Maine Well Water

[shotrocker]

I'm a couple of weeks into my first grow, in western Maine. I suspect my well water is pretty hard but haven't tested it yet. I was wondering what other Mainers' experience with well water is. Maybe I should use melted snow and ice?

 

[Biological Graffity]

My tested fine, but when I replaced a heater elements in my water heater I got out pounds , kid you not....So now I haul water from local spring...Reverse osmosis system would probably also work, but you got to drain it outside and shit like that freezes...you cant drain it in to your septic, just too much water...

 

[Dobby]

Maybe I should use melted snow and ice?

I think you might find that's kind of pain after a while because it takes more snow than what you think to get a given amount of water, but it can surely be done and if you do use melted snow and ice be SURE to check your pH as it varies a lot.

 

[PetFlora]

Find out what your hardness ppm is.

Under 500 (see below*) OK. Most quality ROs will reduce by 90%- in this scenario that would leave 50 ppms, kind of pushing it. If you add a booster pump to increase pressure, you can get under 10ppm.

*500 ppm tap is going to wear out all your shut off valves in the house, not to mention the hot water heater. Best to get a water softener to the incoming line, then an RO at the kitchen sink for cooking, drinking, and of course mixing nutes

 

[shotrocker]

Reverse osmosis system would probably also work, but you got to drain it outside and shit like that freezes...you cant drain it in to your septic, just too much water...

I don't understand. The filtered water can't drain in the septic?

 

[mdanforth]

a ro system makes alot of waste water.....for a gallon of ro you'll get between 4 and 8 gallons of waste water......running a bunch of water into your septic system will cause early failure.....

 

[Biological Graffity]

RO filter usually uses 50% of water that goes in it, the other 50% gets drained away as an impure byproduct...if you keep ur septic full in Maine, it will freeze and back up into the house....not cool!

 

[shotrocker]

RO filter usually uses 50% of water that goes in it, the other 50% gets drained away as an impure byproduct...if you keep ur septic full in Maine, it will freeze and back up into the house....not cool!

Yikes! Thanks for that info.

 

[Maine Brookies]

Most Hannaford's have an RO machine that dispenses for a dime a gallon if you bring your own container.

 

[organicness]

My well water sucks big time. Sometimes comes out looking like apple cider, and full of radon. I've got about 9k worth of filtration & aeration on it to make it drinkable, but can't use it on my plants because of the water softener, and I don't wanna pay 30 bucks every 2 weeks for potassium pellets. So, I use an RO/DI and fill up 30 gallon bins with it once a week.

 

[cerberus]

weird.. I'm on a spring fed well and the waters is perfect! i don't do shit to it, besides add nutes and ph. I run organic soil in the summer, organic soilless (amended) in the winter and i am running a gro-n-flo/ebb-n-flo 12 site hydro and never had a problem.. sorry to hear other places in maine aren't so nice..

as a matter of fact the spring water feeding is part of my caregiver tag line..

9K to drink it! god damn!

 

[organicness]

Yea, where I live is notorious for massive amounts of iron in the ledge where wells usually have to be drilled into, 'cause theres so much of it so high up. My well is only about 8 feet deep, but crap that iron is nasty. It was real bad for a while, and has settled out a bit this year. But the sulphur is unbearable to smell as it comes straight from the well... unbearable.

 

[shotrocker]

Yea, where I live is notorious for massive amounts of iron in the ledge where wells usually have to be drilled into, 'cause theres so much of it so high up. My well is only about 8 feet deep, but crap that iron is nasty. It was real bad for a while, and has settled out a bit this year. But the sulphur is unbearable to smell as it comes straight from the well... unbearable.

Wow! I have a test kit but haven't used it yet. I think at this point I would be very happy to melt some snow. If it ever happens to snow again.

 

[SickofPain]

I'm on a spring fed well and the waters is perfect! i don't do shit to it, besides add nutes and ph

I'm on a spring fed well also, and my water is great. I believe my landlord told me this the well on this land is about 300 ft deep. Not 100% positive, but am pretty sure...not sure if depth makes a difference or not.

Peace!!



OK, I was wrong (what else is new lol) this well is not spring fed, but is considered an artesian well in Maine. It is dug to 325 ft, and I guess it bypasses all the ground contaminates, I guess it is suppose to be better than spring fed even

 

[Maine Brookies]

I guess it is suppose to be better than spring fed even

Well, that's what the well drillers would have you believe at least. You never really know what you are getting with any well or how long it will stay that way, since it draws on a shared resource.

 

[SickofPain]

Well, that's what the well drillers would have you believe at least. You never really know what you are getting with any well or how long it will stay that way, since it draws on a shared resource.

Yea, I guess you're right MB, never thought of it that way, at least it's working well (pardon the pun) for now

Peace!

 

[cerberus]

Well, that's what the well drillers would have you believe at least. You never really know what you are getting with any well or how long it will stay that way, since it draws on a shared resource.

word, quality is all in where the water rests before it gets into your pipes. BUT i deep well will reduce your ph fluctuations that most wells get. (this is due to run off, winter snow is high in nitrogen, fall leaves cause spikes in ph, and deep wells help reduce that but the quality is still up for review, although i do believe most of Maine's water is pretty good for people if not for pumps lol my spring fed hydroponic grow is tapped off the main poland spring aqueduct..

 

[Maine Brookies]

I'd agree about pH fluctuations in groundwater vs. drilled wells. OTOH drilled wells tend to have a much higher mineral content (harder water to gum up your hydro pumps) than groundwater wells.

The main Poland Spring aqueduct is... well, a myth now. Nestle's pulls water from three locations that are geographically separated and, while they claim that two of the sites share an aqueduct, i'm skeptical that the water is the same. Also, Poland Spring's water actually comes from a well instead of percolating to the surface - but the beverage industry's lobbyists have finagled a deal allowing them to call water pulled from a well "Spring Water" if there is a naturally occurring spring in the aqueduct. In any case, i have a serious problem with a multi-national corporation making millions of dollars in profits extracting a resource owned collectively by the people of the State of Maine while providing no compensation to the owners of the extracted resource.

TL;DR - Poland Spring is lying, blood sucking organization.

 

[cerberus]

true and false. i am on he original aquaduct, which is an underground spring. they do have several sites that pull water, and they do claim 2 of the three are on the same aquaduct (and by proximity to each other i tend to agree)

As for multi conglomartes buying p the worlds resources, well you and me are right on the same page here.. they shouldn't be able to own OUR water just like they shouldn't own OUR air.. I have had the water tested and know very well whats in the water that enters my house ad defacto my plants.. but that doesn't make poland spring a good company.. hell we KNOW nestle aint good.. :/

 

[shotrocker]

I am old enough to remember when the idea that you could sell water in a bottle was considered insane. or paying more than 25 cents for a cup of coffee.