HB 5184 Summary

• Repeals and replaces Section 19a-37 of the general statutes effective October 1, 2020, establishing comprehensive water quality testing and notification requirements for private and semipublic wells in Connecticut.

• Requires laboratories and firms to report water quality test results for private residential wells and semipublic wells to both the local public health authority and Department of Public Health within 30 days, but only if the test was conducted in connection with property sale, exchange, transfer, purchase, or rental.

• Prohibits regulations from requiring water quality tests as a condition of property sale or rental, and prevents withholding of certificates of occupancy based on test results unless maximum contaminant levels exceed public water supply standards listed in the Public Health Code.

• Authorizes local directors of health to require testing for arsenic, radium, uranium, radon, gross alpha emitters, pesticides, herbicides, and organic chemicals when reasonable grounds exist to suspect their presence in groundwater.

• Requires property owners supplied by public wells or semipublic wells to notify all tenants and lessees within 24 hours of receiving test results indicating water exceeds maximum contaminant levels or state drinking water action levels.