Well water treatment in Co. Clare

Private wells in Co. Clare

The 2022 Census counted 5,191 Clare households on a private well or other private supply, 11.2% of homes. Group schemes matter even more here: 8,935 homes, 19.2%, are on a public or private group water scheme. The Killaloe area relies most on wells, with 38.9% of homes on a private supply, against 12.0% around Ennistimon. Around Kilrush only 5.8% are, but 46.4% of homes there are on group schemes.

Nobody monitors a household well for you. It's classed as an exempted supply, so testing it and treating it is down to the owner, and the EPA advises a test at least once a year, ideally after wet weather. That's why every system we fit in Clare starts with a lab report.

What's usually in a Clare well

Bacteria, the biggest issue

The Geological Survey of Ireland (GSI) calls faecal bacteria the most important groundwater quality issue in Clare. It found it in raw water at 10 of 15 public groundwater supplies, and says that in certain areas more than half of private wells are likely to be polluted at least some of the time. Large areas have bare rock or thin soil, and north and mid Clare are karst, where flow is rapid and the limestone does little to clean the water. Poor septic tanks, farmyards, landspreading and badly sited wells do the rest. See our guide to bacteria in well water.

Iron and manganese

In 1998 and 1999, 21 of 53 private supplies in the grant scheme, 40%, had iron or manganese problems, or both, mostly natural. The GSI reports high iron in the muddy Ballysteen limestone and in the shale and sandstone areas, and in the west Clare shales iron and manganese can exceed the limits. Around Mountshannon it found high manganese at a quarter of the sites sampled, one at 13 times the limit, and high lead in 3 of 24 supplies, linked to a fault in the rock. More in our guide to manganese in well water.

Hard on the limestone, softer in the west

A limestone plain runs from the Ennis area north to the Burren and east to Scarriff, and groundwater there is hard: the GSI measured 132 to 387 mg/L on the limestone. Softer water is found in west Clare and upland east Clare, and sandstone and shale samples gave 163 to 219 mg/L. Some springs also run cloudy, and coastal west Clare has naturally higher chloride, the salty part of seawater. Nitrate is generally low, averaging 7 mg/L in the GSI's sampling.

What we usually fit in Clare

Most Clare wells need the core line below, in this order, with stages left out if the report doesn't call for them:

1. Sediment filter to protect everything after it, and to catch the cloudiness some springs give.
2. Iron and manganese filter, because both foul a softener if they reach it.
3. Water softener for the hard limestone water of north, central and lowland east Clare.
4. UV disinfection if the report shows E. coli or coliforms, fitted last on the main line so the water reaching the lamp is clear.
5. Reverse osmosis at the kitchen tap for drinking water, and worth having if your report shows lead.

On mains water and only bothered by limescale? See our water softener page for Co. Clare instead.

The well grant in Clare

Clare County Council's Rural Water Services, at the Buttermarket Building on Drumbiggle Road in Ennis, runs the domestic well grant (ruralwater@clarecoco.ie, 065 6866115). Check the council's current conditions before any work starts, then bring it your lab report and our itemised quote. We'll tell you exactly which tests to ask the lab for: iron, manganese, hardness, pH, nitrate, E. coli and coliforms at the very least, plus lead around Mountshannon.