Is Your Well Flooded? Disinfect It before You Drink It!
After floodwaters have gotten over or into a water well, the well must be properly disinfected before the water can be used for drinking again.
If your private well is flooded, do not use water from it before:
- The floodwaters have receded from the wellhead and your plumbing system.
- You have disinfected the well and your plumbing system.
- You have sampled your water and received a lab report confirming that the disinfected water contained no harmful organisms.
These instructions tell you how to disinfect your well and your household plumbing system and then how to sample the water for analysis by a bacteriological laboratory. You can use these steps any time you suspect that your well has become contaminated by harmful bacteria or other organisms, not just after a flood.
