I am so sorry to hear this. Everyone above gave you excellent advice. Have you been able to get the water tested? Is your child acting ok? Sometimes illness such as diarrhea from ecoli. if that happens I would take the child to the doctor as soon as possible. Here is an article about keeping well water clean. Lets hope you all are young enough you could fight anything off. I have heard of people who were already ill getting sick from an animal in a well
http://www.waterandhealth.org/newsletter/private_wells.html
Many years ago, I lived in Costa Rica and we had no running water but a great well several hundred yards from our little hut
There was a round wooden cover that was always put in place after withdrawing water in a bucket from the well
One day, some children decided to throw a cat in the well. It must have been a terrifying death for the cat but we now had a contaminated well. What we did is called Killing the Well
After removing the dead cat, I spent 8 hours removing all the water from the well bucket by bucket. Water seeps back in, of course, but not as quickly as I was removing the water. I also put about a 1/2 gallon of bleach in the well when it was almost empty
It was a lot of work but the well was fine after and the children who thought it might be fun to watch a cat swimming around and around for hours were charged with digging a proper grave and talking about why this was such a mean thing to do and made promises to be kind
Long story but reminded me how precious clean water is for everyone and everything on the planet
Best to you and your family!
Hi and welcome to the Forum. HepCandMe gave you excellent information.
I just wanted to add that your family should boil your water to a goo, rolling, boil for at least one minute, then let it cool, before drinking it. I am so conservative, that when I have had to do this I boiled it for 3 + minutes. Also, after it cooled, befor drinking, I poured it back and forth between two containers (glasses, cups,etc) which supposedly improves the taste of the boiled water.
Good luck on getting the water cleared up.
Blessings for you and your family.
You can't get Hep C through drinking polluted water
You can get some other nasty stuff but Hep C requires blood to blood contact
From the CDC:
Transmission / Exposure
How is Hepatitis C spread?
Hepatitis C is usually spread when blood from a person infected with the Hepatitis C virus enters the body of someone who is not infected. Today, most people become infected with the Hepatitis C virus by sharing needles or other equipment to inject drugs. Before 1992, when widespread screening of the blood supply began in the United States, Hepatitis C was also commonly spread through blood transfusions and organ transplants.
People can become infected with the Hepatitis C virus during such activities as
Sharing needles, syringes, or other equipment to inject drugs
Needlestick injuries in health care settings
Being born to a mother who has Hepatitis C
Also, we are not doctors. We are a group of people who have or had Hep C who share our experiences and knowledge and provide support to one another
I feel very sad that you and your family have no access to clean drinking water. Here's a list of organizations who work to provide safe, clean drinking water to people all over the world:
http://greatist.com/health/27-water-crisis-orgs-follow-right-now
Please contact one of these organizations to see if they can help you