For the most part, well water is safe to drink, but a private well is not regulated by the federal government or most states, so testing it is your job. Bacteria is the one most likely to make you sick, and it has no taste, color or smell. Here is the safe line for each health item on a well test, how often each one turns up in the tests my customers send in, and why boiling kills bacteria but leaves nitrate, arsenic and lead behind.
For a home, two systems take nitrate out of well water: a whole-house anion exchange system with nitrate-selective resin, and a reverse osmosis unit at one faucet. Boiling, softeners, carbon filters and UV lights do not. Here is how the whole-house system works, the order the tanks go in on a well, what reverse osmosis really takes out, what to drink until the system is in, and who installs it.
For the most part, well water is safe to drink, but a private well is not regulated by the federal government or most states, so testing it is your job. Bacteria is the one most likely to make you sick, and it has no taste, color or smell. Here is the safe line for each health item on a well test, how often each one turns up in the tests my customers send in, and why boiling kills bacteria but leaves nitrate, arsenic and lead behind.
For a home, two systems take nitrate out of well water: a whole-house anion exchange system with nitrate-selective resin, and a reverse osmosis unit at one faucet. Boiling, softeners, carbon filters and UV lights do not. Here is how the whole-house system works, the order the tanks go in on a well, what reverse osmosis really takes out, what to drink until the system is in, and who installs it.
