Lab result showed Coliform in well water

[btbonser]

We recently bought a house with rural water (similar to city water) and a well. The area that I brew in only has well water going to it so I have been hauling buckets of water from the house to brew with until I got the well water tested to see if it was ok. The test came back with the following and has no additional information:

Total Coliform: Present
E coli: absent

Interpretation: Unsatisfactory for drinking water purposes.

My question is can I use this water for brewing since it will be boiled as well as use it to sanitizing my equipment?

 

[ColoHox]

Total coliform is a measure of total gut-associated bacteria in the water. E. coli is the usual pathogenic culprit, but a positive coliform test indicates a higher probability of contracting a water-borne disease.

After boiling, the water is fine to drink, brew, and clean with. You might also consider using a filter, after boiling, until you can get rid of the contamination.

Any floods recently? Or do you have any idea when/how the well was contaminated? Most wells can be treated with a particular concentration of bleach for 12 hours, as long as the source of contamination is controlled.

 

[btbonser]

There is a river about 1/4 mile away that gets pretty high during the spring so that may contribute to the problem. The lab also included instructions on how to disinfect the water supply so I will add that to my to do list.

You said that the water is safe to brew with after boiling but what if I use it as is during the mash, will it still be ok since I will be boiling the wort anyway?

 

[ColoHox]

You said that the water is safe to brew with after boiling but what if I use it as is during the mash, will it still be ok since I will be boiling the wot anyway?

Will the beer be safe to drink...yes. Will the water make good beer...I don't know.

Make sure to preboil your rinsing water and/or use a no-rinse sanitizer on EVERYTHING.

Did the water report provide a coliform count, or did it just list "present?"

 

[btbonser]

The report just says Present.

I use IO-STAR: Iodophor Sinitizer on anything that comes into contact with the beer/wort after the boil.

 

[nDub]

I would shock treat the well by pouring bleach down it, if you can access it. Then flush like crazy and re-test. If the well still test positive then likely it's whatever the source is is causing the positive.

Also make sure whoever is sampling the well blast the tap with a torch. Although its rare, I've seen positive P/As from unsanitary spigots.

 

[btbonser]

I think I need to treat the well. I flushed it for 3 minutes, per the instructions, soaked the spigot in a solution of bleach and water for 30 minutes then flushed for another 3 minutes. I did take the sample from a frost proof hydrant but that's the only access I have to the water.

 

[wardens355]

I would only use it for stuff you boil, unless cleaning gives you repeat negative tests. Some groundwater is under the influence of surface water and can have animal/human fecal contamination.

 

[trentm]

We recently bought a house with rural water (similar to city water) and a well. The area that I brew in only has well water going to it so I have been hauling buckets of water from the house to brew with until I got the well water tested to see if it was ok. The test came back with the following and has no additional information:

Total Coliform: Present
E coli: absent

Interpretation: Unsatisfactory for drinking water purposes.

My question is can I use this water for brewing since it will be boiled as well as use it to sanitizing my equipment?

No need to be overly concerned with this test. Coliform bacteria are found throughout the environment and very very very few are pathogenic to humans. Even the vast majority of E. coli bacteria are nonpathogenic however they are coliforms. The EPA allows 5% of municipal water tests to be positive for coliforms (with further requirements). Here is a clip from the EPA's National Primary Drinking Water Regulations:

"No more than 5.0% samples total coliform-positive (TC-positive) in a month. (For water systems that collect fewer than 40 routine samples per month, no more than one sample can be total coliform-positive per month.) Every sample that has total coliform must be analyzed for either fecal coliforms or E. coli if two consecutive TC-positive samples, and one is also positive for E.coli fecal coliforms, system has an acute MCL violation."

Source: http://water.epa.gov/drink/contaminants/#four

So you may want to treat your well, have it retested and follow up with semi-annual tests. Also you may want to do a "sanitary survey" of the the well to make sure it is not compromised by surface water, animals, or other possible sources of contamination. You may also want to get a brewing water test from Ward Labs or other water testing facility.

 

[nDub]

No need to be overly concerned with this test. Coliform bacteria are found throughout the environment and very very very few are pathogenic to humans. Even the vast majority of E. coli bacteria are nonpathogenic however they are coliforms. The EPA allows 5% of municipal water tests to be positive for coliforms (with further requirements). Here is a clip from the EPA's National Primary Drinking Water Regulations:

"No more than 5.0% samples total coliform-positive (TC-positive) in a month. (For water systems that collect fewer than 40 routine samples per month, no more than one sample can be total coliform-positive per month.) Every sample that has total coliform must be analyzed for either fecal coliforms or E. coli if two consecutive TC-positive samples, and one is also positive for E.coli fecal coliforms, system has an acute MCL violation."

Source: http://water.epa.gov/drink/contaminants/#four

So you may want to treat your well, have it retested and follow up with semi-annual tests. Also you may want to do a "sanitary survey" of the the well to make sure it is not compromised by surface water, animals, or other possible sources of contamination. You may also want to get a brewing water test from Ward Labs or other water testing facility.

I think you are referring to the Total Coliform Rule? Considering this isn't a Public Water System I'm sure that it's not applicable. I understand that your excerpt might be for illustration, in that case the well would be subject to the groundwater rule which doesn’t allow any positive samples for either total or fecal coliform. Also the well would be required to have some sort of “barrier” (treatment) in order for it to be considered “safe”. Plus a positive sample triggers all kinds of follow up sampling and sanitary surveys.

Again none of this is applicable to a private single use well.

Also without enumeration (MTF) or speciation I wouldn’t just assume that the coliform that turned the sample positive was minor or harmless. As far as public health goes no coliform is good coliform.

I agree with the last part of what you said. Treat the well and make sure nothing is leaking into it and resample. I’d do a MTF if it’s not too expensive. Which would tell you how much coliform is in the water. (< 20 MPN/100mL is low - >2400 MPN/100mL is bad).

Also temperature of the water could potentially be a good inexpensive tracer of if you have surface water influence. I’d start taking a temp everytime you use the well and if it stays pretty constant (in the course of a year) then likely you don’t have a problem but if it fluctuates seasonally as much as the river near by then you might have intrusion.