When you offer guests in your home a refreshing glass of water, the last thing you want is for that water to be cloudy and dirty. That would repulse anyone seeking to cure their thirst. Turbidity is not only unappetizing and repellent, it is also often a sign of unhealthy water.
When a household relies on the water from its own well, it’s important to know the turbidity of that water as a measurement of its healthiness and general quality. To really understand what turbidity is, you have to understand a few definitions.
- Turbidity: A measurement of how cloudy water is.
- Nephelometric Turbidity Unit (NTU): This complex term refers to the measurement of suspended particles in water. Nephelometric is derived from the Greek word nephele meaning cloud plus the Greek word metron meaning measure, or literally, measuring a cloud. When you have your water tested for cloudiness, the result comes back in NTUs. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, the turbidity of drinking water should never be more than one NTU.
- Nephelometer: A device that measures NTUs. This device shines light into a water sample and measures how much of the light scatters after being reflected off all the particles.
If you send a sample of your well water to our lab for testing, we use a nephelometer or similar device to determine the NTUs so you know if your well is producing an acceptable quality of water.
What Causes Turbidity in Water?
There are dozens of substances that can make water cloudy. Some can cause disease and some are harmless. These substances include:
- Sand
- Algae
- Pollen
- Giardia
- Cryptosporidium
- Parasites
- Organic matter (decayed plant matter)
- Clay
- Phytoplankton
- Viruses
- Colloidal silica
- Salts
- Pesticides
- Herbicides
When surface water is treated to make it acceptable for a municipal water supply, the treatment removes as much of these contaminants as possible. Your well water should be at least as good as municipal water, if not much better because it has not been through chemical disinfection and treatment.
What Problems Are Caused by Drinking Water Turbidity?
First, turbidity can affect the taste and odor of the water. Next, some of these uninvited substances can cause illness. It’s not necessarily turbidity itself that causes illness because some typical turbidity contaminants are harmless. Others can cause serious illness or even death.
Most people would agree that the most serious problem is turbidity’s ability to cause human illness. The following health problems can result from well or drinking water turbidity.
- Gastrointestinal illness caused by the parasite Giardia. Symptoms include stomach cramps, nausea, gas, and diarrhea. Symptoms can last as long as six weeks but in a few people, may last years.
- Cryptosporidiosis from the parasite Cryptosporidium. Symptoms include fever, nausea, stomach cramps. vomiting and weight loss. Symptoms typically last two or three weeks but can come and go for as long as a month.
- Salmonellosis from Salmonella bacteria. Symptoms include fever, nausea, bloody diarrhea, stomach cramps, vomiting.
- Cholera caused by Vibrio cholerae. Symptoms include watery diarrhea, dehydration, no urine output, vomiting, weakness, shock, low blood pressure.
- Gastroenteritis caused by Norovirus. Symptoms include watery diarrhea, low fever, nausea, stomach cramps, muscle aches, fatigue and headache.
- Pneumonia caused by Legionella bacteria or Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Symptoms of this serious bacterial lung infection include confusion, rapid heart rate, persistent cough and shortness of breath, chest pain, high fever and low oxygen levels.
- Hepatitis A from the hepatitis A virus. Symptoms include fatigue, nausea, vomiting, loss of appetite, fever, jaundice, enlarged liver.
- Amoebic meningoencephalitis from the amoeba Naegleria fowleri. This amoeba can make its way into the brain and cause intense pain, sudden high fever, confusion, seizures, hallucinations and coma.
- Heavy metal poisoning from lead, arsenic or mercury in the water. Symptoms of heavy metal poisoning can be severe and include high blood pressure, joint pain, headaches, mood disorders, reduced fertility, developmental delay, vomiting and much more. Each heavy metal causes its own symptoms.
- Cancer from industrial pollutants or chemicals. The exact symptoms depend on the type of cancer. The most common cancers from water contaminants include bladder, liver, kidney, lung and stomach cancer.
- Allergies, gastrointestinal issues and organ damage from cyanobacteria or other algae. The effects of these algae in drinking water include liver or kidney damage, nausea, vomiting, respiratory issues, and much more.
With all these very unpleasant and serious illnesses that can result from the substances that create turbidity, it is vital to maintain a high quality of well or drinking water at all times. Keeping turbidity at a very low level is part of keeping water quality high.
How Do Turbidity-Causing Contaminants Get into Municipal Drinking Water?
Surface waters such as rivers and lakes that are used for drinking water supplies can collect contaminants from industrial and commercial sources. When conditions are right, algae can proliferate to toxic levels. Municipal water coming from these sources may not be able to keep up with all the contaminants. Water treatment processes may also be interrupted for various reasons, allowing turbidity in the water provided to customers.
For example, multiple waterborne disease outbreaks have occurred in the State of Pennsylvania due to problems with their water treatment systems. From 1971 to 1985, there were more of these outbreaks in Pennsylvania than in any other state in the nation. While Pennsylvania made many improvements in its water systems after this, there was still an outbreak of Cryptosporidiosis in 1993 that was linked to inadequate filtering of this bacteria during water treatment. An estimated 400,000 people were affected.
In 2005 in Pittsburgh, high levels of lead were detected in the municipal drinking water. This contamination was traced to corrosion of lead pipes that contaminated the water as it passed through the water treatment plants.
Municipal water treatment systems do their best but are not infallible. Wastewater treatment also utilizes chemicals that can also contribute to turbidity in municipal water, if the processes are not properly controlled. In and around cities, urban runoff from roads, industrial sites or construction projects can add sediment, chemicals, oils and other pollutants to surface waters used to supply cities.
Cities That Have Struggled with High Turbidity
Turbidity is a challenge for every municipal water system. While the EPA recommends a Nephelometric Turbidity Unit (NTU) measurement of no more than one NTU for drinking water, there have been many other incidents outside of Pennsylvania where the NTU reading was much higher than this limit.
- After devastating wildfires, water treatment plants were overwhelmed in San Diego (2007). Sediment and ash entered the city’s water sources and the treatment plants couldn’t keep up with the turbidity. Turbidity in the city’s water supplies reached 300 NTUs.
- In 2011 in New Orleans, an aging water treatment system failed to remove turbidity. Water supplies tested at as much as 400 NTU. Residents were advised to boil their water but this would not remove sediment, chemicals or heavy metals. Actually, boiling the water would concentrate these undesirable contaminants.
- Very heavy rainfall drove up the turbidity in Martinsburg, West Virginia to more than 100 NTU. The city’s filtration system was unable to keep up with the load.
How Do These Contaminants Get in Well Water?
There are so many ways wells can become contaminated that the only solution is to monitor a well on a regular schedule and provide effective filtering for any contaminants found. It’s important for well owners to be very aware of all the different ways their water can be contaminated with substances that make the water turbid.
- Private water wells are supposed to be sealed against the local elements so that surface water can’t enter. But if rainfall, snowmelt or flooding is too high, these surface waters may be able to enter the well. This can bring sand, dirt, pollutants, bacteria, pesticides, fertilizers or industrial chemicals into the water supply.
- The soil and rock around a well can contain many minerals that are toxic when consumed in drinking water. For example, iron, manganese, arsenic and lead can be carried in groundwater until it reaches a well. If a well casing is too short or is damaged, this toxic infiltration becomes even more likely.
- Industrial and agricultural chemicals can make their way into groundwater and be carried into the well water. This becomes even more likely if the property is within a couple of miles of a farm, industrial or commercial property, firefighting training facility or airport.
- On the property itself, a leaking or abandoned septic system or well can produce contaminants that get into the well water and cause turbidity.
- If the well’s pump needs repair, it may scoop up sediment along with water.
- If the water table has dropped, the pump is more likely to provide water that is cloudy due to sand and sediment being brought up with the water.
Testing Your Well Water for Turbidity
Knowing your water’s exact level of turbidity is easy. ETR Laboratories offers basic, premium and comprehensive water tests that all check for turbidity. Once you know the turbidity of your water, you can scan the rest of the results to determine which substances are creating this undesirable characteristic. Check our most popular water tests to choose the best test for your well water. Within just a few days, you can have all the information you need right at your fingertips.
How to Keep Your Well Free from Turbidity in the Future
Because the conditions in the soil, rock, geography and groundwater around a well are always changing, it’s necessary to monitor well water for any contamination, including getting a measurement of turbidity. An annual water test is recommended. The first time you test your water, get the most comprehensive water test you can afford. Then after that, you can do more limited tests on an annual basis to detect changes.
Then once you know what’s in your water, this information can point you at the right solution. The best solution is tailored to the contaminants. Here are some examples of the solutions you might need.
- Sediment Filters. If the main problem is sand or sediment, it can be eliminated by adding a sediment filter to the household’s water system.
- Reverse Osmosis Filters: These filters can remove minerals like sodium and lead and may reduce arsenic and other metals and minerals.
- Activated Carbon Filters: These typically remove industrial chemicals, pesticides, fertilizers and other compounds that have no place in your well water.
- Ultraviolet systems. Ultraviolet light systems can kill bacteria, parasites, viruses and other microorganisms that could make household members sick.
- Water Softeners. Water softening systems can remove calcium, magnesium, iron and manganese that could contribute to a water’s turbidity.
A business that sells water filtration systems can advise you on the best configuration for your home, based on the results of an accurate, professional water test. It may take multiple layers of treatment to rid your water of both turbidity and any other harmful contaminants.
ETR Laboratories Can Help You Design the Right Water Treatment System
All of our major water tests provide readings for turbidity. Choose from our Basic Water Test, Premium Water Test or Ultimate Water Test to get a clear picture of your water quality. Then, once you have your results, you’ll know what substances other than pure water are being supplied to you or your family.
After we provide the results of these tests to our customers, we frequently help them choose the best design for their filtration or water treatment system. We can also point them in the right direction to decipher well problems that create ongoing turbidity or contamination. In some cases, the causes of these problems are subtle. We can help, using our professional water testing laboratory and extensive experience working with well owners and well professionals across the country. Helping well owners solve problems is part of our job.
Check out our most popular water tests and find out what could be causing your well water turbidity!