how many of you Don't drink your well water ?? (Manchester: real estate, condo)

[21mike]

My real estate agent tells me that its normal for people who live on the water to not drink their well water due to contamination.... This sorta sounds ridiculous to me. What do you guys think ?

Do you only wash and shower in your well water ?

I'm looking @ a house that was built in 1960. Its on the water (maybee 200 feet back up a little hill) and has a cesspool, and I'm assuming a shallow well.

I'm worried I will end up having to install a brand new "tight tank" septic, and drill a new DEEP well.... this would end up costing WAY too much, as it is I can barely afford the price of the house.

[buck naked]

I've never heard of such a thing. Had a property on Lake Winnipesaukee for decades and never had a problem with the well water.

a good friend has a home on lake Massabesic and also has never had a problem, but Massabesic is Manchester's drinking water source

my brother and his friends have properties on Emerald Lake - again no problems

catastrophic events can change a well - the recent floods in NH over the past three years have caused some problems....

if you have any questions about the quality of the water on the lakes there are numbers you can call

• Water Quality of NH Lakes and Ponds - 271-2147
• Shoreline Regulations-Site Assessments - 271-2147

[NH2008]

I have been surprised by the number of people who can't safely drink their well water, but I've never heard of this in relation to being on the water and I wouldn't call it "normal." The people I know who are in this situation simply have contaminated wells and don't want to spend the money on filtering systems or a new well. It's normal and desirable to have safe and potable water coming from your tap and no matter where you live, this should be achievable. If the seller didn't invest in a good well, that was a decision, not an inevitability. And if for some reason it isn't achievable in that location, factor that into your offer, because it will really limit the amount you can get when you sell the house.

I can't remember what you said the issue was with the water at the house. Some people have water that's ok, but just a little high on lead or arsenic or radon or whatever and so they drink bottled water but still shower and cook with tap water. That's one thing. When we moved into our house, the well was contaminated with coliform (ew!) and so we couldn't even brush our teeth with it. That was a huge pain and totally unsustainable. It means you're lugging bottled water to brush your teeth, you can't cook pasta, you can't even rinse veggies. It really limited what we could eat and how we could enjoy our lives. If you told me we would have to stay in that situation forever, I wouldn't have bought the house.

[zoran]

We have a well and I would never touch city water because of all the crap they pour into it. We have our water tested every year and have never had anything in it. We were told it was so pure we should bottle it and sell it. My own doctor has said we were lucky to have well water and not have to drink the city water with all the chemicals they put in it.

[buck naked]

I can't stand the taste of Manchester's city water....and I lived in Concord for a couple of years. Concord water will gel if you leave it in a glass overnight on the nightstand.

Fluoride is a carcinogen and should be treated as such.

[OCCASparky]

I've got a softener and a filter, and as long as I change the filter every month or so and don't use too terribly much to water the lawn, it's all good to me. That being said, if you're picky, most decent refrigerators have filtration systems for the water dispenser and icemakers as well.

[BF66389]

I've got well water and it tastes great and doesn't have anything "bad" in it. Our water is a bit on the hard side; but that hasn't really bothered us (and actually makes the water taste better, its just not as good for foaming).

[GregW]

Our condo maintains a multiple deep well supply for 150 units and has never had a contamination problem. I, personally, have used well water for most of my life. The only "problem" with some well water is calcium hardness but that is easily fixed with an ion-exchange water softener.

[Coastwalker]

The best thing to do is have the well water tested. We had ours tested by the UNH Cooperative Extension. It is safe to drink, and we much prefer it to town water.

[nhkev]

it all depends were you are, I recommend drilled wells vs dug due to the contamination of coliform, but even in drilled wells the water quality can vary greatly. I had a house that had high iron and maganese that caused the toilets to stain orange. The house I have now is spring water quality. and my aunts smells like rotten eggs and even with water softeners and filters it still stinks. so on top of the normal water test done by the state look for signs of staining (especially in the tank of the toilet because they will probably clean the bowl) and look for the rotten egg smell. if they have an existing filter system, pull the filter and look at it and give it a whiff, if they are lazy like me they'll probably have some old ones lying around.