AboutDavid L. Russell, PE Expertise I`m a Chemical,Civil and Environmental Engineer and have a number of projects in all phases of the environment.
I have worked in the chemical industry and am active in professional societies, and am currently on an industrial wastes committee for the Water Environment Federation, and have taught courses in remediation in the US and abroad.
I have written one book on Remediation of petroleum Contaminated Sites, and have a second book on PRACTICAL WASTEWATER TREATMENT to be published by John Wiley in September, 2006. I've also written over 30 articles on various elements of environmental problems and cleanup. Most Recently, I have addressed a NATO Scientific and Techical Conference on Ecoterrorism, and have worked with the same group on remediation of sites contaminated with Chemical Warfare Agent materials and othe materials as well. . I can answer q`s about Chemical and Environmental Engineering, land development, air pollution, water pollution, soil and water cleanup, combustion, international environmental problems, industrial processes chemical processes. Civil and Environmental and Chemical Engineering. Overall, I have over 35 years of experience in this area. Note: I do not answer homework questions
Experience I love work in the third world and developing areas
because it is challenging and one can get a sense of accomplishment.
We put in a new well about 12 years ago. At that time, we had contamination with "enterobacter sakazaaki" for several months despite chlorination, etc. We can't remember doing any more than that, and eventually came up with two consecutive safe samples and quit thinking about it.
This summer, we needed to have work done on the pump in the well, so it was tested again and came up bad. A post-chlorination sample turned up "serratia sp."
Do you have any suggestions on the best type of filtration system (if there is one) or another logical next step short of drilling a new well?
Thank you very much for participating in this terrific website.
Laura Simonds
Answer Laura:
I'm not a bacteriologist, but I do know that your bacteria is a natural soil bacteria. Over the years, the concept of well sterility has changed, and now we would not be surprised to find some bacteria in the well. Yours appears to be a nitrogen fixing bacteria. Normally I might say don't worry about it but you are concerned. The critical test for bacterial contamination is if you have e-coli which is an indicator of potential fecal contamination.
My guess is that you need to re-run the test because I suspect that the bacteria is from accidental contamination by the well driller in replacing the pump.
Here's what I would suggest, but it's expensive. There are several hypochlorinators on the market. Many of them will be able to be installed to pump a chlorine solution into your pressure tank. It's a job for a good plumber. The cost might be between $500 and $1500, but it will give you peace of mind and a good sterile water system.
The other choice is to install UV Lamps. That's also expensive, perhaps more so than the chlorine system.
You can filter out the bacteria, but the filters are disposable, have low capacity, and are expensive as well as being susceptible to plugging. I would not advise it, besides, they only filter they do not disinfect.
If you want a contract job, and if you are in the US, you may want to call a local water softening service like Culligan and see what they can do for you. Feel free to write me back when you get a chlorinator quote so that we can evaluate it.
