Customers with Salt Water Intrusion in Their Well?
poppy johnson • November 16, 2020
Consulting with customers with salt water that invaded their drinking wells.
First of all, if you want to take your water damage restoration business to the next level, you need to pay attention here.
There will be customers who have private wells and who are experiencing water damage and water intrusion into the drinking well from salt water.
This is an important issue that needs to be managed to ensure that your customers have potable drinking, cleaning and bathing water that is clean and safe coming into their home. If they have issues with their water supply, that is definitely where you come in. Having access to these important water damage leads will take your businesses to new heights, and here is why. Any time that salt water invades a drinking well, your customers need you fast. There are many reasons as to why this is always an emergency situation.
The identification and discovery of ground aquifers provides a steady resource of clear drinking water for residential and commercial property owners who have private wells on their property. It is true that the elements sodium (Na) and chlorine (Cl) can appear naturally in groundwater, and these elements usually are of no detriment to a home or commercial well or groundwater resource. But in areas where there are higher than usual deposits of flooding sea water deposits, there can be issues with keeping the drinking and potable water resources safe.
• Road salt
• Water softeners
• Natural ground salt deposits
• Septic system pollutants
• Sea water intrusion from a storm surge
Whenever there are high levels of sea water on the property from a storm surge or sea water flood, the high sodium and chlorine levels may corrode the plumbing, hot water heaters, and become a human health hazard as well. If the homeowner finds high levels of chloride in the drinking water, the water may have a disagreeable taste or color as a result. This is when it is necessary to have the customer book an appointment for remediation of the issue as soon as possible, to provide safe drinking water to the property buildings, home or structures that depend on safe water supplies.
For this reason, it is a good idea to remind customers to schedule routines checks on the pipes to identify all issues in the water quality or water flow to the residential or commercial property. If high levels of road salt are used in the customer’s area, and it is affecting the taste of the groundwater, then the customer may want to contact your company to remediate this situation pronto! The local officials and administrators of a public water system if it is operating nearby may also want to be contacted about this situation as well.
Additionally, the amount of road salt used in a region may need to be noted, identified and tested to determine if less road salt should be used in the region during winter months, or if other water prevention methods need to be used in the next major storm to prevent storm surges that affect properties nearby. If an excessive amount of road salt is applied in a region, it could end up in the groundwater and drinking water resources for homeowners or business owners in the area. If the well is continuously experiencing sea water intrusion, it may be necessary to determine:
• What times of the year does the water taste salty?
• Identify that the well is located the code distances from the main road.
• Review that the ground is not indented and sloped from the well to the street.
The customer will want to hire a professional to look into the well to determine damages or if there is any sea water residue in that ground area, that could contaminate the drinking water resources.
Also, there are some other definite “don’ts” in relation to a private well in an are where the likelihood of sea water intrusion could be great.
• If a well becomes impacted by sea water, advise the customer to stop using it.
• Advise the customers to avoid intense pumping of a well that is suspected of contamination with saline.
• Advise the customers to schedule frequent checks on deeper wells if salt water contamination is suspected.
• Do not advise customers to dig deep wells in coastal areas
• Advise the customers to not allow stagnant water to stand at or near active wells.
The identification and discovery of ground aquifers provides a steady resource of clear drinking water for residential and commercial property owners who have private wells on their property. It is true that the elements sodium (Na) and chlorine (Cl) can appear naturally in groundwater, and these elements usually are of no detriment to a home or commercial well or groundwater resource. But in areas where there are higher than usual deposits of flooding sea water deposits, there can be issues with keeping the drinking and potable water resources safe.
Salt can come into and pollute private wells as a result of exposure to:
• Water softeners
• Natural ground salt deposits
• Septic system pollutants
• Sea water intrusion from a storm surge
Whenever there are high levels of sea water on the property from a storm surge or sea water flood, the high sodium and chlorine levels may corrode the plumbing, hot water heaters, and become a human health hazard as well. If the homeowner finds high levels of chloride in the drinking water, the water may have a disagreeable taste or color as a result. This is when it is necessary to have the customer book an appointment for remediation of the issue as soon as possible, to provide safe drinking water to the property buildings, home or structures that depend on safe water supplies.
For this reason, it is a good idea to remind customers to schedule routines checks on the pipes to identify all issues in the water quality or water flow to the residential or commercial property. If high levels of road salt are used in the customer’s area, and it is affecting the taste of the groundwater, then the customer may want to contact your company to remediate this situation pronto! The local officials and administrators of a public water system if it is operating nearby may also want to be contacted about this situation as well.
Additionally, the amount of road salt used in a region may need to be noted, identified and tested to determine if less road salt should be used in the region during winter months, or if other water prevention methods need to be used in the next major storm to prevent storm surges that affect properties nearby. If an excessive amount of road salt is applied in a region, it could end up in the groundwater and drinking water resources for homeowners or business owners in the area. If the well is continuously experiencing sea water intrusion, it may be necessary to determine:
• What times of the year does the water taste salty?
• Identify that the well is located the code distances from the main road.
• Review that the ground is not indented and sloped from the well to the street.
The customer will want to hire a professional to look into the well to determine damages or if there is any sea water residue in that ground area, that could contaminate the drinking water resources.
Also, there are some other definite “don’ts” in relation to a private well in an are where the likelihood of sea water intrusion could be great.
• If a well becomes impacted by sea water, advise the customer to stop using it.
• Advise the customers to avoid intense pumping of a well that is suspected of contamination with saline.
• Advise the customers to schedule frequent checks on deeper wells if salt water contamination is suspected.
• Do not advise customers to dig deep wells in coastal areas
• Advise the customers to not allow stagnant water to stand at or near active wells.
There are many solutions to the use of salty well water. One way to find if there is sea water contamination to the wells is to install a reverse osmosis filter for the customers, to manage the filtering out of water for indoor and outdoor home or business needs. Finally, saline groundwater is heavier than fresh groundwater, and will tend to separate itself naturally underground. Reducing water needs may help the problem in the short run, until the long-term solution can be made and implemented.
Just give us a call for more information on how to help clients with these and similar issues. Call E Force Web today!
