Well Water Nerd

Chloride in Texas well water

In Texas, chloride was detected in 100% of 24,914 tested private well samples.

Chloride mainly comes from road salt and water softener discharge. Above 250 mg/L water tastes salty and corrodes plumbing. Rising chloride in a well usually means road salt is reaching the aquifer.

Check your chloride number

Type the value from your lab report. It is compared to the EPA limit, the same way the full interpretation does it.

Getting it fixed

Book a free in-home water test with a licensed local company, or see the treatment guide for what removes chloride.

By county, from individual samples

Public monitoring samples against the EPA limit; counties with at least 30 samples.

CountySamplesDetectedAbove EPA limitMedianHighest
Andrews50100%no limit276910 mg/L
Anderson126100%no limit14360 mg/L
Aransas36100%no limit2853,330 mg/L
Archer196100%no limit2632,588 mg/L
Angelina61100%no limit652,700 mg/L
Atascosa164100%no limit621,120 mg/L
Austin87100%no limit54.1275 mg/L
Bandera132100%no limit23.476 mg/L
Bastrop143100%no limit681,560 mg/L
Baylor81100%no limit1709,507 mg/L
Bee203100%no limit2482,120 mg/L
Armstrong157100%no limit19109 mg/L
Bexar187100%no limit161,100 mg/L
Blanco581100%no limit22451 mg/L
Bosque65100%no limit18215 mg/L

Sources

  • Individual samples from the USGS Water Quality Portal and state monitoring, summarized per geography. chloride counts and shares are listed on each county and town page with their sources.