What are the associated health risk in cases, where the drinking water is derived from private well? What is the extent of arsenic contamination in such cases?

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Private well is a source of water just like we have other sources of water such as stream, pipe born water, lake water, river water, etc. The private well is constructed in such a way that water is automatically extracted from the soil surface after deep penetration of the soil layers for the main purpose of generating pure water. After this is done, a well tube is inserted into the system to ensure easy and proper generation or fetching of water by humans through the use of a bucket tied directly to a long rope or a simple bucket elevator which is rotated by the hand.

From the above illustration, we can also conclude that well water is a natural source of water which is gotten below the soil surface. This water is naturally purified for performing some domestic activities such as washing, bathing, cooking etc. The major reasons you sometimes experience death in the water is as a result of the condition of the water body as this makes the well water to fall or rise while the second reason is due to the limited availability of water in the soil surface in an unlimited area containing well water. In this regards, if the number of well water is plenty in such a confined area, there is possibility for suction competition leading to the reduction of the water body. This also explains why the well water level seems to be high whenever there is rainfall and this is because of the increase in the water body of the soil system.

As for contaminants in well water such as Arsenic, it is always advisable to always boil your well water at a temperature of 100 degree centigrade before drinking as this will help to kill some bacteria and other contaminants making the water pure for drinking. You can also add some water purification powder inside the water before drinking. There are even some villagers who consume well water directly without considering any of these factors since they are already used to the system and they've been living very fine. I will suggest that if you aren't used to drinking well water, it's better you avoid it to avoid developing health related problems like "Typhoid" and other waterborne diseases.

Since it is a private well water, it is advisable you purify the water in the well by applying the required steps such as "aerating", "sedimentation and coagulation", "chlorination" and "distribution"

In conclusion, I will suggest you can make use of well water for other activities such as cooking, bathing, washing, etc and if you are scared of drinking it, it is preferable you boil it at a temperature of 100 degrees and add purifier power if possible to make it more pure as a first timer.

Thanks for reading and I hope this helps.