Anyone knowledgeable about wells? Using well to water sheep.

[KodeshAcres]

I feel like I’m either on here asking questions or MIA we were suppose to get our flock on December 1st but there’s been some hiccups along the way with fencing and now the well we were planing to use for watering the sheep.

We had the well water tested and it came back negative for E. coli out there is Coliform bacteria present. Everything I am finding online is confusing me even more. Some sites are showing it’s safe for animals and only harmful to humans, others say to neither. We were told to put bleach down the well and let it sit for 24 hours and then purge that water out. However, we don’t have a place to let the water run off without it being on plants that the sheep would be grazing on. Ughhh… if anyone is knowledgeable please help I want to clarify that we well water DOES NOT come up to the house. It’s just outside and we run the water with a hose.
We have an old brick well.

 

[Mini Horses]

Bleach & purge. The amount of bleach won't harm sheep or grasses. Actually, it's been studied that spraying a light bleach water on pastures will help kill worm larvae. Anyway.....bleach & purge. The excess will dissipate. They won't want to eat there anyway. It's all good.

 

[KodeshAcres]

Bleach & purge. The amount of bleach won't harm sheep or grasses. Actually, it's been studied that spraying a light bleach water on pastures will help kill worm larvae. Anyway.....bleach & purge. The excess will dissipate. They won't want to eat there anyway. It's all good.

Thank you for the quick response. This well situation had us stressing out.

 

[Alaskan]

Yep, x2 what @Mini Horses said.

Our wells up here need to be treated with bleach.

Bleach is great, it breaks down fast.

Bleach also doesn't cost all that much, so I would pour at least 2 jugs down there in the evening. Come morning or afternoon, (or 2 days later... depending on when you need the water) run the water out until it no longer smells like bleach.

If the well is really bad, and I don't need the water... I pour2 jugs down the well pipe, 3nights in a row...then purge.

I don't remember getting a dead spot from running out the bleach... but I put the hose end in the weeds.

 

[Alaskan]

So... I was curious, and tried to figure out what that bacteria is that you have.

From what I can understand..the Coliform bacteria is a completely harmless bacteria that is easy to test for, and that commonly occurs in association with contamination by fecal matter of one kind or another.

So yes, bleach the well... but also figure out WHY you have the contamination.

quote from: https://www.health.ny.gov/environmental/water/drinking/coliform_bacteria.htm

What Kinds of Defects can Allow Contamination?​

• a missing or defective well cap - seals around wires, pipes, and where the cap meets the casing may be cracked, letting in contaminants
• contaminant seepage through the well casing - cracks or holes in the well casing allow water that has not been filtered through the soil to enter the well. This seepage is common in the wells made of concrete, clay tile, or brick
• contaminant seeping along the outside of the well casing - many older wells were not sealed with grout when they were constructed
• well flooding - a common problem for wellheads located below the ground in frost pits that frequently flood during wet weather.

​

Points not covered are also
1. If the well is too shallow. Up here i think the well is to be 23 feet deep? I am not sure exactly. But the point is the water has to filter through enough soil so that it is "clean". Of course, the kind of soil will also change things.

2. If the septic system is too close, and the underground water flow brings the septic water into the well water. But I guess... reading that website's list, this might fall into the "if you have cracks/leaks in the well casing"

we have a bunch of earthquakes up here... so I am sure most well cassings have cracks... which is maybe why it is common knowledge to keep the septic down stream from the well. Also... if there is a bunch of rain we know that risk of "stuff" washing into the water is higher.

there are a number of filtration systems that will take out or kill contaminants.

Our first well was a shallow well, so highly likely to get contaminated. We bought a .... (sorry, 25 years ago!) Thing that looked like a fat pipe section... maybe 6 inches in diameter and 2 feet long. It was screwed into the pipe so all water passed through... I think it used electricity to kill any bacteria??..

Whatever, the point is... if the contaminant issue is NOT fixable, at worst you add some kind of filter, and the water will be made good.

And, since the water is negative for e. coli, it is most likely perfectly safe for animals.

If you are worried... get someone's unwanted rooster... put it in a cage, feed it, use only that water... and see what happens.

​

 

[farmerjan]

I lived with a hand dug shallow well for 10 years. About 12 ft across and maybe 25 ft deep? Something like yours in the picture, but ours was stones since rocks are very common in the northeast. I put a gal of bleach in it twice a year.... and never bothered with the purging... just ran the first water after bleach for washing machine and watering the garden and the animals.
Think about the chlorine in city water that people drink... and it is never purged... there is chlorine present all the time....

Coliform occurs everywhere in nature... concentrated in water is not good... But if that is not the problem, then don't see the big deal.

I go get water from a spring that comes out of the side of a hill.... no filters, no nothing... and haul it to the cows at the one pasture, when their spring gets slow... I used it at the house in the summer for the garden and watering the chickens . Used it when I had a cistern and hauled my own water..... Never been tested. There are often several people there with tanks to get it when we get into drought type conditions...

I would be more concerned about some of the city water and the stuff they add to it. And if anyone does any research on the "benefits" of flouride... READ UP on it... one source is a poisonous WASTE BY PRODUCT that they found a way to utilize, from phosphate fertilizer production... that is what is used in many/most large city flouridation of water...

 

[KodeshAcres]

So... I was curious, and tried to figure out what that bacteria is that you have.

From what I can understand..the Coliform bacteria is a completely harmless bacteria that is easy to test for, and that commonly occurs in association with contamination by fecal matter of one kind or another.

So yes, bleach the well... but also figure out WHY you have the contamination.

quote from: https://www.health.ny.gov/environmental/water/drinking/coliform_bacteria.htm

What Kinds of Defects can Allow Contamination?​

​

• a missing or defective well cap - seals around wires, pipes, and where the cap meets the casing may be cracked, letting in contaminants
• contaminant seepage through the well casing - cracks or holes in the well casing allow water that has not been filtered through the soil to enter the well. This seepage is common in the wells made of concrete, clay tile, or brick
• contaminant seeping along the outside of the well casing - many older wells were not sealed with grout when they were constructed
• well flooding - a common problem for wellheads located below the ground in frost pits that frequently flood during wet weather.

​

Points not covered are also
1. If the well is too shallow. Up here i think the well is to be 23 feet deep? I am not sure exactly. But the point is the water has to filter through enough soil so that it is "clean". Of course, the kind of soil will also change things.

2. If the septic system is too close, and the underground water flow brings the septic water into the well water. But I guess... reading that website's list, this might fall into the "if you have cracks/leaks in the well casing"

we have a bunch of earthquakes up here... so I am sure most well cassings have cracks... which is maybe why it is common knowledge to keep the septic down stream from the well. Also... if there is a bunch of rain we know that risk of "stuff" washing into the water is higher.

there are a number of filtration systems that will take out or kill contaminants.

Our first well was a shallow well, so highly likely to get contaminated. We bought a .... (sorry, 25 years ago!) Thing that looked like a fat pipe section... maybe 6 inches in diameter and 2 feet long. It was screwed into the pipe so all water passed through... I think it used electricity to kill any bacteria??..

Whatever, the point is... if the contaminant issue is NOT fixable, at worst you add some kind of filter, and the water will be made good.

And, since the water is negative for e. coli, it is most likely perfectly safe for animals.

If you are worried... get someone's unwanted rooster... put it in a cage, feed it, use only that water... and see what happens.

​

Yes that is what some of the articles I was reading were indicating.. that it was safe for animals and that most humans don't become sick either(the well water is not hooked up to the house anyway). We have a good idea of what the issues are. When we moved to this property the well was just covered with an old pallet there was also sheep and goats back there at a time who would stand on top of the pallet and I am sure would poop and pee there. We have even heard that a goat fell in and drowned in there (he was taken out, at least that is what we have been told) this property was a mess when we got here, the previous owners did not keep up with anything and trashed it pretty bad so we are now trying to do things right before our animals get here, so that means we are still trying to clean up their mess. Luckily nothing else showed up in the water test, we had it professionally tested.

 

[KodeshAcres]

I lived with a hand dug shallow well for 10 years. About 12 ft across and maybe 25 ft deep? Something like yours in the picture, but ours was stones since rocks are very common in the northeast. I put a gal of bleach in it twice a year.... and never bothered with the purging... just ran the first water after bleach for washing machine and watering the garden and the animals.
Think about the chlorine in city water that people drink... and it is never purged... there is chlorine present all the time....

Coliform occurs everywhere in nature... concentrated in water is not good... But if that is not the problem, then don't see the big deal.

I go get water from a spring that comes out of the side of a hill.... no filters, no nothing... and haul it to the cows at the one pasture, when their spring gets slow... I used it at the house in the summer for the garden and watering the chickens . Used it when I had a cistern and hauled my own water..... Never been tested. There are often several people there with tanks to get it when we get into drought type conditions...

I would be more concerned about some of the city water and the stuff they add to it. And if anyone does any research on the "benefits" of flouride... READ UP on it... one source is a poisonous WASTE BY PRODUCT that they found a way to utilize, from phosphate fertilizer production... that is what is used in many/most large city flouridation of water...

I appreciate your response. Yes, sometimes when I turn the water on inside the house I feel like I am inside a pool because the smell of chlorine is so strong just wanted to make sure we were doing the best for the animals and the pasture too.

 

[farmerjan]

I fished out a dead opposum one time, and a rabbit another time that managed to get under the cover of the hand dug well. Different times..... hadn't been in there that long as they were totally intact.... Put 2 gal bleach in it, let it sit 2 days... then ran washing machine 2 loads flushed toilet a couple times, and then started using the water..
Yes, if the sheep or goats got on top some of the urine and manure pellets would have gotten in there... There are worse things... and if you have been there awhile, the effects will disperse... Couple gallons of bleach...

 

[farmerjan]

If the chlorine smell is that bad, I would be using the well water... JUST ME......