New Haven Register (New Haven, CT)
Lawmakers advance bill requiring well testing on Conn. home sales
Efforts to cut down on well-water contamination in Connecticut through mandatory testing and increased accountability for polluters advanced swiftly through the legislature’s Public Health Committee on Tuesday.
The committee passed two pieces of legislation related to wells, the most controversial of which would require testing for more than a dozen contaminants and other factors on private wells whenever the property is sold or transferred to another owner.
That proposal has drawn scrutiny from the real estate industry as well as Republicans on the committee, who argued that the expense of testing would increase the cost of homes and should be left up to the decisions of the-10 buyers and sellers.
“By no means do we intend to inhibit or interfere with the sale of homes, we just think that at least periodically people ought to know what are in these wells,” said state Rep. Jonathan Steinberg, D- Westport, who co-chairs the Public Health Committee.
The Democratic-controlled committee passed the legislation along a partyline vote, sending it to the House floor with promises to attempt to ease the concerns of Realtors.
The second piece of legislation, a bill that would require polluters to pay for the costs associated with replacing or repairing private wells contaminated by their actions, proved less controversial and was passed by the committee without opposition.
Well water contamination has become an increasing concern for Connecticut residents in rural areas without access to public water supplies, state public health officials told lawmakers during a hearing earlier this week.
Common sources of contamination include road salts that leach into the ground, toxic PFAS chemicals that are used in firefighting foams and even arsenic that can be linked to apple orchards.
There are nearly 322,000 private wells in Connecticut that provide drinking water to nearly a quarter of the state’s population, according to the Department of Public Health. A 2016 study by the U.S. Geological Survey found that the state has a “very high prevalence” of corrosivity in untreated groundwater.
“This legislation will enable DPH to merge private and semipublic well water data with existing public drinking water system data to determine trends and locations with drinking water quality and quantity needs,” Department of Public Health Commissioner Manisha Juthani said in testimony submitted to lawmakers.
Opponents of mandatory well testing, however, noted that testing is already a common practice during home sales, and that forcing the cost of the tests onto buyers at a time when inventory is already limited could put some houses out of reach for middle and lower-income residents.
“When you sell a house, that is part of the negotiations, you have it checked and if it’s bad they decide if it’s coming off the price or who’s paying for it,” said state Rep. Lezlye Zupkas, RProspect. “I don’t believe it's the government's place to be in between the buyers and the sellers.”
The legislation approved by the committee Wednesday did not place any restrictions on the sale of homes with contaminated well water, and Steinberg said it would still be up to the buyers and sellers to determine what to do if contamination is discovered through testing.
Steinberg and other Democrats argued that many first-time homebuyers — especially those moving from larger cities — may not be aware of the risks of contaminated well water, and that discovering the issue early can make it more affordable to fix the problem.
“When they’re saying you don’t have to fix anything in your home to be able to sell it, there are a lot of unintended consequences of these sales that happen so fast,” said state Rep. Eleni Kavros DeGraw, D- Avon.
The committee did not take action on a third bill addressing water contamination that was discussed earlier in the week. That legislation would require state regulators to weigh in on the location of solar facilities that could impact public water supplies.