Well water

Looking for some advice here.  I am searching for a property in the Oliva/Ondara/Denia area and have found a couple of of places I like.  They both have water from a well rather than mains supply connected.  Do any members have experience of this situation?  I am interested to hear about any health benefits or dangers.  I believe testing kits can be bought from chemists.  Is there any equipment that can be fitted to purify the water for drinking and cooking apart from the Brita-type filter jugs and the under-sink systems.  I'm not sure that these can remove bacteria and chemicals from well water.  TIA

I have used well water but it was not my concern at the time as to whether it was safe or not.  An urbanisation near where I now live have their water supply from a well but I have no idea what safety procedures they employ, but it seems to work out OK.

I have though just googled 'how to purify well water for drinking" and there is a lot of info available on line.

Good luck

We have well water and we use it only for washing. If you look at most places that have well water they have a soak away for their waste so it is all going into the ground. Yack.

I did not realise the dangers of well water when we came and I felt sick for a long while until I realised it was the water. My daughter used it for brushing her teeth and and started to feel sick.

there are people who get their water tested but it seems to me that it only show that at moment in time it was ok, is it really worth it. I use bottled water for all cooking and drinking.

Did you know the well had to be registered.

As most of the water you use will be for washing and flushing lavatories it is not necessary to purify all water used in the house.  I use bottled water for drinking which means that I do not have to excessively purify my water, although all water is filtered.  UV filters will remove bacteria although the removal of chemicals is more complicated.

I used to live just outside Oliva,on ubanization Bassettes.The water was mains there but I never used it for drinking,always used bottle water.I did use it for brushing teeth and had no problems.

A friend at the time lived in the campo and had well water,but only used it for toilet,washing etc,they also bought bottled water for drinking.

I have a well water supply.  It isn't a problem, we drink it too. If the well is deep and properly lined there should be little chance of it being contaminated.  Ours is over 100 meters deep so anything unsavoury from ground level is very well filtered out by the time it travels down 100 meters.

We take drinking water direct from the well, not from the storage tank.

Main thing is have it tested and then filter (if needed) according to the results.

I have had well water supplies at several houses over the years, both in the UK and Spain. None have ever been a problem as far as drinking quality is concerned. I would rather have my own supply and treat it myself if required than drink mains water that I have no idea about.

Not sure about the area you are looking at , but the well water near me , Agost , Alicante tends to have a high salt content , so is not suitable for drinking and limited use for irrigation,, 

Before buying any property dependent on well water you need to test the amount of water available from the well. Do NOT believe what the seller tells you. You MUST buy/rent a submersible pump and generator for a couple of days. Toss the pump down the well and pump it dry. This will take minutes. Then 24 hours later pump it dry again and measure the amount of water accumulated over the duration - ideally you need a container like an old 44 gallon/200 litre drum. I would say you need an absolute MINIMUM of 500 litres a for day for 2 people before allowing for watering plants. Of course, the best time to test the well is late in summer, as you won't learn much if you test it this time of the year. Be VERY careful, as with insufficient water the property is worthless.

cssolar it all depends how you treat the water, removal of salts is possible if put through a reverse osmosis filter, which does not allow salts to pass through the filter membrane. It is of course fairly expensive to volume treat water in this way, so i would only pass potential drinking and cooking water through the filtration plant, and just pass any other  water untreated to household appliances.

Guy your advice to test for daily supply rates is a very good piece of advice, as most people would never consider it when considering a property with a well. Whats the use of something that wont fulfill demand?

Hasn't it been told on here that outlaying places in Spain can buy fresh water and get it delivered by the small tanker load, might be cheaper, sure a whole lot more convenient then all this messing about, then just use the well water for other use's. 

Baz you are right, a friend of mine has a place in southern Spain and to fill his swimming pook with tanker is about 300 Euros whereas to fill from the mains supply, being metered would cost an arm and a leg. Storing the tanker water and keeping it fresh  for long term brings you back to the issue of bacteria and contamination, so would still need constant attention, just as well water would need treating. Buying the water instead of drawing it from a well would therefore increase the cost of supply.

Correct Robert, also storage could well end up being the problem, perhaps a filtration system like the Reverse Osmosis filter systems are worth looking into. Has to be if people who cant get good water will have to be more constructive in this area....Or back to bottled.

Baz, if you store in plastic or stainless vessels the water tends to go slimy, and is actually easier to breed organisms within the water, not what you want. If your tank is made of concrete the composition of the concrete actually  minimises this happening so concrete is actually the best choice. The irony is that in France water storage is not legal in a concrete tank! I am not sure about Spain and the regulation regarding this there.

The secret is to draw it from the well with initial filtration, store in a tank, then use from there with additional filtration, and a reverse osmosis plant for any water consumption. A UV filter on the storage tank killing the bacterial content also minimises risk. Other than regular, say every six months checks on water content there is little else to do other than periodic filter changes and maintenance.

If all is treated in this manner there is no reason why well water should not be perfectly ok to use, and be reasonably cheap to operate.

Or you could hop down to the supper market and just buy 2 gallons of drinking water for 50 cents .that won't kill you ....and just use the well for washing.

Thanks for all the constructive replies and advice.  Plenty to get my teeth into and my head around

Windtalker, some people are too lazy to go to the supermarket!