Private well water testing after drilling

After a well is drilled, the water still has to be shown fit to drink. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says private well owners are responsible for the safety of their own drinking water. The Safe Drinking Water Act does not regulate private domestic wells. EPA also reports that a U.S. Geological Survey study of about 2,100 private wells found that water from about one in five contained at least one contaminant above a human-health benchmark. That is a reason to test a new well, not a prediction about your well.

Testing is not the same step as licensing the driller. A licensed driller can construct a well that meets construction rules and still leave you with water you should not drink until a laboratory report says otherwise. Construction standards try to keep surface water and sewage out of the hole. They do not guarantee the chemistry of the aquifer. Kansas even warns that some areas have unusable saltwater from old oilfield brine and that wells should not be constructed there. A completion report that shows a deep hole is not a water-quality report.

Ask who collects the sample and which laboratory runs it. Illinois's private-water page points owners toward accredited laboratory information from the state environmental agency. Ohio gives local boards of health the power to decide how many inspections are needed to judge whether a private water system is safe to drink. Michigan's guidance says the local health department is part of the permit and inspection path, and sampling may be required by the permit. Iowa tracks water test reporting in its wells information system along with construction permits. Follow the county or district instructions for when to sample. Sampling too soon, before the well is developed and disinfected under the contractor's procedure, can produce a result that does not describe the finished well.

Ask for a written list of what will be tested. The required list is local. Do not invent a panel from a national brochure if your health department has its own form. If the well will serve a business or many people, it may be a public water system instead of a private well. Ohio's statute draws the private-system line at fewer than fifteen service connections and an average of fewer than twenty-five people a day for at least sixty days. Other states use their own definitions. A public well has a different approval path and different sampling.

Keep the laboratory report with the well completion report and the permit. New York requires the driller to give the owner a copy of the completion report and says there is no standard depth, because geology and water quality both matter. The completion report tells you how the well was built. The laboratory report tells you what was in the water on the day of the sample. You need both if you later sell the house, treat the water, or complain about construction.

If a result is unsatisfactory, go back to the health department that issued the permit before you buy treatment equipment. Treatment that is installed on a private water system may itself require a credential. Tennessee licenses water treatment installers separately from drillers and says a plumber's license is not enough. Ohio's contractor registration covers people who work on private water systems for hire. A second sample after any correction is more useful than a guess about filters.

None of this is a drilling procedure. Do not try to deepen, shock, or rebuild the well from a general article. Ask the licensed contractor and the permitting agency what the failed sample means for this well.