2 Houses Same Well - One Has Brown Water Other is Clear

Piping in both...?

I'd say pipes too, but maybe one has filter other doesn't?

Ok update, we ALL have brown water. Father in law is a civil engineer. Said we have an excess of ground water/runoff right now, turn a hose on and let it run an hour?

It sounds like a shallow dug well. They are susceptible to all sorts of surface impacts. If it is sediment, running the water might help. Sharing a pressure tank suggests you are in an area that doesn't experience freezing. A system water filter as close the well as possible might help, or one at each house.

Appreciate that. The pressure tank is also underground - we definitely get freezing weather here in PA. Water has definitely cleared up overnight but is still a bit cloudy.

I've seen shared private water systems but nothing like you describe with a buried external pressure tank so I'm kinda out. My filter suggest still stands. With a shallow wells, you are susceptible to contamination from agriculture, road salt, etc. as well as sediment - I would be testing it regularly.

Got it, thanks. To clarify, the pressure tank is underground in a cement "room" so I guess that is what keeps it from freezing?

This morning both houses have clear water.

Both houses were built in 1987. Maybe code was different then, but both houses share a well and pressure tank.

I would like to get the water tested but seems all the labs are shutdown around here due to coronavirus.

Thanks all.

JBG420 said:

Got it, thanks. To clarify, the pressure tank is underground in a cement "room" so I guess that is what keeps it from freezing?

This morning both houses have clear water.

Both houses were built in 1987. Maybe code was different then, but both houses share a well and pressure tank.

I would like to get the water tested but seems all the labs are shutdown around here due to coronavirus.

Thanks all.

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Our well was drilled in 1983 and wasn't allowed in a pit.

If that dirty water well was mine I would not drink 1 sip before the well was at least sanitized and then probably boil until a lab could test.

There are procedures available online on how to shock (sanitize) a well with bleach. The only one I have ever focused on is for drilled wells but assume there is something similar for shallow wells.
Interesting that they would put the workings in a concrete pit in the ground; I've not seen that before. I have only seen a shared well on a pair of permanent; i.e. non-seasonal dwellings, once. It could make for some interesting maintenance, liability, and cost-sharing discussions between neighbours.

Maybe a long shot, but our water came up brown after the big earthquake. Took a day to settle out. It's never done it before and hasn't since, even with all the aftershocks.