A Guide for Business Owners: Testing Your Company’s Well Water for Bacterial Contamination

Safe well water is essential for keeping employees and customers at your business healthy. There can be a lot of difficult and expensive consequences for a bacterial infection or outbreak that is traced back to your business’s well water. Groundwater sources that feed into wells can also become contaminated by chemicals, petroleum products, nitrate from fertilizers and many other pollutants.

Because all private wells are the responsibility of the owners, if your business uses a private well(s) for use at your facility, then you should conduct at least annual well water quality testing to ensure the purity of your water and the safety of everyone involved with your business.

There are numerous reasons for well water contamination to occur. Some of the main ones are the following:

• Improper well construction: Poor well construction will almost inevitably lead to problems with your well.
• Recent repairs or nearby construction: Water systems should be thoroughly flushed whenever a new water pump or new plumbing are installed and tests should be conducted if nearby construction causes any change in your water.
• Soil contamination: Normally bacteria are filtered out naturally as they flow through soil. But sometimes, either the soil does not adequately filter or a contamination upstream from your well eventually leaks into your well.
• Water System Failure: At times water treatment systems can fail to do their job. Perhaps your filters have grown bacteria or parts of the system have broken or been compromised. 

Any of these issues can lead to well water contamination at the expense of the business and potentially the health of your workers and/or customers. Water polluted with fecal contamination is a serious health problem, due to the potential for contracting diseases such as E. coli. They can cause severe illness, with symptoms including severe diarrhea and abdominal cramps. Children, the elderly, and people with compromised immune systems are the most susceptible.

The most serious common bacterial contaminants can be identified as being present by performing a total coliform bacteria test. Coliform bacteria are found in the environment and the feces of all warm-blooded animals, humans included. The many types of coliform bacteria are most easily divided into three main groups for water testing purposes. While most don’t cause illness, when any of them are found in your well water, there could be harmful pathogens in your water supply.

Three groups of coliform bacteria:

• Total coliform – many different kinds of bacteria. 
• Fecal coliform bacteria – a subgroup of total coliform bacteria.
• E. coli -a potentially dangerous subgroup of fecal coliform.

When determining how to test well water for bacteria the most efficient method is to perform a relatively simple test for total coliform to determine whether there is any coliform bacteria contamination at all. If this test is positive, then further testing will be required to determine whether the other bacterial groups are present and if the water is dangerous. 

Well water quality standards have established clear maximum measurable levels for a long list of potential contaminants. If in the process of thorough testing any of these contaminants are found to be present at levels higher than the established well water quality standards maximum, your business will be required to immediately take the necessary measures to remedy the issue.

Meeting these standards could mean a professional treatment by chlorine injection, the installation of a UV disinfection system, excavating the soil or the well cap itself to determine how pollutants are entering the well or any number of other solutions. Because some of the solutions are much more involved, time-consuming and expensive than others it is highly recommended that regular (at least yearly) water tests be performed in order to catch any problems or potential issues early on before they become difficult to remedy.

Torrent Laboratory has decades of experience and our chemists know exactly how to serve you!
We know that pre-packaged test kits are available and inexpensive, but we also know that they cannot measure to the minute levels necessary to know if a problem with your well water is slowly arising. Pre-packaged tests are basically useless for comprehensive water quality testing!

This is because they are designed for one size fits all testing. But in reality, municipal tap water, bottled water, home-filtered water, and well water all have unique characteristics that pre-packaged kits cannot effectively test for.

Torrent Lab understands that each client’s situation is unique, so we spend time to discover exactly what your company needs and wants to determine in order to improve the health impact on your employees and clients. Torrent final reports all contain an additional attachment with all of the Federal Guidelines listed to give you a clear comparison with your water quality data.