Gasoline Contamination in Well Water
Hey everyone, I could really use some honest advice from people who know more about wells or water treatment than I do.
A few months ago I had about a 12-gallon gasoline spill on gravel roughly 20 feet from my private well. Yeah, I know… terrible mistake. Since then, I had the water tested, and the lab flagged it as possible gasoline contamination.
My results were
- Benzene: 345 ug/L
- Toluene: 239 ug/L
- Ethylbenzene: 205 ug/L
- Total Xylenes: 1880 ug/L
The smell has gone down the last 3 months, so it seems like it’s not as bad as it was at first, but I know that doesn’t necessarily mean the water is actually safe.
I talked to a water treatment specialist, and he said they could build me a custom whole-house carbon backwashing/upflow system. He also said they’ve done government and job site work for places with petroleum contamination from old underground tanks and stuff like that.
I also talked to the county, and they told me I can apply for a permit for a new well and they can recommend the best area to place it, but they made it clear they cannot guarantee a new well wouldn’t still end up contaminated too.
So now I’m stuck trying to figure out what makes the most sense
- trust a custom filter system
or
- drill a new well
If this was your house, what would you do?
I’d love to hear from anyone who has dealt with
- gasoline or BTEX contamination
- private well contamination
- carbon filtration systems for VOCs
- drilling a replacement well after a spill
Not looking for people to sugarcoat it just need help as a first-time homeowner