Does treating a well kill iron bacteria?

A treatment can knock iron bacteria back, and the chemistry decides how far. Chlorine mostly burns the surface of the biofilm the colony lives in, which is why bleach-treated wells so often re-foul within months. Chlorine dioxide penetrates and strips biofilm, per its manufacturer's published data, and that reaches the colony instead of its skin.

Treating a well with a disinfectant is also called shock chlorination.

Either way, expect an established infestation to take effort: a heavy colony can consume a full dose, which is what the bacteria retest after the treatment catches, and a second round finishes what the first one opened up.

Iron bacteria arrive with the groundwater, so no treatment is forever; the win is stretching clean months into clean years with the right chemistry and a dose sized to the well.

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