Special equipment needed to clean water

© 1999 Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc.
This story first appeared in the Portland Press Herald on January 29, 1999.

• Arsenic requires one system, sulfur another, and the gasoline additive MTBE takes a multi-step process.

By PATH HORRUAT
Staff Writer

A glass of well water should taste refreshing. If the faucet smells like a gas pump or rotten eggs, the well is contaminated.

"The most important thing people can do if it smells is call and have it tested," says Eric Wilson, marketing director at Air & Water Quality in Windham. He recommends that homeowners test well water annually and when they notice a change.

When Robyn Foss of North Saco heard about arsenic in southern Maine wells, she tested her water and discovered arsenic over acceptable levels. A carbon block filter in the cellar removed it until the company changed its replacement cartridges. Air & Water Quality then installed a reverse osmosis system that filters all types of arsenic.

"It worked well for the arsenic," says Foss," but since then we've had other problems." Changes in the aquifer feeding her well introduced sulfur last year. "You'd run the water or take a shower, and the whole house would smell like boiled eggs," she recalls. To elitninate the smell she has to reularly mix solutions for filtrations that increase pH and chlorinate.

Containated well water threatens the health of homeowners who depend on it for drinking, cooking and washing. The gasoline additive MTBE, arsenic, sulftur, bacteria, nitrogen compounds and lead may sometimes be filtered out or destroyed with chlorination or ultraviolet light. Other times connecting to town water or drilling a new well may be necessary. A cost benefit analysis should be done considering the contaminant, its source and treatment options.

"Just because you drill a new well doesn't mean you won't have a problem," cautions Wilson. "you might get a different problem or the same one." Most problems are too serious to be solved by putting a small carbon filter on the faucet. Water passes through that type of filter too quickly, and it may remove lead but not other particles. MTBE, added to gasoline to reduce pollution, is extremely water soluble and difficult to remove. It enters goundwater and wells from leaking underground storage tanks, automobile accident spills or people dumping gas cans.

If MTBE enters a well, Wilson says, the water has to be in contact with carbon for hours. Typically Air & Water Quality installs one or two very large filter tanks packed with carbon in the basement where the water enters. If high levels of MTBE are found Wilson recommends both air stripping and carbon filtration. An air stripping system forces ..air.. through the water to gas off the MTBE. Then the water is filtered through carbon.

"We have gotten MTBE levels from 5,000 parts per billion (ppb) to below one ppb," says Wilson. The Envronmental Protection Agency calls for treating water with 35 ppb. MTBE removal could cost a home owner $2,000 to $8,000, depending on the severity of the problem. "If a spill was not on your property or caused by you, the state will pay through a special fund," Wilson explains. "if it's self-inflicted, you must pay yourself." To avoid filter company scams, have ...your... water tested by a state certified lab or have tests confirmed by a state lab. Also, the University of Maine Cooperative Extension Service publishes informational bulletins about water contamination, testing and treatment options.

According to Jim Bragdon, lab director at McFarland Laboratories in North Windham, arsenic was used in the 1950s as a pesticide on blueberries and apples. "It's not used as a pesticide in Maine anymore, but it is been found in apple orchards and blueberry fields," he says. Arsenic occurs naturally in granite and has been used to make glass, drugs, and wood preservatives.

Linked to skin, liver, kidney, lung, and bladder cancer, arsenic is best removed by reverse osmosis, Bragdon and Wilson concur. A device attached to existing plumbing under the kitchen sink pushes water under pressure past a membrane that removes arsenic. The unit costs $600 to $1000.00 and needs replacement membranes.

To treat all water entering the house Bragdon suggests an activated alumina adsorption system in the cellar. As the water passes through activated alumina, arsenic sticks to the surface. He estimates the cost at $2,000 to $3,000 plus replacement alumina.

Water tests required for real estate transactions don't include sulfur, Wilson says, but it's a common problem. people move in, and the water smells like rotten eggs." The odor may come from sulfur in rock, something decaying in the well, or metal, he exaplains. Air injection and /or chlorination usuallly eliminate the problem.

Total coliform bacteria in well water may be killed by chlorination or ultraviolet light. When chlorinating, Bragdon cautions homeowners to use the right amount based on a water test and to let the water stand in the pipes overnight. Nobody should drink or bath in the water until it is flushed out the next day.

"When all the chlorine smell is gone, then have the water retested," says Bragdon. If bacteria is still present, the well may need some work. The bacteria may be from organic matter like pine needles decaying in the well or surface water leaking in before it's filtered through soil. Well tiles may need adjustments or the ground may need banking to run water away from the well.

A heavlly fertilized garden or a leaking septic tank may pollute a well with nitrogen compounds. Nitrogen compounds cause blue baby syndrome, warns Wilson, and should be removed by reverse osmosis.

If the water tests high for both total coliform bacteria and nitrogen compounds, the test points to a septic problem, says Bragdon. The water should also be tested for fecal material and detergents. If it's a septic problem, the homeowner may have to drill a new well or connect to town water if possible.

Wilson recommends killing coliform bacteria without nitrogen compounds or color and odor problems with ultraviolet light. "It's a single pass system - very easy and not a lot of maintenance," he says. A cylindrical tube in the existing plumbing disinfects water as it passes the light. The system, which costs about $1,500 should stop supplying water if the bulb burns out or the power goes off to let the homeowner know it is not disinfecting the water.

Spending money to rid her family's water of arsenic and the smell of boiled eggs was worth every penny toFoss, and she's grown accustomed to mixing solutions of citric acid to raise the PH and chlorine to kill the sulfur odor.

You don't have to bring in water to drink or explain why the house smells," she says. "It just makes life more pleasant"

Path Horruat is a free-lance writer
who lives in Saco.