Frequently Asked Questions

Do you have any issues or concerns about the water or do you need the testing for a real estate transfer?

If you are buying or selling a home and need water testing:

There are no regulations in Virginia requiring private water supplies be tested at the time of home or property sale but testing is part of a standard contract. Please review the certified lab list. Testing for total coliform and E. coli bacteria is standard practice; lead and nitrate are also recommended and required by some lenders. Well completion reports for wells constructed after 1990 are public records and available through local health departments. Ask your lender what is required.

If you are having issues with the water, please contact the coordinator.

Want to learn more about our drinking water clinics, offered in about 70 counties every year?

We work through local Extension offices and test for bacteria (total coliform and E. coli counts/MPN), nitrate, sulfate, iron, manganese, lead, copper, arsenic, fluoride, pH, total dissolved solids, hardness, sodium, barium, chromium, cadmium, uranium, selenium, aluminum, zinc, silver, chloride, nickel, strontium, cobalt, vanadium, molybdenum, titanium, tin, calcium, magnesium, silicon, potassium and phosphorus. Visit our list of upcoming programs, which allows you to locally pick up a sample kit and drop off water samples locally. The cost is $70 and payable online (grant-funded subsidies are available if needed). Water test results take 4 weeks.

If there isn't a program scheduled near you, we do have an overnight shipping (UPS or FedEx) option (must be shipped the day before we have a program scheduled. Please contact the coordinator for more information or to request a sample kit.

Unfortunately, no. It is virtually impossible to test for every possible contaminant. If one were to test for all 94 contaminants that EPA has on its drinking water list for public supplies, it would likely cost upwards of $2000-3000. But, if a water test is shown to be free of bacterial contamination (total coliform and E. coli are ABSENT) and concentrations of other health related contaminants are low as well (e.g. nitrate, lead, arsenic) that is a great start. The purpose of the Virginia Household Water Quality Program is to get private water supply users to think about their water quality, test their water and understand how to maintain and care for their water system. Routine testing and regular maintenance go a long way toward helping well and spring users know what is normal for their water and keeping their water safe. If participants have additional concerns based on local land uses or symptoms of their water, we can help them figure out what else to test for.

For low pH, particularly if you have copper or other metal pipes and these metals levels showed up higher than recommended in your first draw or flushed samples, you will want to consider installing an acid neutralizing filter. These work by passing water through calcite (calcium carbonate; similar chemically to limestone) or a combination of calcite and magox (magnesium oxide) to increase pH. Even with plastic pipes, there are likely metal fittings and fixtures throughout your system that can be a source of lead, copper, nickel, zinc or other metals. Note that low pH isn’t the only driver of corrosion. Signs of corrosive water can include pitting, pinhole links, metallic taste, or blue-green staining and may indicate higher risk of high levels of lead, copper, and other metals present in plumbing.

Most people are familiar with the health concerns associated with lead, particularly for children. The corrosivity of water is driven by several factors – particularly low pH. If water has low pH, we see a correlation with lead content (and copper too, for that matter). Lead rarely occurs naturally in water; it usually is leached into household water from plumbing or pipe materials. Lead can cause irreversible damage to the brain, kidneys, nervous system, and blood cells. It is a cumulative poison, meaning that it will accumulate in the body until it reaches toxic levels. Young children are most susceptible: mental and physical development can be irreversibly stunted by lead poisoning. Lead may be found in household drinking water in homes built prior to 1986 with lead solder, or in new homes with “lead-free” brass components, which could contain up to 8% lead until January 2014 or from galvanized steel components in the well itself. There is no safe level of exposure to lead. The MCL goal is 0 mg/L, and the Health Action Level (HAL) is 0.015 mg/L and the American Association of Pediatrics suggests water supplies for children contain less than 0.001 mg/L (1/1000 of a part per million) or 1 part per billion lead. If lead is present in your drinking water, addressing the corrosiveness (acidity) or increasing the pH of your water by installing an acid neutralizing filter may help the problem. Alternatively or additionally, consider installing an activated carbon filtration or reverse osmosis unit designed to remove lead at the faucet where drinking and cooking water is obtained. If lead in the flushed sample decreases significantly, another option is to flush pipes for at least 1 minute to remove water with higher lead concentrations before drinking or cooking, and always drink and cook with cold water.

Coliform bacteria are not dangerous overall, but are a warning sign. The MPN number on your report shows the amount of bacteria found in the small bottle with the white cap. The number can range from 1 to greater than 2419, so it gives an idea of how many bacteria are present, although we want to see absence of bacteria/no bacteria in drinking water.

Private wells and well water quality are not regulated beyond initial construction and approval for use, so any action is up to the owner. Do you know how old the well is or how deep or when it was last inspected? If the well is older and hasn't been checked you may consider getting the well checked by a professional well driller to figure out how the coliform is getting in and consider shock chlorination. The well casing should be intact and extend at least a foot above the ground surface, the ground should slope away from the casing, the well should have a sealed sanitary well cap, and a grout seal (below the surface- would need to be checked by a well driller, and would be required on a well constructed after 1990). A well driller can check all of these things for you. Shock chlorination, a process of circulating chlorinated water through your plumbing and well can work, but we recommend you also take steps to prevent future contamination by making sure the well is properly constructed and maintained. Here are two resources about shock chlorination you may find helpful:

• Virginia Household Water Quality Program: Shock Chlorination: Disinfecting Private Household Water Supply Systems - VCE (PDF)
• Shock Chlorination of a Private Well - Montana State University (VIDEO).

If coliform are present, we check for E. coli, which indicates a more serious result, that human or animal waste is entering the water supply. If E. coli are found in a water sample we recommend the same actions above in terms of well construction AND also recommend either boiling water for at least a minute and allowing to cool for drinking or cooking or using another source of water until the problem can be addressed. Both of these organisms are considered “indicator organisms” which means if we find them, it means that other more dangerous organisms could also enter the water supply (such as giardia or cryptosporidia).

Coliform bacteria are not uncommon in well water samples, we find them in about 40% of those we test and E. coli in about 8-10%. Ideally, both types of bacteria are absent. Long term treatment options for bacteria are a UV light, which will destroy most microorganisms in your water or a chlorination system.

Total coliform and E. coli bacteria results may also include "MPN", or "most probable number", which is a statistical estimation of how many bacteria were found in 100 mL of the sample. This number can range from 0.3 (which is less than 1, or ABSENT) to upwards of 2,419, which is represented as ">2419" or "too numerous to count". The MPN can give an idea of the extent of contamination of a water supply, but, ideally, no bacteria of either type should be present in drinking water.

Shock chlorination is a process of mixing a chlorine solution through the well and home plumbing to kill bacteria and some other microorganisms that are present. We recommend calling a water well systems provider (licensed well driller) to have them shock chlorinate the well for you, as you need some special equipment and need to know some important details about the well such as diameter, depth and static water level to determine the correct amount and concentration of chlorine to use. The cost for shock chlorination can vary depending on the driller and distance of your home from their company. For more information about shock chlorination, see VCE publication Shock Chlorination (PDF) or this helpful video from Montana State University

The EPA recommendation (20 mg/L) for sodium in drinking water is very low and is targeted toward the most at-risk segment of the population (those with high blood pressure or heart problems). We recommend you figure out how much sodium you are consuming per day from your household water (if you drink it and cook with it) and then consider that amount with regard to the sodium in the rest of your diet. For comparison, a slice of white bread has 150 mg of sodium, as does a serving of 15 potato chips or a 12 oz serving of Gatorade. If concerned, contact your physician. Moderate quantities of sodium in drinking water are not considered harmful as long as they are factored into the recommended daily sodium intake from food (around 2,300 mg per day). Excessive sodium has been linked to high blood pressure, heart and kidney diseases. For those on low-sodium diets, both the American Heart Association and EPA suggest 20 mg/l as a maximum level for sodium in drinking water. Water softening by ion exchange increases sodium levels in water. If you have a softener and would like to reduce sodium in drinking water, consider softening only the hot water or bypassing drinking water lines. Reverse osmosis will also remove sodium from drinking water.

Have a licensed well driller (water well systems provider) come check the well and make sure it is up to code, especially if it was constructed before the well regulations went into effect in VA (1990). Consider asking friends and neighbors who they have had good experience with. Do not allow anyone who is not a licensed well driller to work on your well! VAHWQP has a program in collaboration with Virginia Water Well Association called WellCheck. Basically, it's a partnership with the well drillers organization to connect homeowners who want to learn more about their wells and/or troubleshoot any problems with licensed well drillers who can provide inspections. Learn more about the WellCheck program and see the list of participating drillers to reach out to let them know about your planned program. All drillers on this list are familiar with VAHWQP. Any driller can sign up via the website. You can also contact Virginia Water Well Association or DPOR (Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation) or your local health department for a list of well drillers in your area.

Virginia Tech is currently conducting some research about PFAS in private water supplies but we are not able to offer this testing as part of the drinking water clinics. There are many different types of PFAS chemicals, at last count over 16,000, and there is limited understanding of the risks that most of these poses to human health. At present, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) has proposed National Primary Drinking Water Regulations to establish legally enforceable levels or Maximum Contaminant Levels (MCLs) for municipal water supplies for six PFAS including perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS), as well as perfluorononanoic acid (PFHxS), perfluorobutane sulfonic acid (PFBS), perfluorononanoic acid (PFNA), and hexafluoropropylene oxide dimer acid (HFPO-DA or GenX) as a mixture. You can read more about EPA’s process for investigating PFAS impacts and potentially establishing associated regulatory limits under the Safe Drinking Water Act here: Questions and Answers: Drinking Water Health Advisories for PFOA, PFOS, GenX Chemicals and PFBS | US EPA. Because PFAS chemical types are often proprietary, the primary sources of many of these chemicals are unknown. The regulatory landscape for PFAS is changing regularly for municipal water supplies and is challenging at present. It is very likely that some types of PFAS will be regulated in municipal water supplies in the near future through the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA). As you know, the SDWA does not apply to private well water systems. Technologies to remove PFAS from drinking water are evolving and still being investigated. You can access the EPA’s Drinking Water Treatability Database (TDB) for information on the currently best available treatment processes for controlling contaminants including PFAS.

These filters, while effective, usually are activated carbon and remove some heavy metals, chlorine, and some tastes and odors. Check the filter box to find out what is actually removed. These filters must be changed according to directions or may actually become a source of contamination (they "fill up" and become totally covered with contaminants, which can then slough off into the water).

This symptom is usually caused by iron or manganese bacteria, which are harmless to human health, but can be a nuisance. The red-brown slime is a by-product produced by the bacteria. They can be removed with chlorine and a scrub brush, but may return if they are in other parts of the water system. Shock chlorination may address the problem or iron or manganese removal from the water with a treatment device may help.

The smell is likely caused by hydrogen sulfide gas, which gives water a "rotten-egg" odor or taste. While it is difficult to test for hydrogen sulfide gas in water, it is easily detected by smell, especially in hot water. Most humans can detect it at 1 ppm in the air. Hydrogen sulfide gas occurs naturally as a byproduct of sulfur-reducing (or sometimes iron- or manganese-reducing) bacteria. These bacteria feed on small amounts of sulfur (or iron or manganese) in water and thrive in low oxygen environments common in groundwater wells. These bacteria may cause an unpleasant taste or odor, but they do not present a health threat to humans. Another possible source of hydrogen sulfide is a chemical reaction in the water heater between the aluminum corrosion control rod and the water. Sometimes changing this rod to magnesium will fix the problem. Finally, it can be from the geology, often in areas with shale underground. In our lab, we test for sulfate which can be connected to sulfur smell and hydrogen sulfide but isn't the same as hydrogen sulfide. It is very hard to test for in water, because it's a gas and basically escapes into the air immediately.

A few questions to consider: Do you notice the smell more in the hot water, or the same in the hot and cold water, and if it is a new occurrence or has it been happening for a while? Have you made any changes to the hot water heater? There is more information in our publication Virginia Household Water Quality Program: Sulfate and Hydrogen Sulfide in Household Water (PDF).

Radon can be present in well water, but the water concentration would need to be about 4000 pCi/L in the water to be equivalent to 4 pCi/L in the air, which is the level at which human health may be at risk (it's harmful to us when we breathe it, and it doesn't stay in the water once the water comes out of the faucet, so consuming water with radon in it is not the concern). The risk of having radon in the water is that it will aerate and we will breathe it in, so it’s important to consider both the radon entering the house in the air/from the ground through the foundation AND in the water. The best way to truly understand total radon risk is a long term (about a month-long) air test in the lower level of the home, which should capture the airborne radon from all sources, including water The Virginia Tech Environmental Health and Safety Rando Information page lists several labs and sources of the long-term air test.

Recently, Virginia Dept of Health has released more resources about radon in water.

Our hope is to offer these clinics in every county at least every other year. If this is something you are interested in, please let your Extension office know and spread the word about the program!

For well drillers, consider contacting the Virginia Water Well Association or your local health department for a list of local businesses. For work on your well, look for someone with a Water Well Systems Provider certification. For water treatment specialists, look for those who have a Water Quality Association certification. The best way to find reputable local people is to talk to friends and neighbors about their personal experiences.