New Flip with Spring Water

[Mike Jones]

Just closed on a great deal, small old run down house on 2 acres but the water source is from a year round spring that needs to be made potable..

I see on the Home Depot site they have a Well Water Filtration System for around $1200, not knowing much about spring and well water, would this be all I need to make it potable?

How about any Liabilities from this after I sell?

Any input would be appreciated...

---Mike

[Colleen F.]

Probably not.  You need to have a sufficient protective structure to keep it animal  free and there are other elements to keeping water secure on an ongoing basis.  I lived in one house with a spring box (it was in the basement) but when I  think about it now it probably wasn't as it should have been.  We had a filtration and light treatment system. I forget exactly what it was called. The actual spring box though had a salamander in it, probably wouldn't be okay today but oh well...it didn't kill him.   Wells can get expensive so if you can make the spring work and if it is a common water supply method for the area then it can be fine. If it is unusual you may have a problem.  Here is some information on treatment systems http://www.pubs.ext.vt.edu/442/442-670/442-670_pdf.pdf but maybe understand how it works first and what your state regulations are.

Your local co-operative extension may have info or the California department of Water may have some information. The National Groundwater association has a site where you can look up contractors by state (I won't say they are the only good contractors because my well guy isn't a member but it is a start) and some states have programs to assist getting drinking systems in line with local regulations. If you search spring on this site you will get an idea of what you need to do http://directives.sc.egov.usda.gov/ to  create a good spring setup.