How do I get rid of coliform bacteria in my well?
Chlorine bleach has always been what we used to sanitize wells and kill the coliform bacteria. Is it possible that you have such a high volume of water in your well that you’re not using enough chlorine bleach? If the bleach is too diluted, then it won’t kill the bacteria. Whatever amount of bleach you’re using…double or triple it. One time, after we had been working on our shallow well, we finished up the job by adding a gallon or two of Clorox…replaced the cover…and went on about our business… Being pretty dirty from the job…we hit the shower….wellllllll…not even thinking about the concentrated bleach in the well…we all turned out very ‘blond’…YIKES!
Disinfection: 1) Place the following amounts of disinfectant into the well: a) For Dug wells or drilled wells less than 200 feet deep add One gallon of liquid bleach for every thousand gallons of water in your well. NOTE: The number of gallons in your well can be found by multiplying the diameter of the well (in feet) by itself then multiplying this result by 5.9. This number is then multiplied by the depth of the water in the well (in feet). The result is the volume of water in your well in gallons. b) For Drilled wells deeper than 200 feet use calcium hypochlorite tablets (Chlorine pool tablets). Place the tablets in a heavy bag and break them into marble size pieces with a hammer (be careful, this material is hazardous). Pour into your well, 2 ounces of calcium hypochlorite for every 100 feet of well depth. Let it sit for several hours then continue with step two. NOTE: This assumes your well casing is 6 inches (most are) and that you are using 70 percent chlorine tablets (most rang
