Plastic-free well?

We have been getting estimates to dig a well on our property. Each estimate includes PVC pipes and pressure tanks that have copolymer polypropylene bladders to hold the water. It seems like there should be better options, but maybe I'm just assuming that these are bad options.

Does anyone have helpful knowledge about this?
Do these plastic products contaminate the water?
Are there good options for a plastic-free well?
Is copper piping and no pressure tank an option?

The intent of digging a well is to have cleaner water than the water district provides, but it feels like the available options will contaminate any drinking water we pull up from the ground. Has anyone found safer options for a professionally dug well?

Thanks in advance!

Just use stainless (316 as more resistant than 304) casing and piping. For pressure tank there will always be some rubber bladder, but if your property has a high enough hill you could install a tank of your choice that would provide some water pressure.
I use stainless for all water and sewer pipes. I got them when stainless was cheap, but now the prices are outrageous so I imported some more at a price of 35% of the same pipe in the stores.

Hi Gilligan,
The short answer is that you cannot get a well very easily without plastic, and I doubt you could get a water system that acts the way you expect at all without plastic (in other words, running pressurized water).

I can't get into the plastic answer too much without talking about toxic gick, which is only to be spoken of in the Cider Press forum. I will say this though, the harder the plastic is, the less is sheds. Also, I personally would be more worried about nasty things from agriculture and industry getting into the water more than having it run through plastic pipes. A good filter can help there.

Back to how could this be done. In a modern well, the casing is generally 4-6" in diameter with a an electric pump attached to a long bendable plastic pipe. Trying to use non-plastic pipe would be difficult to install and difficult to service because they tend to be deep, and you have to haul it up to replace or service the pump. Doing this with 150ft of straight unbend-able pipe is not practical. Neither is unscrewing pieces as you go. So then you get to wells where you don't use an electric pump in a deep well. If you have a high water table, you might be able to use a hand pump with 15-30ft of metal pipe. Or maybe even an old fashion well with a bucket on a rope.

But maybe we are putting the cart before the horse. Maybe you need a hole and not a drill bit. Do you need a well at all? Or do you just need clean drinking water? Do you have a metal roof by chance? Could you collect rain water off a metal roof through metal gutters into either a wooden or metal tank for storage? Then filter it just in case, and I don't think there would need to be plastic involved.

While you are getting theses estimates have you asked about what are the alternative to PVC and copolymer polypropylene bladders?

Maybe these folks are trying to make things as cheap as possible with the estimates.

To answer your question Have you asked if copper piping is an option?

To me a pressure tank is a essential to having running water. Put simply, it's what saves your well pump from overworking itself to the point of failure.

Here georgejettson said:

It depends on where you are, well water in my area eats copper pipes. Pex will also be cheaper.

https://www.reddit.com/r/HomeImprovement/comments/omxyrn/pex_or_copper_pipes_for_well_water/

Thank you all for sharing your thoughts! The subject of drinking water and water in general seems to be more complicated that it should be. We would like a well to have cleaner drinking water than the district's water that we sometimes pay more than $300 a month for, which is more than we've ever paid for water. We would also like the well for watering all of our food plants and trees. However, spending $25-30k for well water that runs through and sits in plastic doesn't necessarily solve our drinking water concerns.

We have asked the well diggers about alternatives, but neither will use copper (or other) pipes, and won't offer an alternative to the pressure tank with the plastic bladder. I have seen some pressure tanks with rubber, but each one states the lower chamber bladder is a plastic blend.

Unfortunately, no, we don't have a metal roof. That is a very interesting thought though. We will need to replace our roof in the next five years, and since you mentioned a metal roof, we went ahead and got a quote. It's about $48k for a metal roof - $20k more for metal than shingled roof, but should last much longer.

It may make more sense to invest in the roof that will need to be replaced anyway, and collect the rainwater... we would need a much larger water holding system though.

Thanks again for your insightful replies, we appreciate each one. :)