Is my well too close to the septic absorption field?

Get a professional home inspector and have him check. Use the American Society of Home Inspectors site to find some suggestions. http://www.ashi.org/

My well is above my septic system and leaching field. Gravity keeps them separate.

The well is on the upper hill side of the house and the septic pipes drain down hill to the tanks and fields.

When we purchased property in Clark County, WA, the well needed to be at least 100 ft. from the leach field.

Get your well water tested; there are zillions of companies that do it and it’s cheap. Contamination from bacteria isn’t the only issue; depending on where you are at there may be arsenic, high iron levels, etc.

This is the company we used, as an example.

I did get the water tested. And it turned out fine. Should I still be worried?

Here’s some info. It really depends on the particulars of your situation.

There is no point in being worried; that’s not going to resolve anything.

What you should do is become “informed”. For example, what kind of well do you have? Is it a modern “drilled” well, and if so, how deep is it? What is the flow like, and how deep is your water table?

If it’s a surface “dug well”, then you should consider replacing it with a drilled well.

How extensive is the drain field from the septic system? How old is it? What kind of soil or ground conditions do you have beneath the septic / leach field system?

Here is a place to start your education.

At our house the well is about that distance (about 90 feet) from the septic drain field. However, the field runs away from the house, and the well is on the opposite side of the house. It’s been working fine for us (and the previous family that lived here) for nearly 30 years.

Testing the water (which btw, you should do annually as a private well owner) and being within the guidelines for your city, and for the FHA loan are probably the biggest things to do. I’d say you could place your anxiety elsewhere instead..seems like you’ve found the water quality is OK. If you have any concerns after you’re living there you can always install further purification systems.

Here’s the things that ended up costing us, and/or things I wish I knew that we didn’t know to ask when we bought this house (with well water and septic system) about 5 years ago:

1. What is the AGE of the septic system? (Did you know septic systems are typically only good for about 22 years? Our drain field has failed but they consider that “normal” because it exceeded it’s 22 yr. life span.)

2. What new changes (requirements) have been added (city code / county requirements, etc.) since the septic system was initially installed at this house? (Good for you to know in case you ever have to repair or replace part of the Septic system. You will likely be required at that time to bring the system up to code. If your system is 10 years or older—find out NOW what new requirements you’ll be on the hook for..and what the potential cost might be!)

3. When you buy this house there are typically lengthy addendum on the maintenance, inspection and condition of the septic system, drain field and well. The previous owner is legally required to disclose these. If you haven’t already seen these ask your Buyer’s Agent (Realtor) for them. You should have been provided these even before you’re in contract to buy.

4. The city/township where the house is located is sure to have requirements for how often the septic gets pumped. (Some places say every 3 years or more frequently, etc.) You can pull ALL the records on this property and confirm the last several pump services—you can call the company that did the pumping. The service has to note whether the system is in good condition or failure or somewhere in between when they pump the septic tank. This is good stuff to look at in advance.

Last but not least – and this may sound obvious, but it sure didn’t occur to us until we went through some summer storms..
Find out what your back-up options are for the well in the event of a power outage. That is – I’d recommend looking into how easy would it be to hook up the electrical for the well to a generator. (Something to ask your home inspector. If he can’t answer it – it might be worth your while to have an electrician come take a look.) Remember that storms can bring down the power to an area…and while you’re waiting for the power company to restore power: no electrical power = no water being pumped from the well.

If you don’t have the extra money (or desire) for a gas or diesel powered generator I’d recommend running a big bath tub (or two) full of water when stormy weather is in the near forecast. If there’s a chance you’ll be without power for more than 8 hours – you’ll be grateful for the extra water which you can use (scooping out of the tub) to do everything from washing hands or to “flush” the toilets.

@geeky_mama brought up an excellent point: Are you still going to be able to use the septic system?

A lot of places that have installed municipal sewage collection systems have “stub connections” for the existing homes that had working septic systems, and those homes are “grandfathered” into being able to keep the septic systems that they have, provided that:
1. They don’t require major repair or replacement, and
2. They are owned by the current owner.

Many times transfer of ownership also means that the “grandfather” clause is broken, and you now need to connect to the street system.

If you don’t have a municipal sewer system in place (as in most rural areas, for example), then that’s not a consideration.