Ammonia in well water?

[Cichlid_Man]

Hi folks,
My sister wants an aquarium in the worst way, but she is getting ammonia readings coming from her private well. 3ppm!
I double checked it and it is true. She has no farm animals or anything so I can't understand this. It is a private well so the county will not help.
Outside of not being able to have fish, apparently this is a health issue I am certain.
Anybody know of anything that can be done to purify well water of ammonia???

Thank you!

[Nautilus29]

I would have her call her local water treatment senter or wtever they are called. And see what they say.

[wijnands]

Perhaps a lot of fertilizer is used on the land near that well?

[Only Registered Users Can See Links.]

From a WHO report:

Water
Natural levels in groundwaters are usually below 0.2 mg of ammonia per litre. Higher natural
contents (up to 3 mg/litre) are found in strata rich in humic substances or iron or in forests (8).
Surface waters may contain up to 12 mg/litre (1). Ammonia may be present in drinking-water
as a result of disinfection with chloramines.
The presence of ammonia at higher than geogenic levels is an important indicator of faecal
pollution (5). Taste and odour problems as well as decreased disinfection efficiency are to be
expected if drinking-water containing more than 0.2 mg of ammonia per litre is chlorinated
(9), as up to 68% of the chlorine may react with the ammonia and become unavailable for
disinfection (10). Cement mortar used for coating the insides of water pipes may release
considerable amounts of ammonia into drinking-water and compromise disinfection with
chlorine (10).
The presence of elevated ammonia levels in raw water may interfere with the operation of
manganese-removal filters because too much oxygen is consumed by nitrification, resulting in
mouldy, earthy-tasting water (8). The presence of the ammonium cation in raw water may
result in drinking-water containing nitrite as the result of catalytic action (11) or the
accidental colonization of filters by ammonium-oxidizing bacteri

[Only Registered Users Can See Links.]

[Cichlid_Man]

Thanks for that post wijnands.
I will pass this info on to my sister.

It is farm land she has so there is a strong chance of fertilizers seeping into the well..
Thanks.