House Minority Leader Ken Fredette

AUGUSTA (AP) — The Republican leader of the Maine House wants to require testing of private wells that provide drinking water.

Half of Maine’s population gets it drinking water from private wells, and the state says it assumes very few of them are routinely tested.

In contrast, public water supplies are tested on a monthly or annual basis, depending on how many customers they serve.

Minority Leader Ken Fredette is sponsoring a bill that would require testing of private wells for pollutants at least once every five years.

The bill is set for a public hearing Wednesday.

All new wells created after July 2018 would need to be tested.

The state would waive fees for testing a well within an area with a known environmental hazard.