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Test well water at least annually for coliform bacteria and nitrate. Photo: Holly Payne

 

Ensure your drinking water is safe.

If your drinking water is not from a private well, click here to continue.

Landlords and occupants with private drinking water wells have sole responsibility for ensuring that their homes are supplied with sufficient water that is safe to drink. Most private wells provide clean drinking water as long as they are properly constructed and maintained. Without proper care, drinking water can be contaminated, which can lead to added costs and serious health risks.

Ideally, a well draws from deep underground water that is free of bacteria, viruses and chemical pollutants. The safest wells are drilled by design to let in only groundwater.

Find out if your well is free of contamination by conducting a water test every year. Testing well water is important because stormwater pollution not only enters streams and lakes but can also reach the groundwater supplying your well.

 

 

 

I pledge to...		I will do this:	I'm already doing this:
	Test my well water at least annually.
	Inspect my well periodically, including before my annual water test.
	Disinfect my well after any repairs or if the well cap is removed.
	Keep hazardous chemicals like fuel, engine fluids, paint, fertilizers and pesticides away from my well.
	Replace underground storage tanks with above ground tanks. Remove tanks no longer in use.
	Keep animal wastes away from my well.
	If I buy or rent a home using well water, seek complete information on the well.
	If I sell my home, pass on all information about the well to the new owner.