Well water iron question

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Main_sail22
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Well water iron question

Post by Main_sail22 » April 24th, 2017, 3:11 pm

Hey all,
I just had a well put in, and the water tests came back showing roughly 2ppm of iron. My questions is, should I expect iron stains on everything the water touches from my irrigation system or should I be ok at these levels. Thanks!

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HoosierHound
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Re: Well water iron question

Post by HoosierHound » April 28th, 2017, 2:06 am

Hi Main sail,
Sorry, I don't know the answer to your question. But I'm wondering how your zoysia is doing, is it greening up?

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ezael
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Re: Well water iron question

Post by ezael » April 29th, 2017, 12:58 pm

EPA standards set iron MCL (maximum contamination levels) at .3 ppm. Obviously 2ppm is much higher but this level is set mostly to prevent staining of plumbing fixtures in the house. Elevated iron levels in ground water is very common and I know plenty of people that water their lawns with well water, and I have never seen a red lawn in my life. I think you will be ok.

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HoosierLawnGnome
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Re: Well water iron question

Post by HoosierLawnGnome » April 30th, 2017, 4:17 pm

Is the well water you are sending out to your lawn treated or straight from the well?

Mine is untreated and most certainly stains the concrete, but I have a ridiculously high iron level. Wish I knew the precise reading. If it stains your interior surfaces, I'd expect it to stain exterior surfaces as well in time. You won't know until you try it though.

The other thing I've noticed is that the water coming out of the spray heads downhill the most seem to stain more - like the Iron settles downhill.

Hope that helps!

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Main_sail22
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Re: Well water iron question

Post by Main_sail22 » May 2nd, 2017, 6:15 pm

ALCON,
Thanks for the replies. I am running the water untreated straight from the well, but this water will be used only for the lawn. My house water is from the city. I ask this question not because I'm worried about my grass turning colors, but turning my white vinyl fence, house siding and driveway orange.

Hoosier,
Thanks for asking, I know I have been MIA during the off season. It was starting to really take off, but I also saw a significant increase in the nutsedge, so I went and got some post emergent and sprayed it 3 days ago. I come home today and it looks like it may have fried my lawn. I immediately got the house out and started watering so we will see. The chemical I used stated that it was safe to use on zoysia so I'm not sure what happened. I'll keep ya updated on the warm season forum.


guisertj
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Re: Well water iron question

Post by guisertj » May 6th, 2017, 9:47 pm

2 ppm will definitely stain. For those interested in treating irrigation, there are systems that use a product called "rid-o-rust". It is a chemical injection system. Easy to use with a separate irrigation well, a little more complicated when sharing irrigation and domestic from the same well.

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