Copyright The Boston Globe
Homes dependent on private wells for potable water are not covered by state or federal standards, like houses connected to public water. Without required testing or reporting, families and businesses relying on wells are on their own to check for drinking water contaminants they have no reason to suspect are present. These residents are at risk of chronic exposure to health-threatening contaminants that are often odorless, tasteless, and colorless, like the per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances commonly known as PFAS, or “forever chemicals.” Following a petition by the Conservation Law Foundation, in 2020 the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection established enforceable drinking water standards for PFAS, which are toxic in even minute amounts. Four of the six New England states now have enforceable standards in place, but these — and many of DEP’s other drinking water standards — don’t help private well users who do not test. There’s a common-sense solution: require testing upon the transfer of property. I undertook just such an approach in New Jersey in 2002 when, as the state’s environmental commissioner, I began implementing the Private Well Testing Act. Massachusetts should follow New Jersey’s lead. From 2020 to 2022 RCAP Solutions, with support from the Health Foundation of Central Massachusetts, examined 502 private wells in towns with high concentrations of well-dependent households. The study found that nearly one-third of the wells either exceeded state standards for contaminants or otherwise presented potential health risks. Some of the most prevalent contaminants were naturally occurring, including total coliform bacteria, radon, arsenic, and manganese. Exposure to these substances can cause severe health issues like gastrointestinal illness, skin damage, cardiovascular disease, and cancer. The limited state data on the number of Massachusetts residents drinking water from wells with unsafe levels of PFAS, specifically, is cause for even greater alarm. A University of Rhode Island study of 101 private wells across 12 Cape Cod towns found that about 46 percent of wells tested were contaminated by at least one PFAS compound, and 28 percent were contaminated by two or more. Bills now before the Legislature (S.585/H.900) would begin to close the gap between public and private well water by developing a set of statewide health-based standards and requirements to test water quality on properties with private wells. Properties would be required to be tested at the time of a real estate transfer, much like existing tests for other contaminants such as radon and lead. By establishing these minimum standards, Massachusetts could also collect data, identify patterns, and promote voluntary testing so more residents could be protected. This model works. In New Jersey, the law I helped implement requires that private well water be tested for 43 parameters when a property is sold. Despite early concerns from the real estate industry, implementation has proven to be manageable and cost-effective. The reliance on property transfer as the primary trigger for private well testing has made it easier to finance both testing and remediation, because the cost is usually split between the buyer and seller and is miniscule in financing the sale of even a modestly priced home. Since its enactment, New Jersey’s law has resulted in the testing of more than 100,000 wells used for drinking water and helped identify tens of thousands of wells with unsafe levels of contaminants. These figures are expected to increase, as requirements have recently been broadened to include more contaminants. The law also includes provisions that go further than the current Massachusetts proposal, including requiring landlords to test private well water every five years and notify tenants of the findings in writing. It also authorizes local health departments to notify nearby landowners when contaminants are discovered at a property. The Legislature should make sure that Massachusetts households relying on wells for drinking water have protection from dangerous contaminants. All families deserve to know what is in their water, regardless of the source.
