Last checked:
Private well testing in Pennsylvania
A state overview with links to every Pennsylvania county page we've published. Every fact has a source.
This page can't tell you whether your water is safe to drink. Only a test of your own well can.
County pages
- Well water testing in Berks County, PAWhat Penn State lab data show for Berks County private wells, Pennsylvania's testing advice, where to buy bacteria test kits and find accredited labs, with sources.
- Well water testing in Chester County, PAWhat Penn State lab data show for Chester County private wells, Pennsylvania's testing advice, where to buy bacteria test kits and find accredited labs, with sources.
- Well water testing in Lancaster County, PAWhat Penn State lab data show for Lancaster County private wells, Pennsylvania's testing advice, where to buy bacteria test kits and find accredited labs, with sources.
- Well water testing in York County, PAWhat Penn State lab data show for York County private wells, Pennsylvania's testing advice, where to buy bacteria test kits and find accredited labs, with sources.
Pennsylvania at a glance
- Who's on a well: USGS estimates about 3.5 million Pennsylvanians supplied their own household water in 2015, more than in any other state in the data and about 27% of the state's population.1 Penn State Extension says over one million rural homes and farms use a private well or spring.2
- Rules: there are no statewide regulations requiring testing of private wells or springs.2
- DEP's advice: test every year for total coliform bacteria, nitrates, total dissolved solids and pH, and for anything else you suspect, using a state-certified lab.3
- Local data: Penn State's lab publishes a summary for every county showing how often samples failed drinking water standards for bacteria, pH, nitrate, lead, arsenic, iron, manganese and more.2 Our county pages use those summaries.
Where to test
- Bacteria test kits are sold by DEP regional and district offices; the DEP water testing page lists the office for each county.3
- Accredited labs: DEP publishes lists of labs certified for chemical and for bacteriological drinking water testing.3
- Penn State AASL offers water test packages for well and spring owners.2
Guides for Pennsylvania well owners
- Shock chlorinating a well (Penn State research on how often it works)
- Nitrate in well water: testing, infants and treatment
- Iron in well water: what to buy
- How often to test a private well
- How to read your well water test results
-
Dieter, C.A., and others, 2018, Estimated Use of Water in the United States County-Level Data for 2015 (ver. 2.0), U.S. Geological Survey data release. https://doi.org/10.5066/F7TB15V5 ↩
-
Penn State Extension, "County Summaries of Pennsylvania Groundwater Well and Spring Data." https://extension.psu.edu/county-summaries-of-pennsylvania-groundwater-well-and-spring-data ↩↩↩↩
-
Pennsylvania DEP, "Private Wells: Water Testing." https://www.pa.gov/agencies/dep/residents/my-water/private-wells/water-testing ↩↩↩