Comparing Well Water vs City Water: Is One Better?
While the vast majority of people in the US get their water from a municipal source, over 43 million people (about 15% of households) rely on private wells.
Whether your taps use city water or your home relies on a rural well, you may be partial to one type of water over the other. Itβs likely the water in the home you grew up in still influences your opinion of the water you drink today.
A comparison of the actual differences between well water and city water encompasses not just water taste, but also other factors including cost, quality, maintenance, and environmental concerns. Whatever your water type, treating your water to make it the cleanest, healthiest water it can be requires a good understanding of these basics.
How to Tell If You Have Well Water or City Water
If you live in a city, you probably already know your water is piped to your home from a municipal treatment center. Likewise if you make your home in the countryside, itβs pretty clear your water comes from a well.
But if youβre on the outskirts of a suburb or in a new home in a sparsely populated area, you might not know for sure. If this is the case, it should beΒ simple to figure it out:
- Do you receive a water bill?Β If youβre paying a monthly fee for your water, your home receives its water from a municipal treatment system.
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Does your home have a water pump or pressure tank?Β A water pump is the pump connected to a private well. All wells will have an associated water pump. A home with well water also requires a pressure tank, however some larger homes may have a pressure tank even if on municipal water to maintain water pressure and flow.
Pros and Cons of Well Water
Depending on where you live, your experience of well water can be very different. Those with the best water supplies may love it, while someone unhappy with well maintenance or treatment issues may long for the relatively responsibility-free experience of city water.
Pros and cons of well water include:
Pros:
β’ No water bill
When your water is supplied by your own well, thereβs no monthly bills to worry about paying, nor issues with fee increases or hidden surcharges. Well water is free water.
β’ No water usage restrictions
With a well, thereβs no one telling you that you canβt water your lawn or garden any time you want, or charging you more for longer baths or showers. Water bans donβt apply.
β’ Healthy minerals and nutrients and better taste
Well water is sourced from groundwater which contains natural minerals. It may be a healthier water source, and often is considered better tasting than treated water.
β’ No added chemicals
Well water doesnβt taste or smell of chlorine, and itβs not fluoridated. Itβs unlikely to have traces of pharmaceuticals like those flushed through municipal water supplies. You also donβt have to deal with issues from the corrosion of municipal water lines or the harmful effects of disinfection byproducts. Use of natural well water is easier on the environment.
β’ Less affected by natural disasters
Private wells are not usually affected by issues that disrupt a cityβs water distribution, such as floods or widespread contamination. Boil water alerts are usually a city issue. Wells arenβt usually affected by these issues, unless itβs especially bad or widespread.
β’ Increased property value
Access to an independent water source may mean a higher asking price or valuation of your home.
Cons:
β’ Well pumps need electricity
Owning a well doesnβt leave you off the hook when it comes to utility bills. The pump that pulls the water up to your home is run by electricity. Not to mention, if your power goes out, there goes your access to fresh water. A backup generator may be a necessity.
β’ Youβre responsible for well maintenance and water treatment
If your water comes from a private well, you alone are responsible for the safety and quality of your water. All water testing and treatment is on you. If your well or plumbing equipment breaks down itβs also up to you to fix it. Maintenance and repairs can be expensive, particularly if the well is very old, or even runs dry and needs to be redrilled.
β’ Well water may have contaminants
There are common well water contaminants that need water filtration treatment to make the water clean and healthy to use. Itβs also possible for wells to become contaminated during natural disasters such as flooding, or from industrial or agricultural runoff. And thereβs always the risk that waterborne illnesses that are routinely eliminated in city water supplies may find their way to your groundwater, with little barrier to entry to your home.
β’ You need to test your well water
While theΒ Safe Water Drinking ActΒ provides health standards for municipal water supplies, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) doesnβt regulate private wells or provide recommended criteria or standards for individual wells. The EPA does provide information about testing for contaminants and treatments. You will need accurate testing to diagnose any issues, followed by application of the appropriate treatments to ensure that you have both healthy water and peace of mind.
EPA information on private drinking water wells.
Pros and Cons of City Water
When you live in a city, you likely donβt have a choice about getting your water from the municipal water treatment center. Your feelings about your water may depend on a number of factors.
Pros:
β’ City responsible for water quality
When you have city water, you know that itβs being tested and treated for contaminants.. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulates drinking water quality in public water systems, with recommendations for maximum level for contaminants. City residents have access to an annual consumer confidence report (CCR), which gives an accounting of the municipal treatment centerβs actions to restore safe drinking water over the past year, summarizes risk of contamination, and lists the potential health effects.
β’ City treats contaminants, adds fluoride
Not only is city water treated to eliminate waterborne diseases, most municipalities also add fluoride to prevent tooth decay.
β’ Available in most places
Outside of rural areas, most homes are already connected to municipal water.
Cons:
β’ Not as fresh as well water
While well water is pumped up directly from your groundwater, municipal water could travel miles before it reaches your home. This journey risks collection of contaminants along the way, from treatment plant, through the water lines and plumbing, to your home.
β’ Taste from chemical treatment
While ridding your water of pathogens is a necessity, the taste and smell of chlorine or other treatment byproducts may be noticeable and unappealing.
β’ Water bills may be costly
Rising water bills are the norm throughout the country. Contamination by newer pollutants may be harder to treat, andΒ aging infrastructure across the country needs to be replacedΒ to head off water crises like the disaster in Flint, Michigan.
β’ Water controlled by the city
Because the city runs the water, it has control of its distribution. If you canβt pay your water bill, your water can be shut off. In an emergency it could shut it off with no warning. A city can also declare water bans, limiting your usage and charging fees and penalties.
β’ Large scale contamination
When a natural disaster like a flood happens, the entire cityβs water supply can be affected. It may take days or weeks until your water is safe to use again.
β’ Concerns about fluoridation effects
The original desire for widespread, cost-effective prevention of tooth decay is now at odds with a worry about unforeseen consequences and health risks from fluoride consumption. Some communities have even banned fluoride from their water supplies. Individuals may also want to knowΒ how to remove fluoride from their water.
Water Testing and Treatment
Whether youβre on well water or city water, itβs a good idea to test your water to verify whatever contaminants are in your water. The National Ground Water Association recommends that private well owners have their wells checked and tested every year to ensure water safety.
When you need to treat your water for issues, the choice of treatment solution is based not only on the specific contaminants that need removal, but on the source of your water.
How to Treat Well Water
Contaminants in your well water supply may be both natural and manmade, including dissolved minerals, runoff from agriculture or industry, and other pollutants. As surface water seeps underground to the aquifers and groundwater which feed well water, the substances picked up can drastically affect your water quality. The following are the most common well water contaminants and suggested treatment solutions.
Turbidity: Sediment Filtration
If your tap water is cloudy, or has particles that settle on the bottom after you let it sit a while, you have turbidity, or suspendedΒ sediment. High sediment can be related to the presence of oxidized metals in the water, microbial life, or pollutants. Treating Turbidity may be as easy as adding a sediment pre-filter to your water filtration system, or may require a UV system if itβs microbial.
Read more about Sediment Filtration
Hard Water: Water Softener
The most common issue associated with well water isΒ hard water. Hard water contains high amounts of dissolved minerals such as calcium and magnesium. Hard water can leave scale on your appliances, build up mineral deposits in plumbing, make laundry feel stiff and rough, and leave your skin and hair dull and lifeless.
A traditional salt-based water softener is recommended for well water. Successful treatment will depend on both the level of hardness, and if there are other contaminants present in the water such as iron.
Iron and Manganese: Specialty Filter, Softener, or AIO System
If the water coming out of your tap is yellowish or red, or you see yellow, red or brown staining on your fixtures or laundry, you may haveΒ ironΒ in your water. Iron may give your water a metallic taste, and can turn tea, coffee and potatoes black. Black stains may also be a sign ofΒ manganese. Both are often present in well water.
In order to effectively treat the issue, youβll need to verify both the type and level of the contaminant in your water with a water test.
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Heavy Metals, Herbicides, Pesticides and VOCs - Carbon and KDF Filtration
A whole house Carbon and KDF filtration system reducesΒ heavy metalsΒ like lead and mercury, as well asΒ herbicides,Β pesticides, andΒ Volatile Organic ChemicalsΒ (VOCs).
Read more about VOCs, Pesticides and Herbicides
Nitrates/Nitrites, Sulfates, Arsenic, Lead: RO System
Many contaminants are typically treated at the point of use, such as the faucet used for drinking water. These includeΒ nitrates/nitrites,Β sulfates, arsenic, and lead. The installation of an under sink reverse osmosis (RO) system will filter these contaminants to leave your water clean and healthy.
NitrateΒ is a compound that occurs naturally, and also has man-made sources. The most common groundwater contamination is from fertilizers and other agricultural runoff.
Read more about Nitrates and Nitrites
The smell of rotten eggs is a telltale sign of the presence ofΒ hydrogen sulfideΒ orΒ sulfur bacteriaΒ in your water. High sulfate levels can give water a bitter or medicinal taste and can have laxative effects as well as be corrosive to plumbing.
If there isΒ hydrogen sulfideΒ in your water source, you may need to purchase a whole home hydrogen sulfide reduction system.
Read more about Sulfur in Your Water
ArsenicΒ is found in many groundwater sources, including every state in the U.S. While trace amounts are found in many foods naturally, the EPA maximum standard for drinking water is .010 ppm.
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Lead
There is no safe level ofΒ leadΒ in your drinking water, but because itβs tasteless, colorless and odorless, the only way to know for sure if itβs present in your water is to test it.
Bacteria and Microorganisms: UV System
Itβs recommended that you test well water every year for bacteria. For year-round protection, you can install a water filtration system with Ultraviolet (UV) Disinfection to deactivate the bacteria right as it enters your home.
How to Treat Your City Water
City water has its own set of typical water treatment issues, including the following contaminants.
Chlorine and Chloramines: Carbon Filtration
WhileΒ chlorineΒ treatment is meant to keep your water disease-free, too much left by the time it reaches your water supply is not only unappealing, but unhealthy at levels above the EPA maximum of 4 ppm.
If you are only concerned about the bleachy taste and odor, you could treat the problem at the tap with a replaceable point of use filter.
- Faucet Filters
- Refrigerator Filters
- Pitcher Filters
- Countertop Filters
- Undersink Filters
- Shower Filters
If you want to reduce theΒ chlorineΒ inΒ all the water in your home, you can install a filtration system at the point of entry of the water to your home.
When you haveΒ chloramine, you should choose a filter specifically designed to treat chloramine.
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Hardness: Water Softener or Salt-Free Water Softener Alternative
While a traditional salt-based water softener is recommended to treatΒ hardnessΒ in well water, if youβre on municipal water, you can also consider a salt-free water conditioner to remove scale.
Successful treatment of your water issues will depend on both the level of hardness, and if there are other contaminants present in the water such as iron.
Lead, Fluoride: RO System
As with well water, some typical city water contaminants such asΒ leadΒ andΒ fluorideΒ are treated at the faucet.
LeadΒ in your water is a serious health hazard.
Since the introduction ofΒ fluorideΒ toothpaste, mouthwash, and supplements, there is an increased potential for excess fluoride ingestion and resulting health effects.
Ingestion of fluoride toothpaste alone may raise childrenβs consumption above recommended levels.
You can install a Reverse Osmosis System to treat lead and fluoride in your water.
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Both Well Water and City Water Can Be Great Water
The US has one of the safest water supplies in the world. While there are significant differences between water treated by a municipality, and the responsibilities of private well water ownership, the right filtration treatment can turn any homeβs water into clean and healthy water.