spend the money on someone who knows what they are doing.

our experience with people who "know what they're doing" hasn't been great so far. like the septic company who couldn't find our septic

Chloroform is a dangerous industrial solvent once used as an anesthetic. I'm assuming that is not present in your well water and that the test revealed contamination with coliform bacteria. Such contamination can come from sewage, animal manures, and other sources. Identifying and correcting the cause is an important first step. In most states, water tests are required and are a prerequisite for a mortgage. Tests are usually available from a state agency for a good deal less than $100 per test. Chlorine is the standard treatment, but unless the source of the contamination is identified and eliminated, it's an ongoing problem. Despite your experience with the septic tank, insuring clean water for cooking and drinking is too important an issue to, imho, try the DIY route.

I actually wondered about this because I only had a vague understanding of how well sanitation worked. Most of what I'd assumed was correct but this article explains everything:

http://extension.psu.edu/natural-resources/water/drinking-water/wells/protecting-wells-with-sanitary-well-caps-and-grouting

Thanks David

That link was actually provided by another commenter on a thread I posted. We will definitely be purchasing a new well cap after reading.

And yes, it is coliforms that we tested positive for, sorry for the confusion. My spell checker doesn't like coliforms, only chloroforms. lol

We actually live in MD as well, and no one has suggested redigging the well because of the bacteria. House was a foreclosure, and from what I've heard, its actually incredibly common to fail your water test after a house has been vacant for a few years. What's less common are the results we are getting.

Up in this area of MD(near the PA line), its very common to chlorinate the well yourself. I actually called the health dept today, and they have a paper they give homeowners on how to do it. the woman I spoke to seemed a bit surprised actually when I asked if we should just pay someone.

At this point, I think I'd be willing to pay if I could get assurance that they would actually figure out the issue and not just dump bleach in the well and walk away. It's all kind of moot at the current moment anyway, bc via discussion with the woman at environmental health, I've discovered that we can't do much of anything until we get plumbing fixures hooked back up in the majority of the house. We're undergoing major renovations, so the only thing thats currently operational is a downstairs powder room.

this is all quite lovely since we are moving in in a week and a half...

"Up in this area of MD(near the PA line),"

"our experience with people who "know what they're doing" hasn't been great so far."

LOL, well if you're in upper Cecil or upper Harford county, get used to it! I would imagine upper Baltimore, Carroll and Frederick counties are a little to a lot better. I've had a couple good contracting experiences, but many have been absolutely infuriating and/or awful. Feel free to PM if you are over here in Cecil or Harford and want some tips.

As for the chlorination the word mix-up somehow made me think you were needing to constantly chlorinate your water for safety: something you should definitely use a specialist plumbing contractor to set up. OTOH if you are just doing the "shock" of an existing well, I guess it makes sense that you can do that yourself. I still wonder why it became contaminated in the first place. Just sitting there, it seems to me it's just the aquifer, "sitting there". After flushing it out, I don't know why coliforms would remain high unless they are somehow getting back in. Maybe the well cap will fix it.

haha, we just bought in rising Sun, moving from bel air. we're really lucky that we have a great contractor, but he's from Baltimore county and doesn't touch wells.

We've only had it tested the one time, during the home inspection process. in theory the issue could be gone I guess, but with our system like it is, there's really no way to get water through the whole system at the moment.

my guess is that the well cap may be at least partially to blame, there were ants and spider sacs in the well when we opened it up, and it's on a hill, so a really terrible rain could have resulted in run down getting in?

I guess you didn't read the thread before posting. lol

A good (modern) well is constructed with a seal made of bentonite clay which excludes water from directly above coming down around the outside of the well casing (basically a plastic pipe). Older wells can be too shallow, not enough casing, bad seal, etc. Lots of ways for stuff to get in. But spiders under the cover doesn't mean anything.

If there is a bad septic system or a plume coming from somewhere like a cattle feedlot or the neighbors' septic system, obviously you can't do much about that except report them to the state for water pollution violations. You'd have to drill a deeper well and/or with better casing.

Does the house have a septic system or lagoon?

Any idea how deep the well is or when it was drilled?

First you said it did not smell like chlorine inside the house, but later you said the indoor plumbing is undergoing major renovation. I guess that means some taps are not available but some are. Is there a softener or any type of filter? That could absorb chlorine pretty quick. Outside taps usually aren't hooked up to those systems.

Thanks for responding toxcrusadr but this thread is a few months old and luckily, we did finally achieve success last month. I think a big part of our issue was in fact the construction that was going on, with so many dead end pipes. Once our contractor tied everything together, we were able to get the bleach through the house.