Ecoli and coliform treatment begins with a few simple basics. Which are:

Overall Water Quality:

If you know for certain that you have ecoli or coliform in your water. You then need to determine what treatment is best. Testing for pH, iron and hardness is a pretty essential things for private well water users. If you have water hardness above 6-7 GPG (Grains per gallon). Or in laboratory terms above 100 PPM of hardness. Then that makes the decision easier. That excludes using UV lights (Ultra violet light disinfection).

The same would be true if you have any measurable amount of iron, manganese or other solids. Such as dirt and sand. All of these things will tend to “Shield” the light from killing the harmful bacteria. If you have any of these single issues, you simply MUST chlorinate. And then we would suggest you remove the chlorine as well. We can do FREE WATER TESTING for the basics if you care to send a sample to one of our free labs.

Well Water Flow rate:

This helps a great deal in determining what size of a disinfection system you need. For example, if you need retention tanks for chlorination. The flow rate determines what SIZE tanks would be needed. Or if you were one of the rare candidates for UV disinfection. You would need to know your flow rate to determine what SIZE UV light would be correct.

You can see instructions for easily determining your flow rate under item #7 on this page:

Click Here for Flow Rate Instructions

Please note: Treatment for Escherichia Coli (E-coli) and Coliform bacteria can be confusing. And if not addressed properly, it can be dangerous. With the improvements in water treatment technology. And with various water treatment companies telling you many different things. It can be hard to know the correct way of treating such harmful bacteria.  We know of two reasonable and inexpensive solutions that have been proven to work.  The two treatment options we suggest are: Chlorination with Retention and UV Treatment Systems. We will explore both options. But in this post we will be talking about Chlorination and Retention. Another post will follow on this basic subject.

Chlorination and Retention is Easy

Ecoli and coliform treatment for your water with Chlorination and Retention is based from many years of experience. The Chlorination system we normally recommend is a Chemical Feed System. And that injects chlorine into the water line as the water comes out of the well. And this is followed by one or more retention tanks.  How many depends on your flow rate. Retention tanks are need with chlorination to give the chlorine contact time to kill the harmful bacterium in your well water.

Knowing your flow rate

Flow rate is crucial since the of retention tanks is based on the flow rate. We recommend 20 minutes of contact time per gallon per minute of flow rate.  You don’t really need to know the following unless you just really want to understand flow rates. If you just do a quick flow rate check. Our water filtration specialist can easily determine what you need for you.

For example, if you have a flow rate of 6 gallons per minute or less, 6 gpm x 20 min = 120 gallons of retention.  The Chemical Feed System would be installed with a 120 gallon retention tank.  For every 6 gpm, a 120 gallon retention tank is needed. The flow rate CAN NOT be rounded down. If you have 6.2, 6.5 or 6.9, etc. gpm you need two (2) 120 gallon retention tanks (a smaller retention tank may be utilized depending on flow rate, ask a knowledgeable technician for more information).

Retention tank sizing

Most people choose to keep the same size tanks to keep the plumbing simple and the flow consistent. But as long as you have the proper amount of contact time you can use whatever configuration you like theoretically.  The retention tanks hold the water for a period of time. And chlorine and kills the bacteria.

The water can then move on to be filtered by a Terminox® for any residual chlorine and to remove the iron, sulfur and manganese that may be present in the well water. And finally a water softener may be installed the filter if you have hard water. If you don’t have hard water. You do NOT need a water softener. The water that is purged from the backwashing of the Terminox® unit will not have any bacteria and your septic system will not be polluted with any bacteria. Nor would it have any chlorine that might kill the organics that a septic system needs. Terminox® removes chlorine.

When presented with the water issues of harmful bacteria. Such as E-coli and Coliform bacteria contamination in your well. Chlorination and Retention is a wonderfully effective option. Be very cautious of water treatment companies that don’t insist on obtaining your flow rate information. Or companies that don’t give you valid options. We only recommend to you, what we would do for our own families. And we consider our customers family. In our next blog we’ll discuss treating E-coli and Coliform in your water with a UV Water Treatment System.

-Water Filtration Wizard

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Ecoli and coliform treatment for private wells