only seen one of those systems and it was in Carlsbad Spring, Ontario.
The reason for that system is due to water supply or lack off and not sulfur as I mentioned previously even though Carlsbad Spring does has sulfur in its water.
Water from the village sort of trickle (low pressure) into a tank at the curb and a pump inside the home transfer that water into the cistern.
Another pump is used to supply the fixtures into the home.
I see no reasons why this type of system could not be adapted for a well which has a low recovery rate thus providing an adequate supply during peak periods.
More info on a feasibility study to expand that system to other areas at: https://app06.ottawa.ca/calendar/ottawa/citycouncil/ara/2009/10-22/Lynwood%20Doc%201.pdf](https://app06.ottawa.ca/calendar/ottawa/citycouncil/ara/2009/10-22/Lynwood%20Doc%201.pdf)
I understand that marcel but your post was minimalist to say the least.
No pain, no gain.
Everyone should know how to use Google and Jason was given the majic words for his search.
Thanks for the info!
I don’t mind doing leg work. I mean truly as mentioned earlier in this post I could have taken a easy way out and just recommended pro and left it. However I need to learn more so thats why I expose myself to the humor and slams that can come from posting on this blog and will make calls to pros. So thanks for the insight its appreciated. In another job or two something new to learn will appear so another question will also appear.
If we never ask then we never get better. I have gleaned so much good info from these boards in a short time.
In an area like ours with houses dating back to the early 1700’s there is always something different or unique to be found.