water highs and lows

We popped champagne.  We have water!  It's hooked up to the house.  It's chlorinated.  Tomorrow I will run off the chlorine and we will be free of this massive headache.  What a project the new well has been.  I can barely even process it.  

Last week we had the water tested at our new wellhead.  The bacteria test results come back in 48 hours, but the rest (metals and stuff) take about 2 weeks.  So a couple of days later, with little hope left, we learned that the bacteria test was NEGATIVE and the water source is clean.  JOY!

Then on Friday, on our way to the beach to celebrate our anniversary, we got the call from the plumber that he had hooked up the new well to the interior plumbing of the house and a brand-new water heater.  We did it.  Clean water.  HALLELUJAH!  I felt like I could actually relax for a couple of days with that major milestone behind us.  We ordered a new dishwasher for delivery and scheduled chlorination of the well just to be sure we had any killed off any residual bacteria in the pipes from past contamination.

Are you waiting for the "but?" On Monday, the eccentric lady went out to chlorinate our well and said she dumped 2.5 gallons of Clorox in there and circulated it for 8.5 hours.  Then she came back and none of the faucets were reading any chlorine.  The SAME problem we had with the original, un-chlorinate-able well.  I nearly died.  She recommeded a chlorinating water filter or a UV light filter to kill the bacteria.  But what in the world?  I could understand with a 25 gpm gobbling brook like the last well, but 12 gpm is a much more normal flow and should be easy to chlorinate.  I called up the filter guy she recommended, he kindly took my harried call at 8:15pm, and we talked through it.  My new friend Eddie confessed "in 38 years I've never heard of that" and she must not have done it right.  AGH.  He agreed to bring his boys out the next day and chlorinate for us properly. 

So that bring us to today.  The fellas arrive.  Tons of chlorine at the wellhead.  At first, no chlorine out of the kitchen faucet, but after about 20 seconds, it comes through.  They test all the working faucets in the house until we see (and smell) chlorine from each.  You guys, this means the pipes are clean.  It means no chlorinating filter.  No UV light.  And finally a bit of normalcy with this quirky plumbing. 

I'm letting it sit in the pipes for 24 hours to kill anything that's left, then we will run it off from an exterior spigot tomorrow to clear the chlorine.  My buds at Durham County Environmental Health will come back out to test the water from the inside faucet just to be absolutely sure no E. Coli is in there.  When we get the metals tests back next week we can install filters and water softeners as needed.  We've come a long way, and just in the nick of time.  

The final stats:

4 wells sitting on our property. 1 is permitted and clean, 1 is hand-dug and terrifying, and 2 are now decomissioned.  The new well is 405ft deep, 12gpm, and the 10gpm pump sits at 120ft.  No filtration system yet. 

I'll admit to you, I've made one trip to the emergency room in the last month already, for severe abdominal pain that was likely caused by the insane stress of this experience.   My face is broken out and I can barely sleep.  I'm a half-witted, impatient parent.  Sometimes I think, the well was a deal-breaker, we shouldn't have done this.  It was too much.  And that's probably true.  But in this beautiful spring weather, every time I drive out there and see the gentle sloping green grass yard and that old fireplace, I just can't give up.  I love it too much.  

Lastly, a shoutout to Katelyn at Wild Rose Farmer for her inspiring and informative interview podcast called The Rural Woman Podcast.  A new friend and just what I needed during a challenging season. 

We move in one week.  So what does the house look like, you ask?  An absolute mess.  But the drywall is done, the trim work and painting in the bedrooms are almost done, and they are talking about shiplap and our handleset.  We're almost to the pretty stuff.  Today the carpet installer was there putting in new carpet to the two small bedrooms where we will live until it's complete. 

When it's done, it really will be beautiful.