Well water issues and non-disclosure...any recourse?

[HappyTexan]

Originally Posted by vrussell

Thanks for all your replies. Yes, There was an inspection and paperwork stated that there were no problems. Unfortunately, there are several that we have since found. Termites in the well house, septic not in the place we were told and therefore closer to the well than proper, and now the water. We have purchased several homes in the past and this is the first one we've had these kinds of issues with. Thought that was why we paid for inspections...

The well does have a small filter system. Are there filtration systems that are better than others? Types? Brand names?

Still waiting to hear the results of testing and then from the well people. We really do like the place and will get this all straightened out eventually - it just would have been nice to know going into it what we were getting into.

You may also want to go over to the rural and small town living forum. There is a well driller that posts there offen..his screen name is "Driller" and is very knowledgeable.

[rubytue]

Originally Posted by HappyTexan

You may also want to go over to the rural and small town living forum. There is a well driller that posts there offen..his screen name is "Driller" and is very knowledgeable.

Its actually Driller1 and she is a she You can often find her over on House, also.

[HappyTexan]

*blush* Thanks for that correction rubytue.

[vrussell]

Thanks for all the information everyone. Quick update on the well water situation.

We recieved the DEQ report today. It stated, "One or more coliform organisms, and one or more fecal coliform organisms were found. This sample does not meet the Safe Drinking Water Act standard." So I guess we wait for the well report and get the well experts out to take a look. In the meantime, we'll definitely be drinking bottled water.

I know we can disinfect the well with chlorine, but it looks like this will keep happening - as it appears surface water is somehow contaminating the well when it rains. We'll see what the well people think is happening next.

I'm still amazed that this was not disclosed...

[Silverfall]

In Oregon the seller is required to test the well water by law for coliform and nitrates.

It is possible that you may have to redo your septic system as it may be contaminating the well since it is not 100' feet away, or the well may be too shallow which offers more opportunity for contamination.

You can get a permanent water treatment system attached to the well, but no matter what I feel attorney involvement headed your way...

This seems to be a very clear case of failure to disclose/misrepresentation...

[eric#1]

Wow! They admitted that they knew there was a problem but failed to disclose. Something like "water is not drinkable" I would personally consider a pertinent detail.

[Roselvr]

Originally Posted by eric#1

Wow! They admitted that they knew there was a problem but failed to disclose. Something like "water is not drinkable" I would personally consider a pertinent detail.

Sounds like the way they said it was like they never tested it/looked into it but didn't drink or cook with it.

Originally Posted by vrussell

Thanks for all the information everyone. Quick update on the well water situation.

We recieved the DEQ report today. It stated, "One or more coliform organisms, and one or more fecal coliform organisms were found. This sample does not meet the Safe Drinking Water Act standard." So I guess we wait for the well report and get the well experts out to take a look. In the meantime, we'll definitely be drinking bottled water.

I know we can disinfect the well with chlorine, but it looks like this will keep happening - as it appears surface water is somehow contaminating the well when it rains. We'll see what the well people think is happening next.

I'm still amazed that this was not disclosed...

Wow. Good thing you had it tested. It's also good that it happened so soon after closing. I would not want to be the seller right now. Do you remember having the septic & well inspected or did you just get a general inspection? I don't doubt a water sample was taken, which passed due to no rain.

Sounds to me like you are getting run off from the septic.

When was the last time the septic was pumped?

Originally Posted by vrussell

Termites in the well house, septic not in the place we were told and therefore closer to the well than proper, and now the water. We have purchased several homes in the past and this is the first one we've had these kinds of issues with. Thought that was why we paid for inspections...

The termites could be new since the weather is starting to get warmer. Is it termites or termite damage? Get someone out asap to spray/treat. As far as inspections, again, depends on what you paid for. The couple that bought our house had a separate person checking termites then the general inspector.

If your inspections were fairly cheap then there is your answer.
Do a search of this forum, there was an inspector that came here and posted really good info about the levels of inspection.

Originally Posted by vrussell

The well does have a small filter system. Are there filtration systems that are better than others? Types? Brand names?

IMO, I would get a water guy out to fix that. Our system was not small, we had a tower thing plus a garbage can type container for salt. We then had 2 filters coming off of that. I also had a Brita purifier on my sink so that any water we cooked with was through that.

In my other house that had septic & well (last house only had well) we had all sorts of nightmares. We used to have to go outside and rake the septic out as the old owners didn't take care of it. We also threw rid x or yeast in the toilets plus had the leech lines redone. My ex ended up putting a drum out back filled with stone for the laundry water to dump into (forget what it's called), doing that helped the most. I don't recall if we had a dishwasher.

The other thing my ex did was to put a shut off valve somewhere on the filter system so that if we watered the lawn it didn't get filtered.

By the time we sold the house (divorce) the well/septic were working great.

Good luck & let us know how you make out.

[vrussell]

Time for an update... We had the well people out and they dropped a camera down the well and video taped the whole thing. The well is cased with 6" PVC pipe. Water at 60' and was clear until the 70' level. At the 70' level the pipe is fractured - sharp edges and broken at a sharp angle. They were able to move the camera around the break and get it down to 80' where it ran into more obstruction that they could not get through. The break is in an area of clay that you could see clearly with the camera. Lots of sediment, staining on the casing, ugly white floating things, etc. Not sure what is below that point, but at least we have a good idea of what is going on.

It appears that the well was not put in correctly from the very beginning. They said the PVC casing was probably "hammered" into place and was fractured at that time. Surface water run off was able to filter directly into the well through the broken casing and caused the sediment issues and probably lead to the bacteria problems.

Well people chlorinated the well heavily (shocked). This should get rid of the nasty eColi organisms. We now have the option of trying to place a 100' liner in the well and hope that they can "seal" the break OR we can drill a new well. They don't sound very optimistic that the liner is feasible due to the sharp breaks and "junk" in the well. More than likely we are going to drill another well and hope for the best.

Thanks for all your replies, suggestions and information!