The NJ Private Well Testing Act: What Sellers, Buyers, and Realtors Need to Know

The PWTA (P.L. 2001, c.40, N.J.S.A. 58:12A-26 et seq.) works through the real estate contract. Every contract of sale for a property whose drinking water comes from a private well must include testing of that water as a condition of the sale. Both buyer and seller must receive the results and sign an acknowledgment that they reviewed them before closing.

For rentals, the landlord must test the well at least once every five years and provide a written copy of the results to each rental unit, and to each new tenant, within 30 days of receiving them.

• Who pays for a sale test: the statute leaves it to the parties. Buyer and seller decide in the contract who arranges and pays, like any other inspection item.
• Who pays for a rental test: the landlord arranges and pays.
• What it costs: a Harvard case study of the program estimated about $1,250 per well. One large certified lab's published 2024 fee schedule lists $1,149 per well in northern counties, including Union, Essex, and Morris, and $939 in most southern counties, sampling included.
• Only certified labs count: samples must be collected and analyzed by an NJDEP-certified laboratory or its authorized representative. Home test kits and store-bought strips do not satisfy the law.

One more detail that surprises people: the sample is taken from the untreated water, before any softener or filter. The law measures what the well actually produces, not what your equipment turns it into.

Under the current rules (N.J.A.C. 7:9E-2.1), every PWTA sample statewide is analyzed for:

• Total coliform bacteria, with an E. coli test if coliform is found
• Nitrate
• Iron, manganese, and pH
• Lead and arsenic
• All volatile organic compounds (VOCs) with New Jersey drinking water standards
• Gross alpha particle activity, using a 48-hour rapid test designed to catch short-lived radioactive elements such as radium-224
• Three synthetic organic compounds (1,2,3-trichloropropane, EDB, and DBCP), required since March 3, 2019
• Three PFAS compounds (PFOA, PFOS, and PFNA), required since December 1, 2021

Two parameters depend on the county. Samples from Atlantic, Burlington, Camden, Cape May, Cumberland, Gloucester, Monmouth, Ocean, and Salem counties must also be tested for mercury. Samples from Bergen, Essex, Hudson, Hunterdon, Mercer, Middlesex, Morris, Passaic, Somerset, Sussex, Union, and Warren counties must also be tested for uranium. Every well in the Jersey Water Pros service area (Union, Essex, and Morris counties) falls in the uranium group.

The list has grown over time. A rule amendment published in September 2018 expanded arsenic and gross alpha testing statewide and added the uranium requirement, after earlier rounds of PWTA data showed those problems extended beyond the counties first required to test. All told, the panel covers more than 30 parameters of health concern.

The PWTA has produced one of the best statewide pictures of well water anywhere in the country, and the numbers are worth knowing before you list or bid on a well-served home.

• In the program's first four and a half years, 51,028 wells were tested. NJDEP's report found 12 percent failed at least one health-based standard. The most common failures were gross alpha (2,209 wells), arsenic (1,445), nitrate (1,399), fecal coliform or E. coli (1,136), VOCs (702), and mercury (215).
• Through 2018, with 111,011 wells tested, the failure rate was 14.5 percent. An analysis of 2002 to 2014 data found the most common exceedances were gross alpha, in 10.1 percent of tested wells, and arsenic, in 8.9 percent. A 2024 review in the journal Water Policy put the running total near 134,000 wells tested (roughly a third of the state's private wells) with 15.7 percent exceeding at least one health-based standard, and reported that since PFAS testing began, more than 12 percent of tested wells have exceeded a standard for at least one PFAS compound.
• Arsenic failures cluster in the west-central counties. In the 2002 to 2007 data, exceedance rates hit 20 percent in Mercer, 18 percent in Hunterdon, and 17 percent in Somerset. New Jersey's arsenic standard is 5 micrograms per liter, twice as strict as the federal limit, and results in the Highlands region led the state to extend arsenic testing to Sussex and Warren wells back in 2008.
• Nuisance problems are even more common. In the same NJDEP report, 29 percent of wells exceeded the recommended iron limit, 19 percent exceeded the manganese limit, and 45 percent had pH outside the recommended range. That is the kind of water that stains fixtures, scales appliances, and tastes off.

Wells are concentrated where you would expect. Sussex County alone accounted for 5,681 of those first 51,028 tests, the most of any county, while Hudson County recorded one. The farther west and north you go from the cities, through Morris toward Sussex, Warren, and Hunterdon, the more homes are on wells.

A failed PWTA test does not kill a deal. The law does not require treatment and contains no penalty for a bad result. NJDEP simply forwards failed results to the local health department within five business days, and the parties work it out in the contract. In practice, that usually means a treatment system, a price credit, or both. The right fix depends entirely on which parameter failed.

• Hardness, iron, manganese, low pH: a water softener is the standard fix for hardness minerals, and oxidizing or filtering media handle iron and manganese. These are the everyday problems behind stained sinks, scaled water heaters, and spotted glassware.
• Coliform bacteria: an ultraviolet disinfection system (look for units certified to NSF/ANSI 55 Class A) treats the water continuously. A pro should also check the well cap and casing, since bacteria can point to a wellhead problem.
• Nitrate: typically a reverse osmosis unit at the kitchen tap. RO units are certified under NSF/ANSI 58, and each certified unit carries specific contaminant reduction claims, so look for one certified for nitrate.
• Arsenic and lead: point-of-entry adsorption media or point-of-use systems certified to NSF/ANSI 53 or 58 for reduction of arsenic or lead.
• PFAS: the EPA points to activated carbon, ion exchange, and reverse osmosis, and says to look for certification under NSF/ANSI 53 or 58 specifically for PFAS reduction. EPA also stresses that any filter only works if it is maintained on schedule.
• Gross alpha and uranium: radiological results are typically addressed with ion exchange or reverse osmosis, sized by a water professional after a closer look at the numbers.

One caution from the research: a survey of New Jersey households whose PWTA test showed high arsenic found 28 percent took no action at all. A failed test is only useful if someone actually fixes the water.

The PWTA turns water quality into a closing condition, so treat it like a title search, something you start early rather than discover in the final week. A few practical points:

• Turnaround is measured in weeks, not days. One large certified lab lists a standard one-week turnaround for the full panel. If any parameter fails, a resample visit and renegotiation can add weeks more.
• Sampling has real logistics. Coliform samples must reach the lab within 30 hours, and the rapid gross alpha method runs on a 48-hour clock, so the sampling visit has to be scheduled. It is not a mail-in kit.
• A failure is a negotiation item, not a dead deal. The law forces disclosure, not treatment. Getting a treatment quote in hand quickly keeps the deal moving and gives both sides a concrete number to negotiate with.
• Results stay private. Labs report to NJDEP and failed results go to the local health authority, but the state keeps addresses confidential and publishes only de-identified, aggregated data.
• Know your county's list. Buyers ask why uranium is on a Morris County report and mercury is not. The county lists above answer that in one glance.

Ordering testing during attorney review, instead of after inspections, leaves room for a resample and a renegotiation without moving the closing date. Waiting until the final weeks does not.

If you own, are buying, or are listing a well-served home in the Union, Essex, or Morris county area, start by getting real numbers on your water. For a private well, that means testing through an NJDEP-certified laboratory. Only certified-lab results satisfy the Private Well Testing Act, and only lab-grade results are a sound basis for health decisions on arsenic, PFAS, gross alpha, or bacteria. Jersey Water Pros can help you arrange certified-lab testing, and when the report comes back, we will walk you through what the numbers mean for your fixtures, appliances, and water quality.

If the results show a problem, we design the fix: softening, iron and manganese filtration, UV disinfection, reverse osmosis, or arsenic and PFAS reduction systems certified to the applicable NSF/ANSI standards. Every installation is performed by a licensed New Jersey master plumber.

Request a free in-home estimate from Jersey Water Pros and go into your sale, purchase, or lease knowing exactly where your water stands.

Reading about water quality is useful right up to the point where you need your own numbers. On city water, start with the annual water quality report your utility is required to publish. It lists what was detected and at what level, and it is free. On a private well, nothing is measured unless you order it, and only a laboratory certified by NJDEP produces results that count for a real estate transaction or a health decision. We help homeowners arrange that testing and read the results, and we do not run our own testing or use a countertop demonstration to sell equipment.

Once the numbers are in front of you, the treatment decision gets simple, because each problem has a proven fix and a certification that proves the equipment does what it claims. For what this guide covers, that usually means well water filtration. You can also check your town’s water profile for the utility serving your street and its published hardness, or size a system yourself with our softener size calculator.

Jersey Water Pros is based in Summit and serves Union, Essex & Morris County, NJ. Every system we install is performed by a licensed New Jersey master plumber, permitted and inspected the way the state requires, and quoted in writing before any work starts. If your water turns out not to need treatment, we will tell you that instead of selling you something.