Well Water Testing
Well Water Testing in Northwest New Jersey
Testing is the only way to know anything about well water. Clear, cold and tasting fine tells you nothing about nitrate, arsenic or coliform.
What we do and what the lab does
The certified laboratory analysis is done by a New Jersey DEP certified drinking water laboratory, not by us. We collect and handle the sample properly, coordinate the right test for the reason you're testing, and act on the result. Using a certified lab is NJDEP's own instruction, and a hardware-store test strip is not the same thing.
The three reasons people test
- •Something changed — taste, smell, colour, a sick household, or work done on the well.
- •Routine. Annual testing for coliform bacteria and nitrate is the standard baseline advice for private wells, and nobody reminds you because nobody is responsible for your well but you.
- •A house is being sold or rented. New Jersey requires that one — see our Private Well Testing Act page.
What a full test looks at
- •Bacteria — total coliform, and E. coli if coliform is present.
- •Nitrate.
- •Metals including arsenic, lead, iron and manganese.
- •Radiological — gross alpha, and uranium, which is a required parameter under the Private Well Testing Act in Sussex, Passaic and Warren Counties. Mercury is not a required parameter in any of those three.
- •Volatile and synthetic organic compounds, and PFAS.
Most wells in a rural area come back fine on most of that list, and the point of testing is to find the one that didn't.
Timing
Sample when conditions are normal — not right after a chlorination, and not through a treatment system if you want to know what the well is actually producing. A sample pulled after the softener tells you about the softener, not the well. For a required real-estate test, the sample is of the untreated groundwater.
After a failed result
A failure is usually a treatment problem with a known answer, not a disaster. Coliform leads to chlorination and finding the entry point. Iron and manganese lead to filtration. Hardness leads to softening. Gross alpha leads to the follow-up testing NJDEP recommends before anyone sells you equipment — find out which radionuclide it is before you buy a system for it. See our well water test results page for what the numbers mean.
Drilling a new well and sealing an old one are a different licence — a licensed well driller — and we don't do that work. See our NJ pump installer licence page.
Straight answers
Questions we get on this one
How often should I test?
Annual testing for total coliform bacteria and nitrate is the standard baseline advice for a private well. Nobody reminds you, because nobody is responsible for your well but you. Beyond that, test when something changes — taste, smell, colour, illness, or work done on the well.
Can I use a home test kit?
A hardware-store strip is not the same thing as a New Jersey DEP certified laboratory analysis. For a real result, and for any result you need for a sale or a rental, the sample has to go to a certified lab. We handle the sample properly and coordinate the right test for the reason you're testing.
Where should the sample be taken from?
It depends on what you want to know. To find out what the well is actually producing, the sample comes from untreated groundwater — before any softener, filter or treatment unit. A sample pulled after the softener tells you about the softener, not the well.
How long are results good for?
Water changes. A clean result is a snapshot of that day, not a permanent answer. For a real-estate transaction, New Jersey's Private Well Testing Act sets the requirement and the timing. For your own use, annual is the baseline.
Does a new well get tested?
A newly constructed well is tested as part of New Jersey's well permitting and construction process, which NJDEP regulates. After that, oversight of a private well sits with the local health department and the homeowner.
My neighbour's water is fine — does that tell me anything?
Not much. Wells vary well to well, even on the same street. Depth, construction, geology and what's nearby all change what's in the water. The only way to know what's in yours is to test yours.
We answer around the clock
No water? Call. Don't type.
(862) 276-0328No water right now? Call (862) 276-0328.
Or request service online — but if you're standing in a dark basement with no water, the phone is faster.