Testing of well water depends on location

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Testing of well water depends on location

By Steve Orr and Matthew Daneman, USA TODAY

Douglas Wagner bought a home in the Rochester, N.Y., suburb of Webster last year, contingent on the well water being judged safe.

Standard testing showed the water was fine and the Wagner family moved in. Then, he learned that nearby wells had arsenic problems.

Wagner’s well hadn’t been checked for the toxic metal because state and local regulations do not dictate how private wells should be tested. After testing for and finding levels of arsenic above the 10-parts-per-billion federal and state regulation, Wagner faces the expense of hooking up to the public water supply at a cost of more than $1,800, said Edward Marianetti, executive director of the Monroe County (N.Y.) Water Authority.

“Everybody should be assured that if a well is tested before the sale of a home, it’s fully tested,” Wagner said.

Only three states — New Jersey, Oregon and Rhode Island — require well water quality testing when a property is sold, according to the National Ground Water Association. Eighteen states require water be tested when a new well is built.

“If one uses a private well … they are taking some responsibility themselves for the possibility there may be some problems in the water,” said Andrew Doniger, Monroe County health director.

Having a uniform requirement for states would make little sense as water contamination issues in one part of the country, such as arsenic in the Northeast, often are rare in the rest of the nation, says Cliff Treyens of the National Ground Water Association.

More than 51,000 private wells in New Jersey have been tested since its first-in-the-nation law went into effect in 2002, and 12% of them were found to be contaminated with at least one pollutant, according to the state Department of Environmental Protection website.

At least three counties in New York’s Hudson Valley have laws requiring extensive testing of well water when property is sold. In Rockland County, roughly two thirds of the samples fail, said Thomas Micelli, county environmental health director.

Doniger said the levels of arsenic found in the Webster wells, which have been as high as 40 parts per billion, do not present an immediate health threat.

The subject of increased regulation of private wells has come up at meetings of New York health officials, said Doniger, but nothing has been done statewide. “There is no consensus that the benefits outweigh the costs.”

Orr and Daneman report for the Rochester (N.Y.) Democrat and Chronicle.

STATE LAWS ON TESTING

• Eight states require testing at upgrade or maintenance of the well: Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Ohio, Wisconsin.
• Six states require testing at the initial pump installation: Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Mississippi, Ohio, Wisconsin.
• Five states require testing when the pump is replaced: Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Mississippi, Wisconsin.
• Three states require testing at the time of property transfer outside of what may be in disclosure laws or other laws: New Jersey, Oregon, Rhode Island.

Source: National Ground Water Association