Houses with spring water supply

MT606

Nomad
Jan 17, 2013
432
11
North of the southern wall.
Does anyone else live in a house which is supplied by spring water only?

reason I ask is, after every heavy down pour or even just a good drenching by drizzle our tap water goes all peat in colour( and I was wondering how long it should take rainwater/hill run off to enter the tank?) and when that colour disappears we get a somewhat emerald colour for a few weeks then nearly clear again....until the next rain dance that is.

this normal or should the system be looked at?

tar in advance
 

demographic

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Apr 15, 2005
4,762
786
-------------
When I was a kid I lived on a hillfarm with a tank on the fell, the water would often look a bit peaty.
I'm 41 years old and my mother is 79 so it can't have done us any lasting damage.
 

mrmike

Full Member
Sep 22, 2010
361
45
Morpeth, Northumberland
My water is purely from a spring.
Cant say I've noticed any discolouration after heavy rain but ours does have a filter system....

One of the houses on the other side of the site apparently gets freshwater shrimp out of the taps on occasion!

Sent from my boggy hole using tapatalk 2
 

British Red

M.A.B (Mad About Bushcraft)
Dec 30, 2005
26,890
2,143
Mercia
If you are getting surface water in your spring system it is a potential source of contamination. This is not a problem if you have a modern high quality filtration system that has been properly maintained and serviced. The system should be regularly inspected and any problems should be brought to light from that.
 

franglais

Tenderfoot
Jun 4, 2013
65
0
France
Sounds like you have a high copper content, nothing to worry about, agro chemicals are more of a concern, but they are generaly invisible.
 

Nice65

Brilliant!
Apr 16, 2009
6,856
3,278
W.Sussex
If you are getting surface water in your spring system it is a potential source of contamination. This is not a problem if you have a modern high quality filtration system that has been properly maintained and serviced. The system should be regularly inspected and any problems should be brought to light from that.

That.

There's no way rainwater can seep and filter so quickly. It sounds like you're getting run off.
 

Elen Sentier

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
We're on our own spring here, no problems and delicious tasting water without heavy metals like fluoride and chlorine in it. Normally I'd associate peaty-colour with peat, or copper as franglais says. Check your filtration. Never worried about shrimps meself :D. Farm chemicals are the problem ... and we eat the veg that have been treated with them ??? ...
 

Dogoak

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Jan 24, 2009
2,293
295
Cairngorms
We've got a private spring supply, only a slight trace of blue sometimes on the bath tide mark. 11 years ago when we bought the place we asked the sellers solicitors to get it checked. The reply was 'The previous occupants have lived there for 50 years and they are both in good helath!'
Our neighbours do have peaty water but their spring isn't sealed so they get surface run off into it. Is yours a true spring or a surface spring? and is it sealed from the outside environment?
 

Bowlander

Full Member
Nov 28, 2011
1,353
1
Forest of Bowland
Ours is a surface spring and is quite dirty at source, the tap water is fine but the filter blocks within a week after rain. If I don't fit the filter correctly the tap water is like tea. Where I used to live in the yorkshire dales shrimps and worms were common after rain, got blocked by a frog and a rabbit! Lots of faecal coliforms!
 

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