Filtering Water

So my well has some issues.  It's an old bored well, i.e., wide and shallow.  As I've noted previously, there's often sediment in the water (actually, there's always sediment, but sometimes it's a noticeable problem despite nominal one-micron filtration).  The refurbishing done on the well last year was intended to mitigate the periodic sedimentation problem, but it has become apparent that when there's heavy rain in a short period of time, that can cause water to enter the well bore from the bottom fast enough that it stirs up sediment.  My location got about 24 inches of rain in the first 2 months of 2020, including 6 inches on one day.  So I've gotten a couple of bouts of stirred sediment.  The picture of the dog bowl shows what it was like when I wiped it out during a particularly cloudy time.

Another issue is bacterial contamination, also as previously commented upon.  Although guidelines say that filtering water through a certain depth of soil (this source suggests 10 feet), in actual practice it seems that they are still susceptible to contamination even if deeper.  I had an inspection of the casing done, and it looked pretty good all the way down to the 40+ foot bottom.  Nonetheless, I have had recurring bacterial contamination issues, and chlorine shocking is a major pain.

Ultimately, I'll probably drill a well, that is less likely to have issues.  In the meantime, I have set up my Berkey.  I got a Royal Berkey a few years ago, but had never used it.  I was not sure it would really work.  One can find all kinds of claims and counterclaims about the black Berkey filter elements.  Berkey itself says they have silver in them, which is helpful, and various lab tests are available (others question those).  So I set it up, primed the filters (a challenging task when the source water is known to be contaminated), and then ran a test. 

The filters worked: no bacteria.  However, when dumping turbid water into the top, it does clog up the filters fairly quickly--very quickly, actually, depending on the degree of turbidity.  If you have visions of using pond water in a Berkey and drinking what comes out, that might work out okay in terms of purity, but get used to dismantling and scrubbing the system frequently.

The filter element at the top has been cleaned, and the bottom hasn't (yet).  I didn't use the paper towel to clean; I used a scrubber sponge.  A lot of silt is still visible at the very bottom of the filter; I'm not cleaning there because I don't want to detach the element from its base.  That would basically ruin the filter.  This degree of fouling happened within just a few gallons when the water was bad.


Otherwise, the filters work okay, although don't take the throughput claims of Berkey too seriously.  Even when primed, they won't filter anywhere near as fast as suggested, unless the top reservoir is kept topped off.

This picture shows what the top tank looks like almost 24 hours after filling: it has processed most of the water, but not all.  I don't fill the top reservoir to the absolute top, and am getting about 1.5 gallons per day through the system with one refill per day.  It's faster when the elements are first cleaned, then eventually slows to where not much gets through the elements at all (maybe a half gallon per day or less), at which time they need to be cleaned again.  There's room for two additional filters, which would speed things up, but the same cleaning issues would remain.

So it does work, but it's not exactly the most convenient way to get water when compared to just turning the tap.  My well does have contamination issues, but most coliforms aren't really harmful, and I'm not having any GI issues when showering in what my well offers up.  Nonetheless, a more permanent solution is forthcoming.