Well water testing around Orillia: free kits, records, buying

Public Health Ontario tests private well water for E. coli and total coliform bacteria for free. In the Orillia area you pick up a sterile bottle at the Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit office at 120-169 Front Street South and drop the sample at the Public Health Ontario laboratory at 750 Memorial Avenue. That free test covers bacteria only. For nitrate, sodium, arsenic, uranium, hardness and other chemistry you need a private accredited lab. When you are buying a rural home or cottage, also look at the well record, the type of well and how much water it actually delivers.

Where do you get bottles and drop off samples?

The Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit (SMDHU) and Public Health Ontario (PHO) are separate agencies. The health unit hands out bottles and helps get samples to the lab; PHO does the testing and issues results. This is SMDHU's current list.

Location	Address	Pick up bottles	Drop off samples
Orillia (health unit)	120-169 Front Street South	Yes	No. This office does not accept samples
Orillia (PHO lab)	750 Memorial Avenue	Yes	Yes, Monday to Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 4:45 p.m.
Barrie	15 Sperling Drive	Yes	Monday to Thursday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Gravenhurst	5 Pineridge Gate	Yes	Monday to Thursday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Midland	A-925 Hugel Avenue	Yes	Monday to Thursday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Cookstown	25 King Street South, Unit 2	Yes	Monday to Thursday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. (no drop-off 12:30 to 1:30)
Huntsville	34 Chaffey Street	Yes	Monday to Thursday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. (no drop-off 12:30 to 1:30)
Collingwood	280 Pretty River Parkway	Yes	Monday to Thursday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. (no drop-off 12:30 to 1:30)

Bottle pick-up at health unit offices runs Monday to Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. There are no Friday drop-offs at health unit offices, and SMDHU says not to drop samples at the Orillia health unit office or at 80 Bradford Street in Barrie.

The timing rule is strict. Samples must be tested within 48 hours of collection, and it can take 24 hours for a sample to travel from a health unit office to the lab. Collect it just before you deliver it, keep it cool, and use only the sterile bottle provided. If you live near Orillia, taking it straight to the PHO lab on Memorial Avenue is the most direct route.

PHO also runs an online Water Testing Portal where you can submit sample details and get results electronically. Paper forms still work. Results usually take two to four business days.

How do you read the results?

Result	What it means
No significant evidence of bacterial contamination	Safe to drink (0 E. coli, 5 or fewer total coliforms per 100 mL)
Significant evidence of bacterial contamination	More than 5 total coliforms. May be unsafe; retest
Evidence of fecal contamination	E. coli present. Unsafe to drink
NDOGN or NDOGT ("overgrown")	Heavily contaminated with environmental bacteria. Unsafe

If the water is unsafe, SMDHU's advice is to stop using it for drinking and food prep, use bottled water or boil it for at least one full minute, check the well for damage, and disinfect the well and plumbing. Wait at least 48 hours before retesting. Two safe results one to three weeks apart usually confirm the disinfection worked. If it is still unsafe, call a licensed well contractor or water treatment specialist.

What else should you test for?

The free test only answers one question: is there bacterial contamination right now? The Province puts it plainly: water that passes the bacteria test "may still be unsafe to drink" if it has chemical problems. For a purchase, a one-time chemistry package from a private accredited lab is worth considering. Health Canada's drinking water guidelines give the benchmarks:

Parameter	Health Canada guideline
Nitrate	45 mg/L as nitrate (10 mg/L as nitrate-nitrogen), maximum
Nitrite	3 mg/L as nitrite (1 mg/L as nitrite-nitrogen), maximum
Arsenic	0.010 mg/L, maximum (kept as low as reasonably achievable)
Uranium	0.02 mg/L, maximum
Fluoride	1.5 mg/L, maximum
Lead	0.005 mg/L, maximum, measured at the tap
Manganese	0.12 mg/L, maximum; 0.02 mg/L aesthetic objective
Sodium	200 mg/L aesthetic objective; people on strict sodium-restricted diets should keep it under 20 mg/L
Iron	0.1 mg/L aesthetic objective (staining, discoloured water)
Hydrogen sulphide	0.05 mg/L aesthetic objective (taste and odour)
Hardness	No guideline; above 200 mg/L is considered poor and above 500 mg/L generally unacceptable

The Province lists nitrate, sulphur and solvents among the things a private lab can test for. Which parameters are worth paying for depends on the property, so ask the lab what package they recommend for a private well.

If a water softener is installed, Health Canada recommends a separate unsoftened supply for drinking and cooking.

Water quality can change from one property to the next on the same road, so treat neighbours' experiences as a hint, not an answer. Look at the provincial well record for the property if one exists: along with depth and construction, the record notes the kind of water the driller found. Then ask a local well contractor what they commonly treat for in that area, and let your own lab results make the decision.

How often should you test a well?

Ramara's guidance is to test well water at least three times a year. The Province says to test regularly to learn how your water quality changes over time, and more often after unusual events such as spring melt. Stable, deeper wells may need less frequent testing than shallow ones that vary. Also test after any work on the well, after flooding, and whenever the water changes in taste, smell or colour.

Drilled, dug or sand point: why the well type matters

The Province's guidance on private rural water supplies describes three common types.

Type	Casing	Typical depth	Vulnerability
Drilled	10–20 cm (4–8 in.) steel or plastic	Draws from deeper overburden or bedrock aquifers	Lowest. Watertight construction makes drilled wells "less vulnerable to contamination than other types"
Dug or bored	60–120 cm (24–48 in.) concrete tile or steel	Dug wells usually no more than 9 m (30 ft); bored wells average 15 m (50 ft), some to 30 m (100 ft)	Higher. Casing joints can leak and the space around the casing is hard to seal
Sand point (well point)	2.5–5 cm (1–2 in.) pipe driven into shallow sand and gravel	Shallow	Highest. Contaminants "have only a short distance to travel," and they may run short in dry spells

Shallow wells under about 3 metres (10 feet) can also go low or dry during long dry periods. If the cottage you are looking at has a dug well or a sand point, plan on testing more often and ask how it held up last August.

Oro-Medonte's building permit site plans must show the well and whether it is dug or drilled, plus the setback from the septic system. That is a useful document to request from the township file.

How do you find the well record?

Licensed well contractors must give the owner a copy of the Water Well Record, and the Province publishes reported records on its online Map: Well Records. You can search by address, lot and concession, well ID or tag number. The Province points owners to the well record for details such as the well's depth and water level.

The map has limits. It shows only wells reported with enough information, and the Province does not guarantee the records are complete or accurate. Older wells are often missing. If you cannot find a record, the Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks Wells Help Desk at 1-888-396-9355 (wellshelpdesk@ontario.ca) can help, and you can submit a well record request.

Cottages on lake water

Many cottages on Sparrow Lake, the Severn River, Lake Couchiching and the Gravenhurst lakes draw water straight from the lake. Treat that as an untreated surface supply. SMDHU lists treated lake water among the private sources that need regular testing.

A typical system pairs filtration with ultraviolet (UV) disinfection. The Province's guidance on UV: it kills bacteria and viruses, but needs a very fine pre-filter (about 5 microns), slow water flow and a clean lamp, and it does not remove parasites or microbes embedded in dirt particles without filtration. Chlorine is effective against bacteria and many viruses but cannot be relied on for all parasites.

When buying, ask what the system is, when the lamp and filters were last changed, and for recent test results. Then test it yourself.

How do you check the water supply when buying?

How Jordan can help

On rural and cottage purchases I'll help you build time for water testing into your offer, pull the well record and township file, and line up a licensed well contractor if flow or construction is in question. I know where the drop-off points are and how tight the 48-hour window is. Call 705-345-0797 or contact me, and see the rural checklist for everything else to check.