Is it easy for well water to become contaminated?
Unfortunately, it is quite easy. Earwigs were the culprit in our case. And to add to the problem, a contaiminated well can be quite expensive to purify.
This is our story of how our well became contaminated with earwigs and the frustration and expense to fix the problem.
Earwigs
Although contamination of a well can come from a variety of sources, our well was contaminated by earwigs. The earwig problem is quite severe in the midwest and especially in damp, musty areas, such as basements, utility rooms and garages. However, there is no place off limits to the earwig. And since earwigs are attracted to damp, wet places, a faulty well cap is an invitation for earwigs to create and infestation in your well.
Earwigs got their name from the European folklore that they used to bore into the ears of sleeping people and enter into their brains to lay their eggs. This fable isn't true but they are still utterly disgusting. They are creepy little crawlers, brown in color with pinchers.
Our well is located in our front yard. Perhaps at one time, someone who was mowing the lawn hit it and knocked it hard enough to cause the wires to show which meant that there was a breech in the seal. An entrance for the lowly earwig. They crawled along the wires and deep into our well. They floated and died in our well water - water that was used for flusing toilets, washing clothes, bathing, and most of drinking. Earwigs had over the years been crawling into our imperfectly-sealed well, multiplying and falling into our water supply and dying. There they decayed and spread their bacteria throughout the water we pumped into our house to drink, cook with and bathe in.
The resulting problem of dead and decaying earwigs in our water supply was bacteria. It wasn't necessarily the earwigs themselves but more often what they carried in with them that caused the coliform bacteria. Earwigs carry bacteria on their feet as they trod through feces and bacteria on the ground surrounding the well. Bacteria in a well can cause severe illness. It was important to get the earwig contamination out of the well and prevent and future problems.
Some interesting facts of my research include:
- Drinking well water that is contaminated with bacteria can result in serious illness, especially for the young, old or someone with compromised health.
- Do not chain or tie your dog to the well. Don’t let pets use the ground around the well as their litter box. The only thing between their feces (and their urine) and your water is soil and rocks to filter it. Don’t overload the process.
- Do not build cute little wooden wells or other construction over the well. This allows rabbits and vermin to nest in the area. Again, feces and urine.
- Do not leave the well uncovered. Shocking as it is, some people actually do this.
- Do not plant excessively around the well. This adds to the denseness and dampness of the area making it inviting for insects and creatures.
- If the well cap is not sealed tightly or there are visible cracks or exposed wires, earwigs and bacteria can and probably will get into the well. Get your well checked and properly sealed.
- Have your well water checked at least once a year. Possilby twice.
- If your neighbor's well is contaminated, yours may be, too. They may not tell you if their well is contaminated. Be alert - if they are getting repairs done on their well - ask why.
- Wells in many areas are required to be tested and purified before you can sell your house.
Cleaning up after a earwig infestation can be expensive, time consuming and is extremely annoying. The process can takes weeks, possibly months, to clean and in extreme cases may require the drilling of another well. While the well is being purified you will have to purchase bottled water for drinking, cooking and baby bottle preparation.
Cleaning out the well
We called Action Well Company to come out and fix the well pump. As he uncovered the well, he discovered the wires (originally red) had bleached white from the sun. He showed me the earwig remains. He cleaned the well by pumping out some of the earwigs, running the water and adding some bleach. He put in another motor and sealed the well with a new state-mandated “turtle” cover. He told us to let the water run for a number of hours to rid it of the chlorine and although we could use it to bathe, not to drink the water until we got results back from the water department assuring us that it was now safe to drink.
If the test came back with a high bacterial count, we should call him and he would come back and re-disinfect the well. The results proved that our water was not only unsafe to drink – it was indeed contaminated and the numbers were exceedingly high. Yet, as stated before, we enjoyed the taste of our well water – apparently, earwigs and all!
We called Action Well Company back and he once again removed the cap and added another treatment of bleach. We were told not to drink the water or use it for cooking until it was retested and proven safe. However, we could bathe, shower and wash our clothes with the water as soon as the bleach smell had dissipated. 
The whole episode left me with a creepy, crawly feeling. I felt uncomfortable thinking about drinking bleach, earwigs, or bacteria, so I continued to buy water to drink from the store. Gallons, gallons and more gallons. I know it isn’t that expensive really but for …months? Well, it adds up and also it is inconvenient. Sometimes I'd forget the empty gallons and have to buy new ones. Sometimes I'd run out and have to dash to the store to get more water. It was frustrating - we had a well and we couldn’t even use the water.
We did survive and eventually we were able to drink the water again. I learned a lot about wells and earwigs that day and the months to follow. I never want to go through the hassle and cost again. So even if the water is clean, how long will it last? Would we know if we were drinking tainted water? And frankly I don't trust the city water supply either. So, if you have the same problem we did (and my brother did just 6 months later) ....
Consider buying a quality reverse osmosis water purifier – preferably with pH controls.
Water For Life - a KYK Water Ionizer
One of the best water purifiers on the market is the KYK Water Ionizer. It is the number one selling water purification systems sold in South Korea. It purifies the water by reverse osmosis and here’s the real advantage – you can select the pH level of the water you use.
The pH level of the water improves the quality and taste of the water and makes it more effective for the given purpose. Water for drinking is ideally a different pH than the water you use to clean vegetables and that is different than the pH of water used to wash your face. Read more about the KYK system at
Water For Life Information
And even if the KYK system isn’t the one you choose, improve and purify your water with another reverse osmosis system for your health, safety and taste. Remember it has only been a few short months ago that the news reported on all the pharmaceutical chemicals that are now finding their way into our water supply. Eliminate as many of those toxins as possible with your own reverse osmosis system.
Connie Eccles, CEO, writer and researcher for www.comportone.com
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