We will often talk about the bacteria that make odors in New England’s waters. It is important to understand some things about these bacteria so that you do not become alarmed.

Sulfate reducing bacteria is very common in New England. It is not harmful to humans. A customer might ask you, How do we know that it is not harmful? It does not like the temperature of 98.6 degrees, so it cannot live in the human body. It does like the colder temperature of well water and thrives nicely there, sticking to well casings and the walls of plumbing. It makes the rotten egg odor we know.

Iron reducing bacteria also likes the colder temperature of well water, and it is known for making a musty or swampy smell, plus for leaving rusty colored jelly-like slime on toilets and dog bowls.

An important point to make for customers is that the normal lab bacteria test WILL NOT PICK UP THESE ORGANISMS, because the lab bacteria test incubates the water at 98.6 degrees for 24 hours and then looks to see what grows. Sulfate and iron reducing bacterias will not have grown during that time.

We do have a test for both of these families of bacteria. They are expensive and take a month to fully incubate, so we normally just go by our noses and visual clues to determine if they are present in the home.