If you live in Connecticut and have a private well a water analysis conducted at least once a year for bacteria is highly recommended to ensure the health of you, your family and your pets. Also have your water tested if you have a new well or pump installed, or if there are any environmental changes.
OK, you’ve got a positive bacteria test. Now what??
Minor contamination of the testing materials (such as the cap, bottle, the faucet area, etc) may cause a false positive. Our water testing specialists pay strict attention to the guidelines for taking your water sample and it will pay off for you in the long run.
Sampling procedures are designed to minimize sampling error and short-cutting those procedures will increase the probability that you will have a positive bacteria test. This is why it is important to hire a professional.
Let’s look at the construction of your Connecticut well.
- When was the well drilled?
- Was it drilled in the last 30 years or prior to that?
- Where is the location of the well?
- Is it near a septic tank or field, in the middle of a farmer’s field, or next to the foundation of a building?
- Does the well casing extend above the surface of the ground or is it “below grade”? (ie. in a pit in the ground)
- Was the well buried?
- Is the ground highly-fractured stone or compacted dirt?
- Does the ground surface slope towards the casing?
If you answered “yes”, to any of the above questions, then you may have a well construction issue in your hands. If the well was recently drilled or the pump replaced/repaired, was the well chlorinated afterwards?
If it was not chlorinated, then a simple chlorination may take care of the problem. Any combination of these factors could be enough to cause coli-form contamination in CT.
Once you have established a likely source of contamination, you really have two or three choices that come down to the question of what is the most cost-effective for you.
- Fix the problem at the source (ie. well construction issues).
- Hook up to municipal water (if it’s even available).
- Or treat the water either have it chlorinated or treat it as it comes into the house with a water treatment system.
Bacteria analysis must be carefully performed to obtain meaningful results. Water samples collected in any container other than the sterile containers provided by the tester will not yield meaningful certified results and will NOT be accepted by the laboratory. Our testing specialists follow all the necessary protocols when drawing your water sample to prevent false positives.
Certain handling provisions apply to water samples drawing, which is why you should always hire a professional to be certain your water analysis results are accurate and not compromised.
Water analysis specialists for bacteria in Connecticut water. E-coli, coli-form etc.
