What Do You Need To Make A Water Filter

While most people get their drinking water from public water supplies, more than 13 million households in the United States rely on private wells for their drinking water. Well water tin can blot many different compounds from the surrounding soil — and when levels of compounds similar sulfur become too high, you'll demand to filter it. If you're dealing with loftier levels of sulfur in your drinking supply, learn how to remove sulfur from well water.

What Is Sulfur and How Does It Get in Well Water?

Sulfur is a naturally occurring chemical compound. At that place are two sources of sulfur in well water – sulfates and hydrogen sulfide gas.

Sulfates are a blazon of salt that contains sulfur. They may be in the soil and rocks surrounding your well. As groundwater and rainwater seep through the soil and rocks, they can bear sulfates into your well water.
Hydrogen sulfide gas (H2S) can happen naturally when plants or other organic material decays. Information technology can also exist related to pollution in the water. And when sulfur bacteria feed on sulfates in well water, they can create H2S. You lot'll need to remove the H2S from your water and vent the gas from depression-lying spaces around your well.

Is Sulfur Harmful?

It depends on the level of sulfates or hydrogen sulfide in the h2o. In modest amounts, these things don't cause a problem.

Too much sulfate can cause diarrhea and aridity. It can also take a bitter gustation, clog your pipes with slime and stain your laundry.

Too much H2S causes a rotten egg smell in well h2o. In large amounts, it can be poisonous and lead to nausea and illness — just this is more likely to happen from animate the gas than from drinking h2o. H2S can also corrode pipes and stain your utensils.

How Can I Tell If My Well Water Has Sulfur?

There are a few ways to tell if you have a sulfur problem:

Smell or taste — Sulfur has a distinctive smell similar to rotten eggs, and sulfates tin can requite water a bitter taste. If your well water has sulfur in it, you lot may notice an unpleasant smell or odd taste.
Slime or stains — Sulfur bacteria can leave black stains or a white, grey, black or reddish-chocolate-brown slime on silverware or plumbing.
H2o tests — Get your well water tested every year, even if you lot don't notice signs of sulfur or other issues. You can notice several different water testing kits online or in stores. But to ensure accurate results, find a state-certified laboratory to do the tests. And cheque with your local health department get-go, in instance they provide these tests for free.

How Tin can I Remove Sulfur From My Well Water?

There are many options for removing sulfur from your well water. The best option for you will depend on the source of the sulfur, how serious the trouble is and how much yous're able to spend. Options include:

Activated carbon filtration — Activated carbon filters use pocket-sized pieces of porous carbon (like charcoal) to attract chemicals in water and filter them out. You tin install an activated carbon filtration organisation as a low-cost and low maintenance solution to remove a low concentration of sulfur — just it won't handle loftier concentrations of sulfur.
Aeration treatment — This is a low-price and prophylactic solution that adds air to the water. This procedure may reduce the hydrogen sulfide to acceptable levels, but may not go rid of information technology completely. And information technology won't impale sulfur bacteria.
Chlorine bleach — Y'all can inject chlorine bleach into your h2o earlier filtration. This is a low-cost solution that can effectively remove medium-to-high levels of hydrogen sulfide from your water. But this method isn't fast-interim, and it also adds sodium to the water and tin can leave toxic residual.
Potassium permanganate — You can use potassium permanganate solution in combination with a special type of filter to remove sulfur particles. This procedure gets rid of several odors, simply it can be toxic and may leave your water looking pink.
Hydrogen peroxide — This is a fast and safe solution that leaves no chemical residue and no gustatory modality in the h2o. Just an annual supply of peroxide may be expensive, and then it'due south non as common in private abode h2o systems.
Ozone gas — This is too a fast and safety solution that leaves no chemic residue. But ozone systems are expensive, and they add together gases to the water that yous then demand to vent.

If you ain a private well, or are thinking of putting one in, bank check in with your local health department virtually maintenance procedures to make certain your water is safe for everyday utilise. Many health departments offer free h2o testing to check the levels of sulfur and other compounds — and they can provide more detailed advice about the best filtration methods.

Resource Links

"Hydrogen Sulfide and Sulfur Leaner in Well Water" via Minnesota Department of Health
"Hydrogen Sulfide and Sulfate in Individual Drinking Water Wells" via University of Massachusetts Amherst
"Individual Drinking H2o Wells" via U.S. Environmental Protection Agency