Orange or brown stains
On fixtures, toilet bowls, laundry and irrigated walls. A slimy orange film inside the toilet tank points to iron bacteria as well.
Likely causeIron
Well water treatment · Central Florida
Whole House Well Water Filtration in Central Florida
Orange stains, a rotten-egg smell, scale that keeps coming back? Well water reaches your home untreated, and what’s in it changes from one well to the next. Find out what you have first, with a free water test, before anyone recommends equipment.
- ✓4.9 stars from 777 Google reviews
- ✓Serving Central Florida since 1986
- ✓Licensed & insured
The water under Central Florida
What’s actually in Central Florida well water
Most private wells here draw from the Floridan aquifer, water that has spent years moving through limestone. That journey decides what comes out of your tap.
Limestone dissolves as water passes through it, which is why Central Florida groundwater is hard. Deeper down, the water carries little oxygen, and in those conditions iron stays dissolved and bacteria turn sulfate into hydrogen sulfide. The water can look perfectly clear coming out of the ground and still stain, smell or scale once it reaches the air.
Rural parts of the region rely on private wells, from Umatilla and Astatula to Groveland and Mascotte in Lake County. No utility treats or tests that water. What’s in it depends on the well’s depth, its age and the ground around it. Neighboring wells can differ a lot.
Iron
Dissolved iron is clear when it leaves the well and turns orange-brown once it meets air. It stains sinks, toilets, laundry, driveways and anything the sprinkler reaches. The EPA’s guideline for staining is 0.3 mg/L, a very small amount.
Hydrogen sulfide
The rotten-egg smell. Bacteria in low-oxygen groundwater turn sulfate into hydrogen sulfide gas, and your nose picks it up at tiny concentrations. It also tarnishes silver and blackens copper and brass fittings.
Hardness
Calcium and magnesium dissolved from the limestone the water has moved through. It builds scale in water heaters and on fixtures, and it stops soap from lathering.
Sediment
Sand, silt and rust from the aquifer, an aging casing or a worn well screen. It clogs aerators and valves, and it shortens the life of every piece of treatment equipment behind it.
Bacteria
Coliform bacteria can get into a well through a damaged cap, a cracked casing or floodwater. They have no smell, taste or color, so only a laboratory test will find them.
Nitrates
Nitrates come from fertilizer, livestock and septic systems and reach wells through the soil. They’re a particular concern for infants. Like bacteria, they’re invisible, so a lab test is the only way to know.
Step 1 · Identify
How to tell what you’ve got
Your fixtures, laundry and nose tell you a lot before any test does. Match what you’re seeing to its likely cause.
Rotten-egg smell
If it’s only on the hot side, the water heater’s anode rod is often reacting with sulfate, and the fix is at the heater. If it’s on every tap, the sulfur is in the well water itself.
Likely causeHydrogen sulfide
Black stains or tarnished silver
Black streaks in sinks and toilets, darkened silverware or copper. Sulfur causes it, and so does manganese, which often travels with iron.
Likely causeSulfur or manganese
White scale, spots and poor lather
Crust on shower heads and faucets, spots on glassware, and soap and shampoo that won’t foam.
Likely causeHardness
Cloudy or gritty water
Grit in aerators, a sandy film in the bottom of the toilet tank, or water that stays cloudy after it settles. Cloudiness that clears from the bottom up is only air.
Likely causeSediment
It looks, smells and tastes fine
That’s good news, but it isn’t a clean result. Bacteria and nitrates don’t show, and a private well has no utility testing it for you.
Likely causeTest anyway
Dealing with the smell right now? Our guide on how to remove the sulfur smell from water covers what you can do today.
Not sure which one it is?
Most wells have more than one. A free in-home water test shows what’s there, so you treat the problem you actually have.
Step 2 · Understand
Why well water needs different equipment than city water
City water arrives already treated. The utility filters and disinfects it and tests it against federal limits before it reaches you. Well water gets none of that. The EPA doesn’t regulate private wells, so the whole job of treating the water happens at your house.
That’s why a well system is a sequence, not a single filter. Each stage protects the one after it, and the order matters as much as the equipment. Put a softener in front of untreated iron and the iron ruins the softener.
The right sequence and sizing come from your test results and your well’s flow rate. A system sized for city water often can’t handle a well’s iron and sulfur.
A typical well treatment sequence
Sediment filtration first
Take out sand and grit before anything else. Every later stage has small passages and moving parts that sediment wears out.
Oxidize and remove iron and sulfur
Air injection or another oxidizer turns dissolved iron and hydrogen sulfide into particles, and a filter bed traps them. This stage has to come before the softener: iron fouls softener resin.
Soften
Once the iron is gone, a softener removes the calcium and magnesium and protects the water heater and fixtures from scale.
Disinfect, if the lab test calls for it
Where a laboratory test finds bacteria, a UV stage at the end treats the water that has already been filtered clear. Clear water matters, because UV can’t work through cloudy water.
Step 3 · Treat
What Brita Pro does for well owners
A free water test in your home
We test your water at the tap and walk you through what we find. No equipment is recommended before that.
A system designed around the result
Which stages you need, in what order and at what size depends on your test, your well’s flow rate and how your household uses water, not on a catalog.
A price, then the install
You get a recommendation and a price for it. If your well doesn’t need a stage, it doesn’t go in.
For the equipment itself, see the Brita Pro Platinum whole-house system and our iron filter installation. Already have a well system that’s stopped working? See water softener repair.
Free water test
Book your free well water test
Tell us where you are and we’ll call you to set a time. Prefer to talk? Call (407) 634-4345.
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Central Florida homeowners
Central Florida homeowners
Request your free water test
Tell us what you’re seeing and we’ll call you to confirm a time.
Where we work
Well water treatment in Lake County and across Central Florida
We work out of Longwood and cover six counties. Lake County, where many homes rely on private wells, is a big part of that work.
We also treat well water across Seminole County, Orange County, Brevard County, Volusia County, Osceola County.
Questions
Well water filtration FAQ
How do I get rid of the rotten egg smell in my well water?
Start by finding where it comes from. If only the hot water smells, the water heater’s anode rod is usually the cause, and replacing it with a different type often fixes it. If every tap smells, the hydrogen sulfide is in the well water. Whole-house treatment oxidizes it, usually with air injection, and filters it out before it reaches your plumbing. How much treatment you need depends on how strong the sulfur is, so test first.
Will a water softener remove iron?
Only small amounts of dissolved iron, and it costs you. Iron coats the softener’s resin, and over time the softener stops softening. Well water with noticeable iron needs an iron filter ahead of the softener, so the softener only has to deal with hardness.
Do I need to test my well water?
Yes. Private wells aren’t regulated by the EPA, and nobody tests them for you. The CDC recommends testing a private well at least once a year for total coliform bacteria, nitrates, total dissolved solids and pH, and again after flooding or any change in taste, smell or color. Bacteria need a certified lab test; your county health department can point you to one.
How much does a well water filtration system cost?
It depends on what’s in your water. A well that only needs softening costs far less than one that needs sediment filtration, iron and sulfur removal, softening and UV. Two wells a mile apart can need completely different equipment. That’s why we test first and price the system after.
Is well water safe to drink in Florida?
Many private wells in Florida produce good water, but you can’t tell by looking. Bacteria and nitrates have no taste or smell. The only way to know is a laboratory test for bacteria and nitrates. Treatment for iron, sulfur and hardness makes water pleasant to use, but it doesn’t replace that test.
Do you work on wells in Lake County?
Yes. We work with well owners across Lake County, including Umatilla, Tavares, Mount Dora, Astatula, Groveland, Mascotte, Eustis, Leesburg and Clermont, and across Seminole, Orange, Brevard, Volusia and Osceola counties.