Have You Tested Your Well Water?

Drinking water can become contaminated from natural or human causes. If you are a private well owner, you are in charge of maintaining and testing your water system. The only way to know if there are elevated levels of contaminants in your private well water is to test.

The Vermont Department of Health recommends that you test your private well water for:
- Total coliform bacteria (test every year, Kit A)
- Inorganic chemicals such as arsenic, nitrate, and manganese (test every five years, Kit C)
- Gross alpha radiation (test every five years, Kit RA)

More information and a water test kit order form are available online: http://healthvermont.gov/enviro/ph_lab/water_test.aspx#private

You can also order test kits by calling the Public Health Laboratory at 1 (800) 660-9997 or (802) 863-4736.

Information about arsenic and nitrate concentrations in private drinking water is available for many towns on the Environmental Public Health Tracking portal:
https://apps.health.vermont.gov/ias/querytool/?topic=DrinkingWaterPrivate