Brookbend Civic Assn.

We'd all have to be willing to start paying water bills... Personally, I'd be ok with it as I'd have the peace of mind that the water is safe.  As it is, the water is rather acidic and requires soda ash to treat.

I also live on Brower & have a well. A couple of years back, the water from my shower was leaving a filmy residue on our skin & hair.  The Montgomery County Health department came out & tested the water free of charge. They claimed all the levels were normal & the problem did seem to correct itself,  however I still wonder what was the cause.   Coincidently, it was about the time that Audubon Land Development was moving all that fill back by the sewer plant and God knows what else. I used to think having a well was a good thing. Now, we can"t even drink the water.

I feel your pain on this water issue! I also have a well. It is 75 ft. I had continual problems with my jet pump, foot valve etc. I did look into getting city water. They told me it would cost a ballpark of $4,000! So I wonder which of us got the wrong ballpark figure.

I finally got the $2000 submersible pump. Now I'm wondering what it would cost you to have your well dug deeper? Would it cost less than the city water hookup?

I decided to put my well water through rigorous testing.  The water passed all the tests with levels within state/federal limits.

I now have piece of mind as well as a solid baseline to continue to monitor my water going forward.

Here's what I did:

1) Free testing for microbiological contaminants at no cost by the Montco Health Department (see link below).  The health department will provide you with a jar to fill and return for testing.

http://health.montcopa.org/health/cwp/view.asp?A=3&Q=65367&healthNav=%7C34533%7C

2) VOC (PCE and others), Iron, Lead, PH, etc. testing by AQUA.  AQUA has a laboratory in Bryn Mawr and they do a great job.  They are far more personable than many of the labs I talked to previously.  Plus they test their local wells which go into the public water supply and know what contaminants to look for in your area.  Chuck Hertz is a scientist at the lab and he'll take the time to go design the right testing for you.  You pick the sample bottles up at the lab in Bryn Mawr, mix in the additives they give you, put the samples on ice and then drive them back the same day.  The testing has different price ranges depending on what you're testing for.

Aqua Pennsylvania, Inc.
Charles D. Hertz
762 Lancaster Avenue
Bryn Mawr, PA 19010
(610) 525-1400

The process takes awhile to complete, but you get results that you can trust.