[Closed] Microbiology water results

E. Coli is kind of a standard gut bacterium. Same with Coliforms, they are a bit gut/poo.

Interesting you have C. Perfinaens. That's the bacterium that causes gangrene. Clostridia group are quite unpleasant; the same family has Tetanus and botulism in.

I would honestly check whether these are within legal/safe limits. Local environmental health should have this information.

The above is the first thing I could find about coliforms in water. The Defra website appears to be shit.

It looks like someone may have shat in your well 😉

In seriousness, they are above the guidelines so technically the company that did the test is right, you should be cleaning it before drinking. Is it really hazardous...... well most of the contaminants are already in your gut anyway.

Work out what the implications of fitting the filters are before you buy.

UV filters are simple but need to run constantly to maintain a barrier between the well and house sides of the supply. This is fine in a building where there is a fairly consistent draw of water. Where there is more intermittent demand water comes out of the taps tepid so you might want to think about installing a chiller for drinking water. You also want to know how easy it is to change the UV bulbs for some units it is straightforward for some it isn't

where did you get the tests done? We've got springs in our garden. It tastes pretty good, so I 've thought about testing, but the guys I found weren't cheap.

https://feedwater.co.uk/testing-private-water-supplies/

Don't know what I was expecting, I guess it feels about right. Still a bit pricey when we don't need it, though.

Cheers for the replies so far. I know we need a sediment filter, as I recently cleaned out the cold water tank, and it was full of sand. Probably 30 years worth.

The company we used was On Tap, based in Somerton. I think for the Microbiology it was £88.

I'll have to look in to the UV stuff, as the price they have quoted was far more than we could afford at the moment.

Next door tap in to the same water source and they only have a sediment filter. They were told there was some faecal matter, but in such low amounts it would not do any harm, the benefit would be if they went abroad, they would not get Delhi belly. Not too sure how true that is though.

They were told there was some faecal matter, but in such low amounts it would not do any harm, the benefit would be if they went abroad, they would not get Delhi belly

which is all well and good if you're healthy but give it to someone who's vulnerable physically and it might not be the same outcome.

tbh - if someone came back and said 'you're drinking shit' I'd be asking;

1) is it leaking into the well from somewhere
and
2) deciding that regardless of the levels drinking shit is not appealing at any level and could someone please pass the gin.

Just be aware that you only have the results of a sample. The quality of the water source will vary over time depending on multiple factors. Without regular monitoring, you've no idea if those results represent a good or bad day. Adding a water treatment system will deliver a consistent quality.

The test results indicate your drinking water is contaminated with animal faeces. That's far from ideal.

We have been drinking our water from the well since we moved in, with no issues.

The test results indicate your drinking water is contaminated with animal faeces.

What do you think now?

Remember, "Big bubbles, no troubles"

Clost.perfringens is also normal gut flora, it's not going to give you gangrene if you drink it. I wouldn't know what the limits are for water quality though.

Those levels look very low to me , but it's years since I was in that business.
CFU = colony forming units, = individual bacteria.
per 100 ml seems to be approximately nowt. If it was 10^3 /100ml I'd be worried

if it fails anything in here, they have to recommend improvements.

https://www.mygov.scot/apply-private-water-supply-grant/

Aside from anything else, the fact I've spent the day on the phone trying to sort out exactly the same problem is bizarre having never ever seen a similar thread on here!

Our results read

E.Coli - 1
Kloroform - 14
Enterococci - <1

But we're supposed to be serving paying guests at the house this coming summer so needs to be fixed!

Kloroform

Do you feel drowsy after drinking it?

What do you think now?

I think that a single sample indicates the presence of animal shit in their water.

Without proceeding with a period of regular sampling, that will not really provide a prediction of future shit content, I’d install some form of treatment.

OK
I have some ltd experience with the PWS regs as we had a borehole at the last brewery I worked at.

ALS environmental used to a PWS suite of tests for £70 plus VAT , so much of a muchness , but you could get alot more results like 10 more , heavy metals, ph , conductivity , colour/turbidity, smell , taste etc for the same money

You TVC counts are very low in the real world , but if the water is consued raw from the tap by the young , or elderly and infirm there may be problems PLus the bugs could grow given some encouragement so action is probably neccassry.

Did you take the samples yourself? Using the recomended best practise techniques? There is, or at least was ,talk of PWS samples only being allowed by local authority if the persons were qualified or had attended a training course

Going fwd you have 2 choices. UV or filtration. both have their advantage and disadvantages , depending on turbidity UV is pretty much a fit and forget system , just needs a 6monthly wipe over and annual bulb change . Cartridge filters , probably at 1micron and .45micron with a rough or guard filter will also work , but you may experience apressure drop or flow rate drop as they clog up. IN that scenario I would say single use , approx £90 for the absolute membrain and £50 for the 1micron. PLus housings obvs. How long they would last I wouldnt know. Ebay ususally has UV lights listed .

Its water run off , round water soak away from a feild thats giving you the TVC's but they are low so easily fixable. HTH. rob

Tasted fine from the sample we had last week. Thanks for dinner too.

Coliforms - not great

Enterococci - not good

Clostridium - not good

E.coli - good.

TVCs - as mentioned above, not a worry.

If that were a sample called through to me at work from a customer tap supplied by my water company I  would then become quite busy investigating the source.

As a private water supply though, this is regulated by your local authority. They should be able to help you out, as well as testing the water.  One thing that I encounter a lot is private testing - which doesn't always remove the tap from the equation - the tap needs to be disinfected to ensure only the water is being sampled (not the muck on the tap).

Also see http://dwi.gov.uk/private-water-supply/index.htm for more information.

It would also be worth looking at the catchment area around the well - is it surrounded by livestock? What runoff finds its way towards the source? You may be able to improve the water quality by sorting your catchment.

As you are at a property with a well, are you on mains sewage or do you have a septic tank nearby? Often if these are leaking or overflowing the contents can pollute nearby groundwater.

Looking at the source of the problem may be more cost effective than treatment.  Whatever you do, local authority (normally Environmental Health team) should be able to help you.

Looking at the source of the problem may be more cost effective than treatment. Whatever you do, local authority (normally Environmental Health team) should be able to help you.

And it has been a very long time since I had anything to do with it but I seem to recall the rules were slightly different if the supply was shared as this implied?

not sure with regards to private supplies. Local authority are the responsible body so can help. If the source supplies other properties too, then they may also want to help manage any catchment risks to save money and reduce health risks. Could be as simple as moving livestock away.

I have seen some great slides of private water supplies where sheep wander around next to the water source. Sometimes a little bit of fencing can make a huge improvement.

anus

That's a rather fitting user name.

So you're still alive Mike? Has Dirk survived?! 🙂

Going to get some quotes for a UV filter I think.

In terms of contamination source, we have not got much livestock around us. Could the recent snow melt a few weeks back have had an effect on ground water contamination seeping in?

I’d be inclined to get a few more tests done before fitting UV filters on the delivery pipework
Get a repeat done several times over a period of a few weeks to ensure all results report the same findings and also from several different taps on the delivery system.
UV filters work best on a return system with no dead legs and water always moving round the system so are not always practical in a non industrial setting.
I look at results similar to your for 17 sampling points done 4 times a year and as I’m not at work just now can’t be sure of our acceptance criteria but standard practice with a high results is to implement a regime of flushing that leg of pipe work for approx 10 minutes per day for a week, then get the retest done, if it is still high replace the tap with a new one then retest again.
This usually sorts the issue.
1 sample and 1 test makes a full assessment of your situation very tricky even though it is in the well.
You may find a simple filter between the well and delivery system eradicates the issue.if so try to install a consumer serviceable 1, so you can set up a routine membrane change policy, and stick to it.
Plus flushing, swapping taps etc is way cheaper than a full UV filter and pipe work solution.

If I can get a used in and filter set and U V lamp shall I ask for a price? Don't know when the lamp was changed but can find out
30 LPM so adequate for residential use

That would be amazing, thank you. Our budget is very tight at present, so this coming up was a little frustrating to say the least. A second hand one would ease the burden on the wallet somewhat!