Today's inquiry came to us from 'Kyle' who asked, "We had a new well put in because our old well dried up and we were told could not be made deeper.  Water from our new well tastes metally like iron but the test strips we got from a friend in the pool business tell us there is no iron.  Would you iron test work better maybe?"

Hello, Kyle, and thank you for your inquiry.  You raised a few interesting points and asked a few interesting questions... to which we have several (hopefully helpful) responses:

  • General Metals Testing Approach -- This approach will give you a 30,000-ft view of your metal problem since several different metals may resemble the 'taste of iron' when dissolved in drinking water.  We suggest using a general metals testing product such as the SenSafe Heavy Metals Check which detects a broad spectrum of dissolved heavy metals and gives a total concentration of all the metals it detects (Note: The product will not identify individual metals or tell you how much of each metal it detected in a water sample).
  • Focusing on Iron -- If you feel certain you have iron in your water, then the WaterWorks Visual Iron Test Kit may work well for you.  It differs from most iron tests in that it detects 'total iron' by converting Fe+3 iron to Fe+2 so the test reagent can detect it.  Most pool test kits we have seen, unless you get into troubleshooting versions, will only detect Fe+2.  Please note, however, that if your water does not contain iron at all (in either form), this test will also show blank results.
  • Thorough (Laboratory) Well Water Analysis -- As a general rule, we believe newly dug wells should get tested for a full battery of tests before getting put into use.  Companies like National Testing Laboratories offer a number of mail-in water testing packages and typically provide results in about a week to ten days. Before running off and ordering the most expensive test package possible, though, you may want to contact your local Department of the Environment and ask them what sort of well water contaminants or issues they know of in your area... and choose a testing package based on the information they provide.

Once you get your iron in water and/or metals in water problem resolved, please keep one thing in mind: Many contaminants in well water -- some of them harmful -- have no associated taste, appearance or odor.

Only periodic testing of the water will let you know if a water quality aspect of your well water has changed.

Lead in Water Test
Lead in Water Test
Water Metals Test Strips
Water Metals Test Strips
Total Iron Visual Test Kit
Total Iron Visual Test Kit