I'm reminded of this scene the cinematic masterpiece, "Cabin Boy," in which some sort of sleezy person tells the cabin boy that "She'll clean your pipes nine ways to Sunday, know what i mean?" And the cabin boy (a grown man in the role of a naif) says, "I have absolutely no idea what you mean." And then later on, he's shown standing on a hilltop and yelling, "These pipes are clean!!" at the top of his lungs.
Now, these people were talking about something other than the literal water plumbing pipes I'm talking about. But the exuberant declaration of clean pipes is pretty much how I feel. I can't tell you how much, how long and how frustratingly we've struggled to get clean potable water flowing from our faucets. I remember now how innocent I was, way back in September, when I finally got the new well drilled, and I thought– ha ha– that we would have clean safe water, like, THAT DAY. !!! What a chump! I didn't realize that it would take weeks and weeks of testing and retesting to get the well itself to show up clean of bacteria. And then… ages… to get the crud out of the pipes transporting that clean water through our house. I was formulating plan B– compare the price of installing a chlorinator with the price of replumbing the entire house– when I decided to try it one more time.
When we went to Virginia we loaded the pipes up with double vinegar and double bleach, and the we left for five days. 24 hours is what they usually recommend, but we thought, well, what the heck. Maybe this will work. When we came home, and opened all the taps, the most horrible crud you've ever seen flowed out. Brown, gray, gritty, nasty, repulsive. It flowed and flowed until gradually it got a little clearer, and clearer.
Some days later (you're supposed to wait a bit), I decided to try the test– I did the reverse osmosis system and the regular kitchen tap separately, thinking that if at least the R.O. was clean we could fricking stop buying bottled water. And amazingly, they both passed!! No more stressing about boys drinking from the bathtub tap, or swallowing the bathroom sink water, or whether it's better to rinse out a sippy cup with questionable water or leave it grungy. It's clean!! We are now a part of the developed world again, and it's a great thing.