Well water treatment in Co. Westmeath

Private wells in Co. Westmeath

The 2022 Census counted 5,148 Westmeath households on a private well or other private supply, 15.1% of the county. Another 1,877 homes are on a group water scheme. The split is very uneven: 38.8% of homes in the Moate area rely on a private supply, against 13.7% around Kinnegad, 12.9% around Athlone and only 1.7% in the Mullingar area.

A household well is classed as an exempted supply, so no one checks it for you. That's why everything we fit on a Westmeath well starts from a lab report.

What's usually in a Westmeath well

Hard to very hard water

Virtually all of Westmeath sits on Carboniferous limestone. Older sandstone only shows at Sion Hill, north of Killucan, and in the low hills between Ballinahown and Moate. The Geological Survey of Ireland (GSI) has no county water quality report for Westmeath, so the figures here come from its reports on individual groundwater areas. Its report on the Inny area of north Westmeath, from Lough Sheelin to Lough Ree, puts water in the impure limestones at hard to very hard, typically 380 to 450 mg/L, partly worked out from similar rock elsewhere. Expect heavy scale in kettles, cylinders and showers.

Iron and manganese that come and go

In those same impure limestones the GSI found iron and manganese often swing between zero and above the drinking water limit, so one sample can look clean and the next can stain. The cause is muddy rock and slow-moving groundwater with little oxygen in it. Look for orange or brown staining, and black specks from manganese.

Rotten-egg smell

The same low-oxygen water lets hydrogen sulphide build up, and the GSI says it can reach unacceptable levels in the Inny area. It's the gas behind a rotten-egg smell at the taps and in the shower.

Karst ground

Around Lough Derravaragh, Multyfarnham and Fore the limestone is karst, with springs, a swallow hole and enlarged underground channels. Water tracing has shown flow crossing surface catchment boundaries. Lough Owel, the groundwater-fed lake that supplies Mullingar, was seriously contaminated with Cryptosporidium in 2003. That was a public supply, not a well, but it shows how vulnerable groundwater here can be. Only a lab test shows whether your well has bacteria.

What we usually fit in Westmeath

For most Westmeath wells the line runs in this order, with any stage left out if the report doesn't call for it:

1. Sediment filter to protect everything after it.
2. Iron and manganese filter, with catalytic carbon where there's a rotten-egg smell, sized for levels that swing. Both metals foul a softener if they get past.
3. Water softener sized for very hard water.
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, if you want it.

A recent example in the Mullingar area: a well with a rotten-egg smell, already fitted with a softener and UV. We added a catalytic carbon filter alongside them and replaced the UV lamp. On mains water and only bothered by limescale? See our water softener page for Co. Westmeath instead.

The well grant in Westmeath

Westmeath County Council's Rural Water section, part of the Environment Section at Áras an Chontae, Mullingar, handles private well grants. The forms are on the council's page, and queries go to 044 933 2120 or ruralwater@westmeathcoco.ie. Bring the council your lab report and our itemised quote, and check the current terms before any work starts. We'll tell you which tests to ask the lab for: iron, manganese, hardness, pH, nitrate, E. coli and coliforms at the very least. More in our well grant guide.