Home sale cancelled due to incorrect water test technique.

Recently I was called out to chlorinate a well system. The home was for sale and there had been a positive test showing coliform and ecoli in the well water. The potential buyers (city dwellers not used to wells) decided to cancel the sale because of fear of contaminated water. I asked the home sellers if they had seen the test done and they told me how the home inspector had simply turned on the kitchen tap and filled a sample bottle which he then put the lid on and stuck it in his pocket. WRONG - don't do bacteria tests this way.



Here is what you need:

• A sterile sample bottle (preferably one you picked up from the lab that you will bring the test to)


• A pair of pliers and a small sheet of rubber


• At least a Bic type lighter (or in my case, I use a hand torch)


• A cooler

Find a metal faucet in the home, preferably one that gets used all the time (kitchen or bathroom). Run the water at that faucet for 5 minutes (20 minutes if the home has not been lived in for several months). Turn off the faucet and using the pliers and rubber sheet (to prevent damage to the surface finish) remove the aerator and gasket or o-ring from the spout. This is very important because this is the place where air and water meet and airborne splashes can bring bacteria to this point where it can fester. We only want to check for bacteria in the well, pipes, and filter system, not on outer surfaces.

Next, run the water another minute or so and turn off again. This next part is why it is so important to do this at a metal faucet. Sanitize the faucet spout by lighting the Bic lighter and heating the spout end (where the water comes out). If you did this to the aerator, it would melt it's insides, thus the reason for removing it and only sanitizing the metal part of the spout. I would make a circular motion under the spout for a minute or so, making sure to get the round edge well.

Get the sterile sample bottle. Turn the water on brisk, but slow enough so that it does not splash from the bottom of the sink and potentially into the sample or back onto the spout. Remove the lid and fill the bottle to the fill line. Place bottle in chilled cooler with ice or ice pack. Deliver to lab. Deviations from these instructions may cause a false positive test due to contamination of sample. How do I know? Before I chlorinated the well, I took a sample using the correct method. When the lab results came back, the test showed negative - in other words - no bacteria. It was obvious that the improper test method caused contamination of the sample. I suggest that when an inspection is done in a home you are selling you should watch the person testing your water to make sure the test is done properly. Print this post to make sure you have the information handy.

Don't Guess At A Fix For Your Water Problems.

Just got back from consulting at a home. The water has petroleum products of some sort in it. Within the last year, a local water treatment company installed a system to deal with the problem. Here are the problems with the $10,000.00 system sold by a bunch of incompetents:

• The water treatment company NEVER tested the water to determine which petroleum products were in the water. They sniffed it and said "oh that smells like oil" and then proposed a $10,000.00 system.
• The BACKWASHING system that the treatment company installed empties the waste water outside the home 10 feet from the home owner's well and 50 feet from the neighbor's well, a potential contamination and recontamination issue.
• The system incorporates a chlorination system. Chlorine mixed with petroleum products can produce many strange and potentially carcinogenic compounds.

After 7 months, the customer decided that they were not confident in what they purchased, since they still smell oil in the water. That is why they called me. This is a home that was built in a 120 year old carriage house, and no one could ever know what has seeped into the well over the years without a thorough water test done by a LAB - not by some fool with a water softener sales test kit and his nose.

I took samples for testing at a state certified lab and will get back to the customer. One thing that will have to change is the discharge of contaminated water so close to the well and neighbor's well. This is a potential huge fine by the EPA if it were to be reported to them. I will keep you posted on the outcome.

Ted Mullen is a licensed water treatment expert. For advice, email questions to tedmullen@hotmail.com