You Don’t Want Sandy in Your Well
If you draw your water from a well, Hurricane Sandy may have brought you another chore.
Drilled wells are subject to saltwater and surface water contamination if the wellhead is submerged. If water puddle around your wellhead or saltwater drowned it, you’ll have to purge your well before your water is good to drink.
Start with a caution. Your well operates on electricity, so shock is possible. It’s a job you can do yourself, but you may prefer to call a in well-servicing company.
Here’s how to get clean water, according to Calvert County Health Department.
1. Pump off your well by running water for four hours.
2. Remove the cap of the well and pour one gallon of regular bleach, without added fragrances, into the well. Turn on your hose and run it to pump off the well until you smell bleach. Turn off the hose and let the water stay in the plumbing for 24 hours.
3. After 24 hours, turn on the hose and pump off the well until the bleach odor subsides.
4. Call your county health department to have your well water tested.
Calvert Division of Environmental Health: 410-535-3922 (M-F 8:30am-4:30pm). Anne Arundel Division of Environmental Health: 410-222-7024 (M-F 7:30am-4:30pm).