How VA Water Test Requirements Affect Your VA Loan

Veterans and military members can use a VA loan to buy a property that relies on a private well or some other non-public water source.

Connection to a public water system is not required. But lenders will need to verify the water meets health and safety requirements before you can close on the loan.

This is done in part to ensure the property you want to purchase is safe, sound and sanitary – a key mission of the VA home loan program’s Minimum Property Requirements.

Let’s take a closer look.

VA Well Test Requirements

Not every property has a connection to a public or community water and sewage disposal system.

Without a public connection, you're likely talking about having a well, either unique to the property or a shared well that serves multiple homes.

An independent VA appraiser will assess the Minimum Property Requirements as part of the appraisal process (the other part being the home's valuation). If you're looking at buying a property with a private or shared well, both the VA and lenders want to ensure the water is safe, which means getting it tested.

Community Water Supplies

For properties with community water supplies, testing documentation from the local health authority can suffice.

Private Well Requirements

For private wells, ideally, there’s a local health authority and one of their employees can handle the water quality test. If the water sample doesn’t come from inside the house, lenders may need to confirm with local authorities that an external water source is acceptable for testing.

If you’re not able to utilize a local health authority, then a commercial testing lab or another independent, third party can collect and deliver the water sample. The VA does not want the borrower or anyone else connected to the transaction to collect the sample or conduct the test.

Well water collection and testing is a cost VA buyers may need to cover upfront, but it’s possible to seek a reimbursement from the seller as part of your closing cost negotiations.

Requirements for Shared Wells and Cisterns

On a private well that’s shared among multiple property owners, VA lenders are typically going to have some additional requirements. Here’s a look at a few of the common ones:

• The well has to support each property with safe water at the same time
• A permanent easement that allows access for repairs to the well system must be in place
• There needs to be a formal well-sharing agreement among property owners

While it isn’t common, it’s possible that your dream home gets water from a cistern or a spring.

A cistern is basically a waterproof receptacle for rainwater. Either of these can be acceptable as long as they’re common to the area and a water test indicates they’re safe.

Lenders and the VA also want the veteran homebuyer to sign what’s essentially a hold harmless agreement acknowledging they’ll be using one of these water sources.