The Know Your H20 Team has been in working in the subject area of water, drinking water, private well water, and water treatment for a combined life experience of well over 130 years. The team includes 2 professional geologists that have worked in many different countries and on many different types of water quality issues.  In 1989, we started the homeowner outreach program as a way to educate potential new owners about their new rural water system, such as a well and spring, and by the mid- 1990s we were conducting education outreach programs for city water users speaking about Giardia, corrosion, and the potential need for point of use water testing.   On the subject of getting your water tested related to a real estate transfer, we have written a number of articles.

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Is Water Pollution Affecting Your Home and Health (pdf) (Published on Porch)?

When Buying a New Property, Remember: It’s Location, Location, and Water (Published on Haven)

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With respect to buying a home, the process breaks down as follows:

1. Get educated – What is the Source of the Water ?  Is the water coming from a regulated community water supply system or from a Private Water Well or Spring or a surface water source and/or a public water system.  Read the disclosure documents related to the sale of the home and take a drink of the water, look for signs of a problem, such as: staining, odors, evidence of pipe corrosion,  look at the water standing in the back of the toilet tank, and look for the presence of point-of-use or whole-house water treatment systems.    Most importantly, hire a high quality and reliable home inspector. 

a. If the water is coming from a community water system get a copy of the most recent Consumer Confidence Report from the water supplier, do not assume that the water is fine and ok to drinking.  (Use the EPA Safe Water Widget)

b. If the water is coming from a private water well or spring water – these sources are sometime not regulated or poorly regulated, you will need to visit the source and attempt to get information about the well construction, yield, etc.  We strongly recommend that you conduct a Water Well and/or Spring Inspection that includes a physical inspection of the well, inspection of the related systems, such as pumps, water filters, water treatment systems, and the piping, and most importantly GET THE water quality tested.  If you never used a water well, we recommend that you request a free pdf copy of our educational booklet “Our Drinking Water”.

c. We recommend ordering a Neighborhood Hazard Report for the Property and area around the home.

2.  Getting Tested and Inspected -   Meet with a home inspector and determine the appropriate inspection for your area (Radon, mold, standard inspection, Lead, Asbestos, plumbing, well yield testing, etc.). Get the drinking water tested, if there is a water treatment system, get the "Raw Water" and the "Treated Water" tested and get the necessary testing done that is specific to the water treatment system – Again, we recommend using a professional and a certified laboratory and sometimes specialized testing like the Arsenic Speciation Test or the Problem Check is Needed.

When the water sample is collected,  , it would be wise to field test for pH, conductivity, temperature, Total Dissolved Solids, ORP, and in the case of city water Chlorine and Chlorine Residual.  Also, depending on the age of the home it is critical that you determine if the home contains lead piping.

Many lenders only recommend or require testing for total coliform, E. coli., nitrate, nitrite, and maybe lead.  To be honest, this is typically not adequate.   To attempt to better manage the unknown risk of missing a contaminant, we recommend the use field screening testing of the water during the sampling process, certified laboratory testing using a third party professional and a certified laboratory, and conducting some informational water testing (We Recommend the NTL Quick Series)  for other contaminants of concern.  

The certified testing process will use third-party samples and the chain-of-custody process to ensure the water quality testing data is free of bias, accurate, and true with the testing done by third party certified water testing laboratories.  Learn more about the chain-of-custody process Here (photo on site is from when I worked in Aruba).

Find a Certified Laboratory in Your State.

More on this topic – Here (VA Program) and Here (FHA Program).

3. Take Action and Make the Effort – Based on the testing results, it may be necessary to take some action and you may need to seek advice from another professional. 

In closing, I had one client that purchased a home from a plumber that used a private well and the buy only got the water tested for coliform bacteria, nitrate, nitrite, and lead.  The water testing showed the system had no problems.  The home had a rather interesting water treatment system that included chlorine injection and water storage tanks and a filter.   After signing the documentation, the homeowner contacted me because the water tasted salty and had a strange odor.  For the record, the well was not located in an area near the ocean, in fact, the home was located in Pennsylvania.

The problem:   The well was influenced by saline water which can be a problem for the region where the home was built.   Because the home inspector collected a water sample of the treated water and did not test the untreated water and did not field test the water for pH, conductivity, ORP, and total dissolved solids the problem was not identified. Also, if the homeowner would have tasted the water,  this problem would have been identified immediately.  

The conclusion:  Homeowner had to install a whole house reverse osmosis system with an additional storage tank to manage the level of lithium, sodium, and chloride in their drinking water.  The additional cost was over  $ 10,000.00.

So please: Get Educated and Informed, Get Tested and Inspected, and Then Take Action.

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