Many private well owners in Newfoundland and Labrador recently found out that there are elevated levels of arsenic in their water, and the provincial government is putting the onus on those people to correct that issue.

Environment and climate change minister Bernard Davis says a recent pilot project saw test kits provided to home owners with private wells so they could test their water and learn more about what’s in it.

Davis says about 5,000 kits were made available and 1,013 samples were returned to government and sent off for analysis.

Government says of those, 112 samples came back with arsenic levels above the maximum prescribed by Health Canada.

The maximum concentration for arsenic is 10 parts per billion. The results that exceeded that limit range from as low as 10.01 ppb, to as high as 476.24 ppb, with an average of 32.25 ppb.

Davis says the test results will help homeowners decide how to deal with the issue.

He says people should be regularly testing their wells anyway, and the test results will help people decided how to proceed—whether that be making slight adjustments at their current well or by digging a new one entirely.