Water Quality Testing
Water Quality & Well Water Testing in North-Central CT
Certified laboratory testing for private wells and older plumbing, scheduled with your home inspection.
Certified laboratory testing for private wells and older plumbing, scheduled with your home inspection.
Water quality testing matters most for two kinds of homes: houses on a private well, where no utility is testing the water, and older houses where lead can come from the plumbing itself. Jim Angell, CMI® collects the samples, often during your home inspection, and sends them to a certified laboratory. Results typically come back within a few days and are compared to EPA action levels, so you can make decisions before your inspection contingency ends.
Many homes in the towns Jim serves rely on a private well, in Granby and East Granby, West Simsbury, Suffield, Somers, Tolland and Stafford, and in the outlying parts of Avon and Farmington. When you buy one of those homes, the well and the water it produces become your responsibility.
A comprehensive well water panel looks at bacteria, which can enter a well from the surface or a nearby septic system; nitrates, which come from fertilizer and septic effluent; and metals such as arsenic, which occurs naturally in Connecticut bedrock and can show up in drilled wells. The Connecticut Department of Public Health has reported elevated arsenic and uranium in private wells in parts of the state. Learn more in Do CT Residents Need to Test for Arsenic or Uranium in Their Wells?
Homes on public water in Windsor, Hartford, West Hartford, Manchester and elsewhere can still have a lead problem, because the lead comes from the home's own pipes, solder and fixtures rather than from the water supply. Lead solder and plumbing components were common until 1986, which is why testing is recommended for every home built before then.
Jim uses first-draw sampling: the sample is the first water out of the tap after it has sat in the pipes, which shows how much lead the plumbing adds to your water. See The Importance of Testing for Lead in Your Water.
Buyers in Simsbury, Avon, Farmington, Windsor and Granby often look for water testing before they close. In the well towns it is about bacteria, nitrates, arsenic and uranium; in older neighborhoods on public water it is usually about lead. Either way, testing before closing tells you whether you need a treatment system, a plumbing change or nothing at all.
Schedule Water TestingAdd water testing when you schedule your home inspection, so one visit covers the house and the water. If the home has a well, it almost certainly has a septic system too; our guide to septic systems in Connecticut explains that part. Buying in one of these towns? See our pages on home inspections in Simsbury, Granby and Windsor.
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