In my previous life I was a chemist. Seriously, I have an MA in chemistry. Now I use this great analytic mind of mine to sell homes.
Every so often I run into a home that is off the public system. They have a well or a shared well. This is OK (no water bills!) but one should be careful. As a homeowner you want to know that the water you are drinking is clean. Where do we fit in?
Well we are the agents representing the buyer or the seller. As a buyers agent I want to make sure my clients are going to drink good water. Furthermore many lenders have requirements for testing well water. I am sure I can hire someone to take the tests but I have always taken my own samples.
You just go to the kitchen faucet and take off the aerator. Then run the water for at least 5 minutes and fill your clean sample bottle. If you are testing for coliform bacteria you need to put the samples in a cooler or the fridge. Do not FREEZE them.
In my area I test for coliform bacteria, arsenic, nitrates and nitrites. In other areas you would test for other things.
Now for a side story. I just tested a well and had it come up positive for bacteria. My buyers husband asked me why I didn't put the bleach down then test? I wanted to hit my head against a stone wall. I didn't want to kill the sample then test it. I wanted my clients and their children to be drinking safe water. I am not just about selling homes.
I carefully explained this. Then I told them how the seller could try to purify the well. If they were lucky it would work but I would take my sample a week later to make sure nothing was growing. I also explained that a water filtration system might be able to be put in but that we would first try to make the well safe.
OK what happens when the water doesn't come back good?
This is usually the sellers problem but a reverse osmosis system will often take out most impurities and make the water safe to use. It depends on what the impurity is? How much of it there is? After the purification system is put in the water would need to be retested.
Just one more story. In the small town of Centerville, Idaho there was a housing community that hooked up the drinking water to irrigation water. Some people had dug there own wells others had filtration systems. Others felt what didn't kill you made you stronger. On the new year DEQ turned off the irrigation water and many (200 household?) had to dig a well or do without water. I didn't believe the story when I first found out but I checked it out with the Congressman's office and DEQ and it was true.
Municipal systems are tested periodically but private wells are often only tested around the sale of property. Personally if my family was drinking the water I would test it every year.
As real estate agents we do not need to know how to test the water but we do need to know that wells need to be tested.
Sometimes, due to ground water contamination, a good well becomes bad. Just as I do not want to sell a home with an uncorrected mold problem I do not want to sell a home with bad water. You can always call the Department of water quality for guidance. Your inspector should also have ideas on what you need to do.
Just cause the water tastes good doesn't mean it's good. I had some of that yummy water that just failed. I filled up my water bottle because I was thirsty. That water was very nice tasting. I was pretty confident that the water would come back good.
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