Services
Water Quality Sampling - Potability and Health Standards
Rural homeowners should periodically test their private well water to ensure it is safe for drinking. If you have a private water system, it is your responsibility to make sure your family’s water is safe. Contaminated well water may look, smell, and taste the same as safe drinking water. A complete “Homeowners Private Well package” is now available from Water Well Wizards for rural homeowners and businesses throughout Colorado. A full laboratory analysis is the only reliable method to determine the quality of water in your private well. Public suppliers have strict federal and state regulations that govern water quality and testing for community water supplies. But this analysis is not readily available to rural homeowners. If you are buying a new property or if you cannot remember when your well was last tested, Water Well Wizards will sample your drinking water and have it analyzed by a reputable laboratory for over 14 important health and safety parameters. Our qualified staff will sample your private well water for bacteria, nitrate, nitrite, arsenic, lead, selenium, and iron content. Important baseline information will be provided for pH, total dissolved solids (TDS), hardness & conductivity. The bacterial analysis is strongly recommended for all private water supplies, especially for wells near septic systems or animal confinement facilities. Tests for pesticides, other organic contaminants, and radon are expensive and usually not recommended unless you have reason to suspect this type of contamination. Annual water testing is strongly suggested to help monitor the quality of your private water supply. If you see a decline in quality through time, more thorough investigation is warranted. These water quality records will provide valuable information on the history of your well if the water is ever contaminated.
Flow Testing
A flow test is the method used to quantify the volume of groundwater being pumped by a well. Sometimes a well will have a Totalizing Flow Meter installed when the well was drilled that is designed and manufactured for the purpose of measuring and totalizing the flow of water through the meter. However, most domestic wells do not have a flow meter installed. Therefore, a flow test requires a meter to be attached to the system and the rate of flow is measured by a qualified well tester over a period of time. A Qualified Well Tester is certified by the State of Colorado to test wells using a certified test meter following standard testing procedures. All Qualified Well Testers are required to provide Test Meter Verification that their Test Meter has been calibrated and is in good working condition before being approved for use as a Test Meter. A Test Meter must be re-certified, at a minimum, every 2 years beginning with the date the Test Meter is initially certified. A volumetric vessel (bucket) that is used as testing equipment to verify installed flow meters shall be calibrated by weight, using the value of 8.34 lbs per gallon for cool water or dimensionally using the value of 7.48 gallons per cubic foot. The Well Test must be performed under normal operating conditions, which represents specific pumping conditions that would normally exist while the well is operating for its permitted uses. The pressure should be stable and not fluctuating (bouncing) by more than 10% when observing and recording each reading. Generally the flow test will be conducted over a period of several hours to guarantee stable flow conditions. Flow volumes are recorded at specific intervals during the test and are used to determine the flow rate of the well.
Water System Inspection
Routine maintenance and inspection of water wells can help protect water quality, ensure your well is operating properly, prolong the useful life of the well system, and protect your investment. The greatest of all these is the protection of your health, as water quality issues can have adverse health impacts without any detectable indicators. Small problems can often be identified by performing maintenance before they become costly, inconvenient situations. This is similar to performing routine maintenance on a motor vehicle. If you have the oil changed at specified intervals, the engine will operate reliably much longer than if you do not. Do not become stranded without water over the relatively small cost of an annual service call—the cost of a repair call could be much higher. At a minimum, wells should be evaluated annually by a licensed or certified water well systems professional. An annual water well checkup should include: • a flow test • visual inspection • a water quality test for coliform and anaerobic bacteria, nitrates, and anything else of local concern • checking valves • electrical testing. A written report should be delivered to you following completion of an annual checkup. The report should include recommendations and all laboratory and other test results. Keep this in a safe place with all other well reports.
Well Research
Owners of water wells should know what documents are associated with their well, including the well permit, the well permit application, well construction report, pump installation report to name a few. These documents can be found on the State of Colorado's Division of Water Resources web site. They are sometimes difficult to locate and interpret and Water Well Wizards will locate, interpret and provide copies of these documents to you as part of the reporting process. Other important well research includes potential water rights in addition to the well permit, well owners, permitted uses and place of use and potential problems. Occasionally an older well will not have a readily identifiable permit and more research is required.
One of the most important components of the well permit is the well log.
It contains a lot of information on the construction of the well and the earth materials surrounding it. Contractors must file well logs upon completion of new wells. Quick access to and understanding of the well log can be crucial. After constructing the well, contractors test it for an extended period of time. Among the tests performed are those for flow or production rate, measured in gallons per minute (gpm); static water level, the distance from the ground level to the top of the water in the well when the well is not being pumped; pumping water level (the water level during the test, concluding with the stabilized level after some time); and drawdown, the difference between the static water level and pumping water level, hours pumped; and observations on water quality.
The information gathered from these tests is useful in forecasting the long-term yield of the well.
Reporting
An inspection report will be provided that includes information about the well and its location, the water system and any visible problems, the water quality results and the flow test results. Recommendations will be made per water quality issues or concerns, flow rate concerns or general problems that might arise. Copies of all testing materials will be provided to the well owner.