What Causes A Blue Tint In Well Water?

If you have a well in your home, keep a close eye on the color of the water, which may tell you plenty about what might go on down under. If your well water turns an eerie blue or blue-greenish color, you have a problem related to either copper or zinc from bronze fixtures. This kind of phenomenon happens rarely, but you must resolve it as soon as you notice the differences to prevent poisoning from your water supply.

Residual amounts of copper are normal in your water supply, but cause problems when the quantity builds up due to copper deposits in the earth below your well. Get your water tested for copper to confirm your suspicions if you do not have any copper fixtures within your well which might lead to this issue. As the microscopic copper corrodes, your water starts turning the color of the corroded material.

If you have pipes made of copper, replace them with PVC pipes to see if this corrects the problem. Copper pipes corrode as they age and release agents into the water turning it blue. This kind of process releases dangerous amounts of residual copper that may poison your water supply. Even if your copper pipes weren't the culprit, it's always helpful to prevent the issue in the first place and continue with investigations.

Using water pipes to ground a home electrical circuit proves rather useful, but dangerous when done on pipes that may lead to or from a well. Sometimes the problem does not initiate from the well, but from the area where the grounding wires make contact with the pipe. Even if the pipe doesn't have any copper, the wires corrode as well, causing their residual corrosion to enter the water supply, giving off a light-bluish color. Solve this problem by using an earthing electrode next to the house instead of water piping for grounding.

Bronze faucets and other types of plumbing have a zinc coating to prevent them from getting eroded by water. After aging significantly, a bronze fixture releases the zinc on it, giving the water a clear bluish tint with no hint of any other color. You must get your water tested for zinc and replace the fixtures as soon as possible if you find out that you have zinc in the water supply. This results in similar symptoms to food poisoning if someone ingests the water.