DEBRIS.COMgood for a laugh, or possibly an aneurysm

Buried 290 feet below our driveway is an iron mine. It’s called a “well” but in fact it pumps more iron than water.

Pictured is the impeller after nine years of service. It had choked itself with iron mud and burned out the pump motor.

This is the myth of drinking water. The stuff that comes out of the kitchen faucet has an aura of purity. But at its source, our water isn’t fit to wash socks in.

Our well-water gets pumped through an air injector, which like the ozone injector at the old house attempts to expose the ferrous iron to air in order to drop it out of solution. Then it sits in a small offgassing tank for a few minutes, from where it’s pumped through a “berm filter,” which I believe is a big box of dirt. And then it goes into a 1200 gallon holding tank.

To peer into the tank is to begin questioning the myth of “drinking” water. Our tank is not exactly sterile. There are four or five float switches suspended inside; the cables are black with slime. Iron bacteria? Grease? I don’t know, but I’m drinking it.

If there’s more than two feet of water inside the tank, I can’t see through it to the bottom. Your pool water is cleaner — but you’re not supposed to drink that.

As gross as this iron well is, though, it’s nothing compared to the horror buried in the back yard.