Methodology
Editorial rules for private well water reports
This is WellTestAdvisor's editorial policy for a United States private-well audience. It sets the source requirements, report-reading limits and commercial-link restrictions.
Source: the editorial rules adopted by Hollydale27 Ltd. This page sets publication requirements; it does not report research or hands-on testing.
Standards, local geology and state requirements all vary. Confirm anything on this page with your state or local health department before acting on it.
Primary sources only
The permitted sources are the EPA, the CDC, state health and environment agencies, university extension programs, and certified laboratories' own published documents.
A statement about a laboratory's report must follow that laboratory's own legend, units and qualifiers. A statement about a test panel or sample must follow the named receiving laboratory's published documents.
Keep the source's limits
Every number, limit, price and turnaround time must carry a named source, a link and the date it was checked. A published threshold must be attributed to the authority that sets it, with its conditions kept intact. It must not be presented as our own judgment about water safety.
Where sources differ, both must be named and the difference shown. Where the documents do not answer a question, the page must say so rather than supply a guess.
No household interpretation or reassurance
A page must not interpret a result for a household or provide treatment, repair or disinfection advice.
A result, substance, delay or situation must not be described in our own voice as fine, minor, cosmetic or not a concern. Urgency stated by an authority may be passed on with attribution. An authority's absence of urgency must not be passed on.
Questions that require knowledge of a reader's own water belong with the laboratory that ran the sample or the state or local health department.
Commercial link restrictions
Commercial links are permitted only on pages comparing laboratories and test kits. They are not permitted on contaminant pages, health-risk pages, pages about what to do next, or any page a worried person lands on. If there is doubt about whether a page qualifies, it does not get a commercial link. Treatment links are not permitted.
A commercial link must carry its disclosure beside it. It may not be added until the publisher has joined the program and checked the link. Commission must not determine the verdict. The Disclosure page must match reality and be updated in the same change as the first commercial link.
The publisher
Updated