How Do You Know You Need Water
How to Remove Sulfur From Your Well H2o
Medically Reviewed by Briony Jain, PhD in Public Wellness
While nigh people become their drinking water from public water supplies, more than 13 meg households in the U.s.a. rely on private wells for their drinking water. Well water can absorb many dissimilar compounds from the surrounding soil — and when levels of compounds like sulfur get besides high, you'll need to filter it. If you lot're dealing with high levels of sulfur in your drinking supply, learn how to remove sulfur from well water.
Sulfur is a naturally occurring chemic compound. There are two sources of sulfur in well water – sulfates and hydrogen sulfide gas.
- Sulfates are a type of salt that contains sulfur. They may be in the soil and rocks surrounding your well. As groundwater and rainwater seep through the soil and rocks, they can behave sulfates into your well h2o.
- Hydrogen sulfide gas (H2S) can happen naturally when plants or other organic material decays. It tin can likewise be related to pollution in the water. And when sulfur bacteria feed on sulfates in well water, they tin can create H2S. Y'all'll need to remove the H2S from your water and vent the gas from low-lying spaces effectually your well.
Is Sulfur Harmful?
It depends on the level of sulfates or hydrogen sulfide in the water. In minor amounts, these things don't cause a trouble.
Likewise much sulfate can cause diarrhea and dehydration. Information technology tin also have a bitter gustation, clog your pipes with slime and stain your laundry.
Too much H2S causes a rotten egg smell in well h2o. In large amounts, information technology tin be poisonous and atomic number 82 to nausea and illness — but this is more than likely to happen from breathing the gas than from drinking water. H2S tin also corrode pipes and stain your utensils.
How Tin can I Tell If My Well Water Has Sulfur?
At that place are a few means to tell if you lot have a sulfur trouble:
- Scent or gustatory modality — Sulfur has a distinctive smell similar to rotten eggs, and sulfates can give water a biting taste. If your well water has sulfur in information technology, you may find an unpleasant smell or odd taste.
- Slime or stains — Sulfur leaner tin can get out blackness stains or a white, grey, black or ruddy-chocolate-brown slime on silverware or plumbing.
- Water tests — Get your well water tested every year, even if yous don't notice signs of sulfur or other bug. You tin find several different h2o testing kits online or in stores. Simply to ensure accurate results, discover a state-certified laboratory to do the tests. And check with your local health department get-go, in case they provide these tests for free.
How Can I Remove Sulfur From My Well Water?
There are many options for removing sulfur from your well water. The best option for you will depend on the source of the sulfur, how serious the trouble is and how much you're able to spend. Options include:
- Activated carbon filtration — Activated carbon filters apply small pieces of porous carbon (like charcoal) to attract chemicals in water and filter them out. You tin can install an activated carbon filtration system every bit a low-cost and low maintenance solution to remove a depression concentration of sulfur — simply information technology won't handle high concentrations of sulfur.
- Aeration treatment — This is a low-cost and safe solution that adds air to the water. This process may reduce the hydrogen sulfide to acceptable levels, but may not get rid of it completely. And it won't impale sulfur bacteria.
- Chlorine bleach — You lot tin inject chlorine bleach into your h2o before filtration. This is a depression-price solution that can effectively remove medium-to-loftier levels of hydrogen sulfide from your water. Simply this method isn't fast-acting, and information technology also adds sodium to the h2o and can leave toxic residue.
- Potassium permanganate — You can utilize potassium permanganate solution in combination with a special type of filter to remove sulfur particles. This procedure gets rid of several odors, but information technology tin can be toxic and may leave your water looking pink.
- Hydrogen peroxide — This is a fast and condom solution that leaves no chemical residual and no taste in the water. Merely an almanac supply of peroxide may be expensive, so information technology's non as common in private dwelling water systems.
- Ozone gas — This is as well a fast and safe solution that leaves no chemical residue. Simply ozone systems are expensive, and they add gases to the water that you so demand to vent.
If you lot own a private well, or are thinking of putting one in, check in with your local health department about maintenance procedures to make certain your water is safe for everyday employ. Many wellness departments offering gratuitous water testing to check the levels of sulfur and other compounds — and they tin provide more detailed advice about the best filtration methods.
Resource Links
- "Hydrogen Sulfide and Sulfur Leaner in Well Water" via Minnesota Department of Health
- "Hydrogen Sulfide and Sulfate in Private Drinking Water Wells" via University of Massachusetts Amherst
- "Private Drinking Water Wells" via U.S. Ecology Protection Agency
Source: https://www.symptomfind.com/healthy-living/remove-sulfur-from-well-water?utm_content=params%3Ao%3D740013%26ad%3DdirN%26qo%3DserpIndex
0 Response to "How Do You Know You Need Water"
Post a Comment