Selling or Buying a Home With a Well in Oregon

The required test

When a home with a well that supplies household water is sold or exchanged, Oregon law requires the seller to have the water tested once an offer is accepted. Three tests are required:

• Arsenic
• Nitrate
• Total coliform bacteria

The test cannot be waived, even if the buyer agrees to skip it. Results tied to a sale stay valid for one year.

Where the results go

1. The seller, or someone the seller names, has the samples tested at a lab.
2. Within 90 days of getting the results, they go to the buyer and to the Oregon Health Authority.
3. The Authority's Water Systems Data Sheet goes in with the lab slips. It needs the well's OWRD ID number and a description of the property.

The well ID label

Every well drilled, deepened or altered in Oregon after 1996 should carry a metal well ID label. If an older well has none, the owner must get one at the time of the sale or within 30 days after it. Labels are free from OWRD and are fixed to the casing about six inches above the ground.

What's covered and what isn't

• A shared well on a neighbor's land counts if the property includes a right to use it, such as an easement.
• A capped well on a lot with no house does not need the test.

Buyers often want more than the required three tests, along with a look at the pump and the flow. A well company can check the pump, the pressure tank and how much water the well delivers before closing.