To answer your question, Yes, allowing for contact time. But it isn't a simple question. As noted, carbon filters can breed bacteria. Replace the filter(s). IF IN DOUBT, THROW IT OUT.

As for advice,consult with a water quality professional.You have a situation that could be side-stepped by an intelligent adult, but bringing a child into such a situation becomes questionable on many levels. A long term solution is needed, and will require careful assessment by both vendor and purchaser.
Potable water test results will be required as a first step.

Do keep in mind that not all bacteria are harmful, some are even helpful. Most are of no consequence to humans. So be sure to distinguish on that basis.

"Do keep in mind that not all bacteria are harmful, some are even helpful."

True. A potability test might reveal such...if not identified, safe by omission.

The bleach approach is a CYA, but not for a baby that's open on both ends.

Alphonse,
when you say "allowing for contact time" do you mean let the bleach sit for a while so it can do its job? that is what I get from it. so how long would that be? half hour seems plenty?

"If you can't boil water, you can disinfect it using household bleach. Bleach will kill some, but not all, types of disease-causing organisms that may be in the water. If the water is cloudy, filter it through clean cloths or allow it to settle, and draw off the clear water for disinfection. Add 1/8 teaspoon (or 8 drops) of regular, unscented, liquid household bleach for each gallon of water, stir it well and let it stand for 30 minutes before you use it. Store disinfected water in clean containers with covers."

That's from the US.EPA website. Note "some but not all". This is at variance with my understanding of sodium hypochlorite but recall this isn't a simple thing. Greater amounts of chlorine of any sort lead to breakdown products with scary chemical names. This treatment is best undertaken at cool temperatures without light (both heat&light accelerate breakdown).

I think a much better suggestion would be to look into getting and installing a UV water treatment device in your water line.

The water passes through a chamber that has a quartz-glass cylinder inside it. Inside the cylinder is a special fluorescent tube that gives off UV light. The UV light is powerful enough to kill nearly all types of bacteria that might be found in your water.

The UV system can easily disinfect ALL of your water as its being used, without the need for you to remember to add the bleach and wait.

While the add bleach and wait technique may be work if you are camping or staying in a backwoods cabin, or coping with an emergency, to suggest that a person do that as a matter of course for all water to be consumed in their house seems to me to be somewhere between foolish and irresponsible.

Bacteria are ubiquitous, and most of them are simply harmless cohabitants, or even beneficial partners, in our existence.

Even many e-coli bacteria are merely troublesome. A few, however, are truly nasty.

But even though e-coli can be deadly there are other coliform bacteria that are "just there". Finding bacteria in a well is often insignificant, as any amount of ground level dirt that sneaks into a well will almost certainly carry coliform with it. Health departments routinely differentiate between e-coli and other coliform bacteria in their testing because the difference matters.

It's almost impossible to drill a well without carrying a little bit of topsoil into the well itself. After drilling the well is sealed with bentonite (that is, bags of dry clay are poured around the well casing below the topsoil level, below the level of bacterial activity, which prevents seepage from ground level.)

Shocking the well will kill any bacteria that found their way into it. Rechecking will determine whether it's a recurrent problem.

Personally, I'd be more concerned with waste from industrial pollution- we had a dry cleaner here who was dumping carcinogens into a floor drain, and that made quite a plume in the acquifer for a time. It pays to have an agressive municipal attitude towards water quality when people are willing to cheat ... and there's unknown, but very significant, amounts, of heavy metal contamination in different parts of the state due to years of mining. Seems like half of Montana is an EPA superfund site anymore.

Good luck,

Mark

What about adding a chlorine feeder to the well? It drops chlorine into the well depending on when the pump runs. But then you have to watch for high residual chlorine coming into the house which is also bad. The charcoal filter should remove the chlorine as long as it isn't really high, but you would still be washing clothes and bathing in it.
Another option is to use a chlorine injection pump with a contact tank and a carbon filter to remove the chlorine. Then you get sterilized water but no chlorine. Cost is probably a couple thousand installed.