Well water in Alabama

Name: Private well water quality in Alabama
Creator: Well Water Nerd
License: Public domain (US federal government data)

1in7

Testing recommended

tested well samples in Alabama exceeded the EPA limit for PFOS (4 ng/L), based on public data from USGS Water Quality Portal.

18,101 test results across 15 contaminants from at least 4,051 wells, 1927 to 2025; chloride has the most at 6,274. Data refreshed September 15, 2026.

Compiled by Nick at Well Water Nerd from public records. How these pages are built

An estimated 539,394 people in Alabama get their drinking water from a private well, per USGS 2015 county water use.

Separately, the USGS national arsenic model estimates that <1% of the 539,394 people on private wells in Alabama draw water above 10 ug/L, from geology and well depth rather than local tests.

What individual samples found

Each row summarizes every public sample for that contaminant inside Alabama. Above limit means above the EPA maximum contaminant level; where EPA has no enforceable limit, the row shows a health guideline or nuisance level instead.

Contaminant	Above limit	Samples	Detected	Median	Highest	Limit
PFOS 2019 to 2022	15%	47	32%	0	28	4 ng/L EPA limit
Nitrate 1941 to 2025	4%	1,027	86%	0.5	86	10 mg/L EPA limit
PFOA 2019 to 2022	2%	47	11%	0	10	4 ng/L EPA limit
E. coli 1999 to 2022	2%	118	2%	0	12	0 MPN/100mL EPA limit
Lead 1972 to 2025	1%	679	70%	0	100	15 ug/L EPA limit
Fluoride 1927 to 2025	1%	1,859	82%	0.1	21	4 mg/L EPA limit
Radium (226 + 228) 1988 to 2022	<1%	238	79%	0	9.1	5 pCi/L EPA limit
Arsenic 1972 to 2025	<1%	805	61%	0.14	40	10 ug/L EPA limit
Copper 1956 to 2025	0%	555	70%	0	0.497	1.3 mg/L EPA limit
Uranium 1989 to 2025	0%	314	55%	0.009	11.6	30 ug/L EPA limit
Chloride 1927 to 2025	no limit	6,274	100%	7.2	99,500	250 mg/L nuisance level
Iron 1927 to 2025	no limit	3,209	92%	20	510,000	300 ug/L nuisance level
Sodium 1927 to 2025	no limit	1,589	100%	5.6	15,500	20 mg/L health guideline
Manganese 1944 to 2025	no limit	1,243	89%	20	18,000	300 ug/L health guideline
Radon 1993 to 2015	no limit	97	100%	190	1,950	2,000 pCi/L health guideline

Over time

Share of samples above the limit by period. A cell needs ten samples to show; a comparison needs twenty in each period. Later periods sample fewer wells, and often the ones already known to have a problem.

Contaminant	before 2000	2000s	2010s	2020s
Fluoride	1%1,545 samples	0%139 samples	0%149 samples	0%26 samples
Nitrate	3%572 samples	5%169 samples	4%213 samples	8%73 samples
Arsenic	<1%548 samples	0%75 samples	0%148 samples	0%34 samples
Lead	<1%423 samples	1%74 samples	0%148 samples	15%34 samples
Copper	0%298 samples	0%75 samples	0%148 samples	0%34 samples
Uranium	0%78 samples	0%62 samples	0%148 samples	0%26 samples

Lead above the limit in Alabama rose from 0% of 148 samples in the 2010s to 15% of 34 in the 2020s.

Fluoride, nitrate, arsenic, copper, uranium have held within a few points between the two most recent periods with enough samples.

What this means

The contaminants most often above their limit here are pfos (15% of 47 samples), nitrate (4% of 1,027 samples), and pfoa (2% of 47 samples). A well next door can differ sharply from yours because bedrock fractures, well depth and plumbing all matter, so these rates describe the area, not your tap.

Chloride, Iron, and Manganese are widespread in local groundwater. They are mainly a staining and taste problem, but high manganese also carries a health advisory for infants.

What to test for in Alabama

1
PFOS
15% of 47 local samples were above the limit.
2
Nitrate
4% of 1,027 local samples were above the limit.
3
PFOA
2% of 47 local samples were above the limit.
4
E. coli
2% of 118 local samples were above the limit.
5
Lead
1% of 679 local samples were above the limit.
6
Fluoride
1% of 1,859 local samples were above the limit.
7
Radium (226 + 228)
<1% of 238 local samples were above the limit.

Test your Alabama well for PFOS, nitrate and PFOA

Certified lab analysis of your own tap water, bottles and prepaid return shipping included. The Essential well panel covers arsenic, uranium, nitrate, lead, copper, manganese, iron, sodium and bacteria; radon and PFAS are add-ons.

Order the Tap Score well water test kit, from $209 Already tested? Upload the report

Just want bacteria checked first? Tap Score coliform and E. coli test, $99. Coliform and E. coli are the tests every well needs every year.

Want a quick look before paying for a lab? Home well water test strips on Amazon check hardness, iron, pH and nitrate in minutes. They are a screen, not a result: arsenic, bacteria, uranium and PFAS need a certified lab.

Affiliate links: the merchant pays us a commission and the price is the same for you. It does not change what the data above says. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.

Where to get a well tested in Alabama: certified labs, state programs and prices.

Already have results back? Get your lab report read against the Alabama numbers, $29. Every line explained, ranked by what matters, with the fix for each.

Free, one email

Send me the Alabama report

The numbers above, which tests to order and where, and the treatment that fits the local profile, in one email.

The rock under Alabama

Southeastern Coastal Plain aquifer system

Semiconsolidated sand. Coastal plain sands like these give steady yields at moderate depth. Salt water and sodium are the usual issues near the coast, and nitrate where the water table is shallow; arsenic and radon from bedrock are less common.

Classification from the USGS Principal Aquifers of the United States (national map, 2003 edition, GIS release 2015), read at the state centroid. A single well can sit in a different unit, especially near a boundary.

Official help in Alabama

Two places to start that are not selling anything: the state program that answers private well questions, and its list of labs certified to run drinking water tests. A certified lab is the difference between a result you can act on and a number.

Well Water, ADPH
ADEM Drinking Water Laboratory Certification Program, ADEM

Treatment that fits the local profile

PFOS

Granular activated carbon whole-house; Point-of-use reverse osmosis; Anion exchange

Nitrate

Point-of-use reverse osmosis; Anion exchange; Distillation

PFOA

Granular activated carbon whole-house; Point-of-use reverse osmosis; Anion exchange

E. coli

Shock chlorination and fix the well cap or casing; UV disinfection whole-house; Chlorination system

Lead

Point-of-use reverse osmosis; Certified lead-removal carbon filter; Neutralizing filter to raise pH and stop leaching

Systems we would look at first

Some links below are affiliate links. If you buy through one, the merchant pays us a commission at no extra cost to you. It does not change which products we list or what the data says.

For PFOS

Under-sink reverse osmosis system

under-sink or countertop, about $300

Look for NSF/ANSI 58 certification listing the contaminant you need removed.

For PFOS

Whole-house PFAS carbon system

whole-house, at the point of entry, about $3,000

Granular activated carbon certified to NSF/ANSI 53 for PFOA and PFOS; replace media on schedule.

For PFOS

Aquasana SmartFlow reverse osmosis

under-sink or countertop, about $225

Certified to NSF/ANSI 58 and 53 to reduce arsenic (96%, pentavalent), fluoride (90%), lead (99%), nitrate, nitrite and PFOA/PFOS at the kitchen tap, with a remineralizer.

For PFOA

Aquasana Claryum 3-Stage under-sink filter

under-sink or countertop, about $175

Certified to NSF/ANSI 53 to reduce 99% of lead and 99.7% of PFOA and PFOS at the tap. Not a fix for arsenic, nitrate or bacteria.

For PFOA

Aquasana HealthShield whole-house filter

whole-house, at the point of entry, about $2,099

Whole-house carbon system the maker certifies to reduce PFAS (PFOA and PFOS) and VOCs at every tap; a UV option adds bacteria protection.

For E. coli

UV disinfection system

whole-house, at the point of entry, about $900

Fix the well cap and casing first; UV keeps bacteria from returning.

For E. coli

Aquasana Rhino Well Water with UV

whole-house, at the point of entry, about $2,871

Whole-house system built for wells: sediment pre-filter, KDF and carbon, and a UV lamp rated to kill 99.99% of bacteria and viruses. It does not remove arsenic, nitrate, uranium or radon.

Common questions

Is there arsenic in well water in Alabama?

Arsenic was detected in 61% of 805 public well samples in Alabama, and <1% were above the EPA limit of 10 ug/L. Arsenic has no taste or smell; a lab test is the only way to know your level.

How high is radon in well water in Alabama?

The median radon level across 97 public samples in Alabama was 190 pCi/L, with a high of 1,950 pCi/L. New Hampshire recommends treatment above 2,000 pCi/L.

How often should I test a private well in Alabama?

Test for bacteria and nitrate every year. Test once for arsenic, uranium, radon, fluoride, manganese and PFAS, then again every three to five years or after any change in taste, color, or plumbing.

Counties in Alabama

Want the numbers themselves? Download the Alabama dataset as CSV, every county and town, with the sources named.

Sources

USGS Water Quality Portal: 18,101 samples in Alabama. Data from the Water Quality Portal, a service of USGS, EPA and USDA; groundwater samples collected by USGS and cooperators. Retrieved September 3, 2026.
USGS national arsenic model (Ayotte 2017): estimated share of 539,394 people on private wells in Alabama above 10 ug/L of arsenic, from geology, well depth and land use. County estimates of domestic well users with arsenic above 10 ug/L from the USGS national logistic regression model (Ayotte, Medalie and Qi, 2017), with private well population from the USGS 2015 county water-use compilation (Dieter and others, 2018). Retrieved September 15, 2026.

Non-detects count as samples and are treated as zero when computing medians. Exactly at the limit counts as not above it. A sample belongs to the town containing the well's reported coordinates.