[~Shanna~]

Hoping someone can help me with this one! On and off through the year, we have periods where our well water turns yellow-ish brown. Sometimes it seems to correlate with heavy rainfalls, sometimes it doesn't. It usually will start off mild, and gradually get worse until we finally chlorinate the well. We've had the well tested for coliforms, e.coli, solvents, partial chemistry panel, etc., and there doesn't seem to be indication of a compromised well casing. However, we haven't had it inspected in about 2 years.

I strongly suspect that it's high tanins, not iron. Chlorinating always clears it up

, and the brown stains in our toilets, showers and fixtures are always able to come off with soap, baking soda and lots of elbow grease.

I hate chlorinating so frequently (about 1X/3 months or so), but I also hate everything that this water quality does: staining, decrease effectiveness of soap, etc. Any advice, suggestions? I've asked the neighbor if they have the same problem, and she dismissively chalked it up to "country living", though I'm not sure that she realizes how bad it gets for us. Bathwater will literally look light-brown.

 

[oneotamama]

Hmmm...it sounds like we might have something similar here. But I always thought it was iron!! What are tanins? Our well is a little over a year old. It tested fine. Doesn't look fine though! We have a reverse osmosis Culligan drinking water system. That water seems fine. In fact, the kitchen water in general seems better than in the one bathroom we have or in the washing machine. Our light colored clothes were getting so stained that I started sending them to my mom's. Now after we shock chlorinated our well about a 1/2 months back I've been washing them here again.

Our toilet gets a film on it where I need to scrub it one-two times/week. Before we did the shocking chlorinating it was every other day. The bathtub was gross. The clear shower curtain disgusting. And yep, bs and vinegar clean everything right up.

Guess I'm not much help. Looking for answers myself I guess. And our neighbor right across the road says his water is great. They even drink theirs.