Something wrong with your water?

Start with what you see, smell or taste. Each page helps you find the cause and the fix.

• Black specks or stainsBlack specks or black stains in well water usually mean manganese. Do the rub test, check for sand, and learn the health limits and the fixes that work.
• Sand or grit in waterSand or grit in well water can come from a new well, a bigger pump, a worn screen, or a dropping water level. Here's how to find the cause and fix it.
• Slime in the toilet tankOrange, brown, or black slime in your toilet tank usually means iron or sulfur bacteria in the well. Pink slime is an airborne bacteria. Here's how to tell.
• Pink stains or slimePink rings in toilets, showers, and sinks come from an airborne bacteria, Serratia marcescens. Penn State says it isn't a well water problem. Here's the fix.
• Faucets sputter airSputtering faucets on a well mean air or gas in the lines. It can be a pressure tank, a low water level, or methane. Here's how to tell and when it's urgent.
• Cloudy or milky waterCloudy well water is usually air bubbles, fine sediment, or hardness. A simple glass test tells you which one, and when cloudiness means test for bacteria.
• Blue-green stainsBlue-green stains mean corrosive well water is dissolving copper from your pipes. Here's how to test for copper and lead, flush your taps, and fix the water.
• Orange or brown stainsOrange and brown stains in sinks, toilets and laundry usually mean iron in your well water. A glass test and a lab test tell you which kind and which fix fits.
• White crust on fixturesWhite crust on faucets, spots on dishes, and scale in the kettle mean hard water. Learn how hard is too hard, what a softener costs, and its downsides.
• Low water pressureLow well water pressure can come from a clogged filter, the pressure tank or switch, a worn pump, or a well that can't keep up. Here's how to narrow it down.
• Smells like rotten eggsA rotten egg smell in well water is hydrogen sulfide gas. Find out if it comes from your water heater, your plumbing, or the well, and how to fix each one.
• Smells like sewageA sewage smell in well water can mean septic contamination. Stop drinking it until a bacteria test comes back, then check the drain, the well, and the fixes.
• Smells mustyA musty or swampy smell in well water usually means iron or sulfur bacteria. Here's how to check, when to test for coliform, and how to treat the well.
• Tastes metallicA metallic taste in well water usually means iron, manganese, or copper from corrosive water. Here are the quick checks and which metals you can't taste.
• Tastes saltySalty well water usually means chloride from road salt, a water softener, or natural salt in the rock. Find the source, what to test, and the fixes that work.