The well on the site is much more comfortable when staying in a private house. You can not worry about the shutdown of water in a centralized water pipe, save on paying for utilities and drink your own clean water. Is it only pure?
Undoubtedly, the pipes that you build on the site from the well to the house will be much cleaner and safer than urban or village water pipes. But the composition of water in the aquifer itself is often a mystery. It can contain impurities of natural, but not too useful substances - arsenic, iron, traces of leaks from farms and industrial plants located nearby. Partly to protect yourself and your family can be, by installing cleaning filters( for water purification, read here).
For their correct choice it is necessary to know the composition of the water. Unfortunately, a full analysis can be carried out only in a specially equipped laboratory, best at SES of your city or region. If such an opportunity is not available, some data can be obtained independently.
We select the sample
First of all, it is necessary to select the water sample correctly. This requires a transparent container with a capacity of 1-1.5 liters. Suitable plastic bottles from the water( by no means from sweet, juice or beer!).The water in the well or well should be pumped out. On average, you need to merge 2-2.5 liters of water for every 10 meters of the depth of the well. Then, water is poured into the bottle.
On the eye
The only methods available in the home or field conditions are organoleptic. First, carefully examine the water.
- Brown with a red tinge color and abundant sediment, sometimes in the form of flakes, means that the water contains iron oxide.
- Water seems clean, but when shaken it becomes brownish-brown, the same color appears when heated. These are signs of dissolved iron. The presence of iron in water is especially characteristic of sandy soils.
- Yellowish-brown, sometimes with a reddish hue, color in the absence of sediment indicates impurities of organic compounds of iron.
- Gray water color and black marks on the tank arise due to the large amount of manganese in it.
- Milky white shade that disappears during sedimentation may indicate dissolved gases in water, for example methane.
To the taste and smell of
Smell the water sample.
- The sharp smell of foul eggs is due to hydrogen sulfide. It can be a product of the life of a colony of bacteria.
- Smells of mustiness, wet earth, fish indicate the presence of organic compounds in the water. Brown or yellow color confirm this assumption.
- Chemical odors, for example, plastic, oil products, gouache( this is how phenol smells) indicates that the water in your area is contaminated with industrial wastewater. This is the worst option, as neither to get rid of the cause, nor to clean water qualitatively will not work.
If the water does not have any foreign smells or impurities, try a small sip.
- Slightly brackish taste results from the high concentration of mineral salts NaCl, Na2SO4, MgSO4.
- The metallic aftertaste indicates that there is still iron in the water, albeit in small amounts, and its acidity is increased.
- Alkaline taste is a sign of a high alkaline water level in your well.
Try washing your hands with soap and water. If it does not foam, and the skin has become dry and tight, then on your site hard water with a high content of magnesium and calcium salts. This often affects the wells drilled on clay soils and limestones.
Tests for home use
Companies that sell water purification equipment and filters offer tests for analyzing water at home. The most important of them - a test for pH( hydrogen index), Gh( hardness), iron, nitrates, nitrites, ammonia. They cost not cheap and are not always available in the outback.
As a last resort, it is possible to use tests for water for aquariums, since they are sold in almost every pet store and are inexpensive. Determining the quality of water using tests, remember that different indicators may vary depending on the amount of water that has been passed, the time of year and even the day.
An independent water analysis can not be considered sufficient in any case. At the first opportunity, it is necessary to transfer water from the well to a full-scale laboratory study, at least 15 indicators. In addition to chemical analysis, it is worth doing a bacteriological study. It costs more and takes more time, but you can be calm for the health of your family.
