Well water quality in Vernon, AZ (Tamerron ranch) (buying a home, buying)

[mike240]

I may be wrong but I assume that all the wells in the area of the Highway 60/61 junction are hitting the same underground acquifer.There are community wells (for those that haul) in the area. Is there a bacteria problem with them? I am in escrow on a property with a well that was dormant for at least two years, that has failed the bacteria test. I understand the problem may be in the pump and casing that has been dormant and not the water source. Does anyone know of a problem with water in the area?Thanks

[BriansPerspective]

Originally Posted by mike240

I may be wrong but I assume that all the wells in the area of the Highway 60/61 junction are hitting the same underground acquifer.There are community wells (for those that haul) in the area. Is there a bacteria problem with them? I am in escrow on a property with a well that was dormant for at least two years, that has failed the bacteria test. I understand the problem may be in the pump and casing that has been dormant and not the water source. Does anyone know of a problem with water in the area?Thanks

Put a call into ADEQ. You can find tons of information on their website. Here is the link to their Water Quality division: ADEQ: Contact: Water Quality

The failure of the colliform test may be due to local surface run-off entering the well. This is especially true if there is a lot of animal "activity" near the well. Talk to a reputable well company. Perhaps they can case the top section of the well to prevent surface water entering the well. They may also be able to sanitize the well to get rid of the existing bacteria.

Also, make sure that the septic leach field is not near the well. I think the legal limit is 50 feet. Ideally, the leach field drainage would be in a direction away from the well even if it is 50 feet away. In other words, you do not want the leach field to be above the well so that the water exiting the leach field drains towards the well.

[kdog]

There are two kinds of bacteria test for wells: total coliform, and E-coli. It's important to know which test failed. It's very common to fail total coliform, and there are a lot of reasons why it might fail, including surface water contamination. In general, it's not a health hazard. Depending on the levels, I would not be discouraged from buying a home with a well like this. Shocking the well, and replacing the well cap seal would be a good start to fixing it. Worst case you could run with a UV light purifier if it worried you.

Failing the E-coli test is much more serious. This says that there's animal contamination in the well, possibly from septic system contamination, animals decaying in it, etc. You are likely to get sick from drinking this water. I would be concerned about buying the property in this case.