ISSUE

Who is responsible for maintaining private residential wells in Connecticut? Do state laws establish minimum output levels and water quality requirements for private residential wells? Does the state require existing wells to be tested as a condition of selling a home?

SUMMARY

Local health districts and departments oversee private residential wells, and well owners are responsible for maintaining the well and testing the quality of their own drinking water. While the law requires public water supplies to be regularly tested for contaminants, private wells are not tested unless the (1) homeowner arranges for the test or (2) local health department or Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) tests the well as part of an investigation.

We were unable to find any state laws or regulations requiring a minimum output level (e.g., a specified number of gallons per minute) for private residential wells. But there are standards for drinking water quality established by the Department of Public Health (DPH) and federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

State regulation requires water quality tests for newly constructed wells, but neither state law nor regulation requires an existing well to be tested as a condition of selling a home (Conn. Agencies Regs., § 19-13-B101). Instead the law requires a homeowner to notify the purchaser that information about well testing is available on DPH's website. But failure to provide the notification does not invalidate the property's sale (CGS § 19a-37).

Although the law does not require existing wells to be tested as part of a home's sale, banks providing the mortgage for a home purchase typically require such testing.  If the well is tested by the seller or purchaser within six months of the home's sale, the law requires the environmental lab that conducted the test to report the results to DPH and the local health department within 30 days after completing it (CGS § 19a-37 and Conn. Agencies Regs., § 19-13-B101).

Additional information on private residential well requirements is available on the DPH's Private Well Program website.  

WATER QUALITY TESTING

State regulation requires water quality tests for newly constructed private residential wells, but neither state law nor regulation requires such testing after the wells are initially constructed (Conn. Agencies Regs., §§ 19-13-B101 and 19-13-B102).

By law, a local or district health director may require an existing private residential well to be tested for arsenic, radium, uranium, radon, gross alpha emitters, pesticides, herbicides, or organic chemicals if he or she reasonably suspects the presence of these contaminants in the groundwater (CGS § 19a-37). Therefore, after the well is initially constructed, water quality testing occurs only when the (1) homeowner arranges for the test or (2) state tests the well as part of an investigation for suspected contamination.

DPH sets water quality standards for private wells, called “action levels,” to protect well users from health risks. In most cases, these standards mirror the EPA's “maximum contaminant levels” for public system drinking water. According to DPH, a small number of contaminants have stricter action levels than federal standards because these standards are either (1) outdated or (2) based on detecting and removing the contaminant from a public water supply and not a private residential well.

Attachment 1 lists DPH guidelines for private well testing, including the (1) types of contaminants to test for, (2) testing frequency, and (3) rationale for the test. Attachment 2 lists DPH's current action levels for various well water contaminants.

Attachment 1: DPH-Recommended Water Tests for Private Residential Wells

Source: DPH Publication No. 24: Private Well Testing, May 2013

Attachment 2: DPH Action Levels for Private Residential Wells

Source: DPH Publication: Action Level List for Private Wels, February 2013

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