arsnic in well water (Wells, Raymond: buying a home, buying, contractor)

[chaosX5]

Originally Posted by Nor'Eastah

This is an interesting observation. Why does everyone assume that ALL water entering a building must be potable? They fuss and fidget over what's in the well water. If it's OK for washing, bathing, and flushing, that's about 90% of your usage right there. Water for drinking and cooking can be treated, if you wish. But to reject an otherwise perfect property for your needs, just because of the well water, is silly.



Right on, NMLM!!! Back to the country, everybody! To hell with what the environmental crowd wants to force down our throats! This stuff is just scare tactics, designed to get folks to say, "No mas" to a great rural property.

I would normally tend to agree with this, but my son just brought me his science book and let me read an article on arsenic in treated wood. They say in this article that arsenic can be absorbed through the skin (which is why they moved to a different type of treated lumber a few years back) Wouldn't well water with arsenic in it absorb into your skin while bathing, etc.......? or were the arsenic levels in treated wood that much stronger?


and a big YES to back to the country!!! I can't wait!!!!!

[Acadianlion]

[quote= Acadianlion must have put in a whole house system for that amount of money. No need to treat the water used for flushing the commode. It's drinking water that the bank wants tested.[/QUOTE]

Correct. This is precisely the situation. The filtration system was installed before the pressure tank and treated the entire building. There were several reasons for this, and in point of fact, there are several reasons why filtration systems will need to be used in MOST homes in the future where unacceptable levels of arsenic or other elements are found. The first and biggest reason of all is that if a mortgage is needed to purchase the home, the mortgage company or bank will require certain standards, and in Maine, those standards will come from the State, chiefly, the Department of Health and Human Services.

The other reason a whole building system was needed was because with students occupying the rooms, having a system with individual filters on each cold water faucet would present unacceptable servicing loads for the school's maintenance staff, I would imagine.

Finally, it was an absolute requirement of the DHHS that the water supply for schools (or restaurants, or other public buildings) meet the standards for various elements. restaurants that use well water are also required to submit water purity test data periodically. That used to be every five years, but I have no idea what it is today...probably annually, knowing DHHS. (That Nanny bunch of overpaid bureaucrats in August. OOOOOPS: I shouldn't have said that....called cross posting or some other sin. Ooooops...I think I hear a black helicopter now!).

[Northern Maine Land Man]

Public use commercial water supplies and foster homes must have a successful water test every six months.

There are several levels of water tests. The first is potability. It tests for bacteria and a few mineral tests such as nitrite and nitrates. These minerals can impart a negative taste to water, but are seldom dangerous. It also tests for Ph which indicates how hard or soft water is.

Next generally used is the FHA and VA test. In addition to several addition mineral tests they require a lead test. Some older homes have solder that contained lead in copper pipes. It could leach into drinking water over time.

In addition you can have many other tests done depending on what sales brochures you have seen such as radon. I know of one buyer who had a test done for a particular pesticide. It took weeks to find a lab that could do it. It was finally done in a university gas chromatograph. It passed.

I often wear a stainless cup on my belt. I drink water from many springs, streams and lakes in Maine. I have for a very long time. I don't drink just below a beaver dam because I too have read some scare literature. I have never heard of a case of giardia in Maine, but I guess it's possible that it's here. Giardia is a parasite passed on by beaver and it causes intestinal distress.

[JC3]

Originally Posted by Northern Maine Land Man

JC3,
Well drillers usually do not test water except to determine the recharge rate of a well before they leave the property. Most well drillers provide a package deal with the well pump. pipe and electrical to the house. Your electrician and plumber make the indoor connections. If your well driller uses an 8 inch drill the well will contain 2.6 gallons per foot so the amount of volume of water available in the well is the depth of water above your pump in feet times 2.6. If you have 100 feet of water over the pump you will have 260 gallons of water available, not counting the recharge rate. My well at the house is 103 feet deep and the level is 13 to 17 feet down from the top so I have around 230 gallons of water in the well at any given time. I have never measured my recharge rate. It is relatively high. I have a friend with a well that has over 100 gallons per minute recharge rate.

My dug well at camp has concrete tiles that are 36 inches inside diameter. I just measured the water level and I have 54 inches in the well. That is 237 gallons, but the intake is not on the bottom so I have just under 200 gallons available in the well.

Thanks for the info, I will be talking to my builder about this. We are going to have those osmosis thingies that have been mentioned here put in too. They are hopefully going to be doing the well this week and am glad this was brought up. As I said, I have never had a well and am totally oblivious to how they function. After reading this stuff, time to research.

[Trailmonkey]

If you would like to chat about arsenic or radon, DM me and we can discuss it.

[flycessna]

Well thanks everyone. My folks have decided against the house. The realtor said there other buyers who want the house so that negated any negotiating room with the seller to rectify the issue.. But I think in the end they felt that it was too much of a nuisance for them to deal with.

My only question now is... do I believe these "other buyers" will be informed about the water test?? Even though its a disclosure issue now I seriously doubt it.

[Acadianlion]

Originally Posted by flycessna

Well thanks everyone. My folks have decided against the house. The realtor said there other buyers who want the house so that negated any negotiating room with the seller to rectify the issue.. But I think in the end they felt that it was too much of a nuisance for them to deal with.

My only question now is... do I believe these "other buyers" will be informed about the water test?? Even though its a disclosure issue now I seriously doubt it.

caveat emptor, and under the real estate laws, all buyers and all brokers are equal. I don't know how to write that in Latin.

[Northern Maine Land Man]

"Caveat emptor." You got it the first time. Your parents paid for the water test. They own the test and the records. The property disclosure asks if the sellers have had the water tested and if they have any records of bad tests. It sounds like they can answer in the negative.

[Maineah]

We had the "Nitrite" problem here when we first moved in. Runoff was getting into the well casing in the spring and raising the levels. We put in a R/O system under the sink for about $700.00 (at the time) and got a clean test. Since then we stopped using the R/O system about 10 years ago and went to bottled water in 5 gallon jugs for drinking and cooking and don't worry about the washing and bathing part of it. We also installed a deep well pump that draws from 300 feet instead of the old one in the cellar that drew from about 25 feet.

[WhoFanMe]

Originally Posted by flycessna

Well thanks everyone. My folks have decided against the house. The realtor said there other buyers who want the house so that negated any negotiating room with the seller to rectify the issue.. But I think in the end they felt that it was too much of a nuisance for them to deal with.

My only question now is... do I believe these "other buyers" will be informed about the water test?? Even though its a disclosure issue now I seriously doubt it.

I sold a house in Windham this spring that came in high for arsenic (I represented the buyers). I brought a contractor out, supplied the estitmate to the sellers and asked for the money for the buyers to install the system. The sellers refused and my buyers still wanted the house, leaving it up to them if they want to fix the problem. They planned to purchase those large bottles of water that are common in offices and use that for drinking water.