It can be a great idea to test your home’s water quality annually or when it starts to taste or smell bad to ensure that your water is adequately protected from potential contamination.

This is a Health Task!

It’s essential to be cautious about what is in your water and be sure it’s clean. You know your family will be ingesting and bathing in the water, and you want to make sure it’s safe.

Tasks can be done by: Homeowner, Handyman, Well Water Testing Company, Well Company, or Plumber

Task Steps

Step 1 – Inspect Your Home’s Water Quality

• Investigate to see how long it’s been since you’ve last had your water tested.
• If you don’t know when the water was last tested, this would be an excellent time to test your water and bring your records up to date. You can keep track of these dates in the future by putting them in the task notes!

Step 2 – Test Your Home’s Water Quality

• Whether you have a well, public water, a spring, or a cistern, the same process for a water test should apply. Here is a link to read more about testing your water: https://www.epa.gov/ccl/types-drinking-water-contaminants
• Test your water by taking a water sample.
• When testing the water yourself, you can buy a water test kit or take a sample to your local county health department.
• Follow all of the directions thoroughly if you’re testing your water at home with a test kit.
• If you decide to take a sample into your local health department, here are a few things to keep in mind.
• Make sure to use a clean jar to put your sample in, remove your aerator if present, make sure it’s clean around the spigot, and let your water run for at least 30 sec before taking the sample.
• Tool List: water test kit

Step 3 – Take Action As Needed

• If your test comes back and you have clean water, document the date in your notes section to know when you last tested in the future.
• If you’re on Public Water and your test comes back with issues, contact the water department and let them know what you found.
• It doesn’t matter if you have a shared well or it is your private well. If your test comes back with issues, you will need to correct the situation. Here is a link for more info for homeowners with wells https://www.cdc.gov/healthywater/drinking/public/water_quality
• If you’re on Well, Cistern, or Spring Water and your test comes back with issues; you will need to disinfect the water system ASAP.

If you want to learn more about testing your water, here are some additional links:

https://www.cdc.gov/disasters/wellsdisinfect
https://www.cdc.gov/healthywater/drinking/private/wells/testing

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Also, check out another interesting article to help keep you safe – Top 6 PPE Needed Around the Home!