Welcome to Episode 10 of Clean Water Made Easy Podcast.
Our host and resource person, Gerry Bulfin, a water treatment contractor and WQA Certified Master Water Specialist discusses ultraviolet sterilizers for well water and how to use them for disinfecting and sanitizing well water.
Ultraviolet sterilizers use UV light to kill bacteria in water and are often a good fit for you if your well or spring water has bacteria in it, or might be at risk for coliform bacteria.
Ultraviolet Sterilizers for Well Water
You will hear and learn about:
* How does UV light disinfect (kill bacteria) in water?
* How can I know if UV disinfection is right for my water application?
* What is the difference between Class A and Class B UV sterilizers, and when to use which for a given application
* Should the water be treated prior to UV sterilization?
* Is UV light effective at killing parasites, such as Giardia?
* Maintenance and servicing UV sterilizers
Transcript
Clean Water Made Easy Podcast Episode #10.
Ultraviolet Sterilizers for Well Water
Hello! Hope your day is going good. My name is Gerry Bulfin. I’m a water treatment contractor and WQA-Certified Master Water Specialist here in Northern California and I want to welcome you to the podcast. If it’s your first time, thanks for listening or welcome back if you’ve listened before. I really appreciated all the feedback and emails about the podcast I’ve been getting and if you have any questions or if you have any topics you would like to see covered on the podcast, please write me an email.
I like to say you’re in the right place if you want to learn about well water, water treatment systems or how to improve the quality of your well water or spring water as well.
In this episode, I am going to talk about Ultraviolet Sterilizers, a very popular device, and there are many different kinds.
Topics we’re going to go over are: How does it work? How does UV light disinfect to kill bacteria in the water? How can I know if UV is right for my particular application?
We are going to talk about the difference between Class A and Class B UV sterilizers and when to use which. Should the water be treated prior to UV? We are also going to talk about parasites such as Giardia and how to and how often to service UV sterilizers.
Download Free Guide
I’ve put together a guide on UVs called The Practical Guide to Ultraviolet Sterilizers and you can get your free copy. It has a lot of good pictures, diagrams and checklists. It is very easy to follow and pretty useful.
Bacteria can be really a serious issue. Harmful bacteria can be present in many water supplies. Proper disinfection as we all know is very critical, especially if bacteria, viruses and parasites are present.
Many well and spring waters are susceptible to contamination by bacteria. Most properly built wells usually do not have bacteria or are not under the influence of surface water where bacteria live but it can happen. So, you want to do routine testing at least once a year for coliform bacteria. It is recommended for home water wells.
Both the EPA, CDC, World Health Organization and different organizations like the National Ground Water Associations, all recommend that you get your water tested every year for coliforms. Ultraviolet sterilizers can be a good alternative method of disinfection.
Chlorine, is the most common type of disinfection to use especially for spring water. It can have limitations and there is some associated health risks especially if the chlorine residuals are high and you’re showering in it and breathing in chlorine. So you will look for alternatives for that and particularly if you have a home system and you want to be sure your well is free of bacteria.
