Making a water filter

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Hi,does anyone have information on making a water filter for a shallow well,mine is about 20 feet deep,we are in northwest Fla.Mostly sand,the local farmers say the sand is enough of a filter and they don't worry about it. They all look pretty healthy to me. I want to be sure,thanks for any info. Daryll

-- Daryll (twinck@wfeca.net), July 21, 1999

Answers

What do you want to filter out? Have you had the water tested at a lab? I have a dug well and I do filter my water, not because there is anything in there I do not want to drink, but because filtering it makes it taste much better, therefore I drink more water and less other stuff and I save money by buying a good filter rather buying lots of junk to drink. Also, the cloths come out cleaner.

Making a filter is really very simple. Just get some good sand, some dry moss, some charcoal, and a container to put it all in. Put moss on the bottom, then sand, then moss, then charcoal (powder that has been activated), then sand on top.

-- chicken farmer (chicken-farmer@ y2k.farm), July 21, 1999.


Daryll:

Most of those farmers [if they are representative] grew up before the explosion of population, industry and modern agriculture. It depends on what's around you and what contributes to your subsurface ground water. You should have it tested for coliform, etc. But you can't do this once. You need a profile overtime. As for chemicals, judge what may be in your ground water and have it tested for that. Once again, over time. Otherwise, as a minimum, you need to filter for microbes, use ion-exchange for metals and charcoal for PAH. I'm sure that an expert in the area could give you even more opti

-- Z1X4Y7 (Z1X4Y7@aol.com), July 21, 1999.


+Thanks guys, I live 13 miles on a dirt road from the nearest tiny town pop 200. Organic farmers on both sides of me about a half mile.So I think the shallow well is safe,just wanted to be sure. I think I'll try a home made filter,money is tight.

-- Daryll (twinck@wfeca.net), July 21, 1999.

Daryll,

Three or four issues ago _National Geographic_ had an article on Florida's underwater caves, which gave some interesting details on aquifers. You might want to look for that issue, and see about having your water tested to see if you need to take any particular precautions with filters. Your County Extension Agent or health department might be able to help with the testing- it's worth checking. I don't know if homemade filters will cut it- but if I were going to make one, I would include a layer of charcoal in there somewhere.

Check with Gene Franks at Pure Water Products (http://www.pwgazette.com, email gene@pwgazette.com) if you need further help. He sells the filter elements used in the (expensive) Berkefeld water filter, set up as siphon filters for about $45 each, and lots of other filter products also. I have dealt with him and recommend his products and service.

-- Lee (lplapin@hotmail.com), July 22, 1999.


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