Test your private well every year
If your water comes from a private well, have it tested by a certified lab at least once a year.
- How often
- Yearly
- Time
- 30 min plus lab time
- Recommended for
- 10 factors
How to do it
- Test at least once a year for total coliform bacteria, nitrates, total dissolved solids and pH.
- Ask your local health or environmental department what else to test for where you live. Some offer free testing.
- Use a state-certified drinking water lab.
- Test again right away after flooding, nearby land disturbance, well repairs, or any change in taste, color or smell.
- Also test if someone in the home becomes pregnant or a baby or young child moves in.
- Inspect the well cap and casing, slope the ground so runoff drains away, and keep fuel, pesticides and fertilizers away from the well.
Why it helps
Public water systems are tested for you. A private well is your responsibility. Bacteria, nitrates and other contaminants can get into well water without changing how it looks or tastes, and nitrates are a particular concern for infants.
Be careful
If a test shows bacteria, or nitrate or another contaminant above the safe limit, don't drink the water or use it for baby formula until it is treated and retested. Boiling does not remove nitrate; it concentrates it.
Recommended for
Indiana
High-radon soil, gray winters, humid summers and a lot of private wells.
placeIowa
Every county is high-radon country, and farm-country wells need testing.
placeMaine
One of the highest Lyme rates in the US, plus radon and arsenic in wells.
placeMichigan
Long gray winters, lake-effect cold and arsenic in some wells.
placeMinnesota
Deep cold, dark winters, high radon, Lyme ticks and arsenic in wells.
placeNebraska
Radon under the house, mosquitoes in late summer, deep cold in winter.
placeNew Hampshire
Granite bedrock, tick-filled woods, and long, dark winters.
placeNew Mexico
Thin air, intense sun, and well water that deserves a test.
placeOregon
Wildfire smoke in late summer and dim, cloudy winters.
placeWisconsin
Lyme ticks in every county, nitrate in some wells, and long dark winters.