In the Water Info database, you will find the information below concerning water symptoms, water contaminants, and water standards.

Bathtub Ring:  Hardness minerals combine with soaps to form an insoluble soap curd that is left behind after a bath.

Beige/ Brown/ Black stains:  Manganese is a dissolved metal that becomes most obvious in areas where hot water is used, such as the laundry, shower, or dishwasher and sinks. Manganese also can show up in the toilet bowl and toilet tank.

Blue Green Staining:  Residentially the most common reasons for blue-green staining are low pH and/or high chloride content.  When the pH of the water is low the water will dissolve a small amount of the copper plumbing, resulting in a blue green stain when the water evaporates.  High chloride in water causes galvanic corrosion. This wearing away of the plumbing generally continues until there is a leak. Plumbing that has been exposed to low pH water usually will wear away evenly creating paper thin pipes. Plumbing that has been exposed to high chloride usually will have pin hole leaks due to pitting.

Brown stains on dishes:  Manganese can leave a tenacious stain on dishes washed in dishwashers.  The manganese will tend to precipitate when during extreme heat of the drying cycle.

Dull Laundry:  If whites become slightly yellowed or dull looking over time, this can be the result of hardness minerals or manganese in the water.

Dry skin and hair:  Excess hardness in the water can cause dry skin and hair.  When extreme dry skin is caused by water, it can indicate a presence of a finely-divided clay sediment in the water that remains on the skin after bathing.

Etched glassware:  Occasionally water will be hard enough that glassware becomes etched with hardness that becomes baked on during the dishwashing cycle.

Pin hole leaks:  The presence of chloride in the water sets up galvanic action, leading to tiny leaks in copper plumbing.

Pinkish slime:  Iron bacteria, a non-harmful organism can result in a pinkish slime that gathers where the water sits, such as corners of a tub or in a pet bowl.  The iron bacteria surrounds the iron molecule with a casing, making it resistant to normal forms of water treatment.

Pitting of fixtures:  Usually due to galvanic corrosion caused by chloride content.

Plugged screens:  Washing machines and faucets often have screens to trap solids.  These screens will collect sand particles as well as precipitated hardness minerals.

Poor Sudsing:   High levels of minerals in the water, usually hardness or iron interfere with the way soaps work, leaving behind an insoluble soap curd and resulting in poor sudsing.

Ring around the toilet bowl:  A small amount of iron/manganese bacteria can leave behind a very hard-to-clean ring at the water line in the toilet bowl. This non-harmful organism will get into the pits of the porcelain and die, leaving behind a stain from the metals that it has been feeding off.

Rotten Egg Odor:  Hydrogen sulfide gas, commonly known as rotten egg odor or “sulfur” is usually caused by the presence of sulfate reducing bacteria. This harmless bacteria digests sulfates into hydrogen sulfide gas which smells like rotten eggs. When hydrogen sulfide odor is the result of these bacteria the odor is intermittent and will be worse after periods of low water use or in places where there is little water flow, or dead ends in plumbing.  Hydrogen sulfide gas can also be present from a chemical reaction in deep wells; this type of gas is usually quite constant and the odor will fill the room.

Rotten Egg Odor, Hot water only:  When a rotten egg odor is only present in the hot water, this is the result of a few water factors interacting with the anode rod in the hot water tank.  The simplest solution is to remove the anode rod and disinfect the tank.  However, this may invalidate the warranty on the hot water tank.

Rust colored water:  Ferric iron is iron that has precipitated into a solid particle.  When ferric iron is present it can make the water actually run with a rusty color or cloudy appearance.  Ferric iron will usually wipe away from a toilet bowl or sink, but can stick to hardness or clay particles and become quite sticky and hard to remove.

Rust stains:  Iron in water can be present in either a dissolved (ferrous) or solid (ferric) form, or both. Water that normally runs clear but turns rusty colored when in contact with air, heat or bleach is caused by ferrous iron.  Dissolved iron will cause a rust colored stain in laundry, toilets, showers, and tubs. Solid, or precipitated (ferric) iron leaves a sediment that can usually be wiped or brushed off of appliances, but may cause blotchy staining in laundry.  Ferric iron can also cause plugging of pipes, spray jets, and screens.

Swampy, musty odor:   Organic material in water, such as tannins, lignins and humins can trigger a series of aesthetic issues with the water, including odors that are described as swampy, musty, manure-like or “wet band-aid”. When organic matter decays and mixes with rain water it creates an organic tea which normally stays near the surface of the ground and does not make it into a deep well. However, due to the unusual terrain left behind by the glaciers, organic materials can penetrate through cracks and crevasses within the bedrock and end up in a well.  These organic materials can sequester metals in water making it very difficult for water treatment systems to remove them.

Water changes with rain:  When water quality is different after heavy rains, this indicates that the well is under the influence of surface water.  Rain water is quickly making its way into the well, bringing sediment and minerals from the surface of the ground.

White residue:  White residue showing up on fixtures or where the water evaporates is usually made up of hardness or salts.  Hardness in New England is mainly from calcium which is a natural part of our geology. Hardness will precipitate when the water is heated and form a scale on water heaters and appliances, making them less efficient and shortening their life expectancy. Hardness causes a white milky stain on counters and fixtures. It also causes an etched appearance to glasses, dishes, and silverware. Hardness makes it very hard to form soap suds.  A white residue can also be the result of calcium chloride or sodium chloride that may make their way into wells due to road salting.  In addition to causing the visible problems mentioned above, the presence of road salt in the water can lead to corrosion problems and leaks.

Yellow colored water:  Water that runs with a pale yellow or beige color can be impacted by microscopic clay particles that can give the water a pale cast.  When clay particles combine up with iron the color can be darker.