Well water in Dallas County, Alabama
In Dallas County, none of 34 tested well samples exceeded the EPA limit for fluoride, based on public data from USGS Water Quality Portal.
The strongest signal is coliform bacteria: Recommended for every private well, every year, too few samples to carry the headline but first on the test list below.
403 test results across 15 contaminants from at least 245 wells, 1951 to 2019; chloride has the most at 279. Data refreshed September 15, 2026.
Compiled by Nick at Well Water Nerd from public records. How these pages are built
An estimated 9,420 people in Dallas County get their drinking water from a private well, per USGS 2015 county water use. That is about 23% of residents.
Separately, the USGS national arsenic model estimates that <1% of the 9,420 people on private wells in Dallas County 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 Dallas County. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fluoride 1951 to 2019 | 34 | 100% | 0.1 | 3 | 4 mg/L EPA limit | |
| Chloride 1951 to 2019 | no limit | 279 | 100% | 8.7 | 620 | 250 mg/L nuisance level |
| Sodium 1951 to 2019 | no limit | 35 | 100% | 21 | 222 | 20 mg/L health guideline |
| Iron 1953 to 2019 | no limit | 15 | 80% | 14.5 | 4,000 | 300 ug/L nuisance level |
Sampled fewer than 10 times, too few to summarize: PFOS (1), Nitrate (6), Radium (226 + 228) (6), Arsenic (4), Lead (4), E. coli (3), Copper (3), Uranium (3), PFOA (1), Manganese (7), Radon (2).
Closer than the county
See the sampled wells near your address
The same records, drawn around one point: which wells within a few miles were sampled and what they found, how deep the wells next to you were drilled, and any leaking tank or cleanup site within a mile.
Check my addressWhat this means
Among contaminants with a federal limit, no tested sample in Dallas County came back above it. That is reassuring, but sampling is uneven: wells that were never tested are not in this data.
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 Dallas County
- 1Coliform bacteriaRecommended for every private well, every year.
- 2RadonMedian local reading is 269 pCi/L.
- 3NitrateRecommended for every private well, especially near farms or septic systems.
- 4PFOSAbove the limit in 1 of 1 local samples; too few to quote a rate.
- 5FluorideDetected in 100% of local samples.
- 6ChlorideDetected in 100% of local samples.
- 7ManganeseDetected in 86% of local samples.
Test your Dallas County well for coliform bacteria, radon and nitrate
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 $209Already 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 Dallas County numbers, $29. Every line explained, ranked by what matters, with the fix for each.
The rock under Dallas County
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 county 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.
Treatment that fits the local profile
Manganese
Oxidizing filter (greensand, birm) whole-house; Water softener (low levels); Point-of-use reverse osmosis
Iron
Oxidizing filter whole-house; Water softener (low levels); Aeration plus filtration
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 iron
Iron and manganese oxidizing filter
whole-house, at the point of entry, about $1,800
Air-injection or greensand media; fixes staining at the source.
Free, no obligation
Get on the list for a free in-home water test in Dallas County
No water treatment company serves Dallas County through Well Water Nerd yet. We are signing licensed companies on county by county: they test at your tap for free, walk you through the numbers, and quote treatment only if something needs fixing. Leave your details and you are first in line. Nothing is shared until a company joins for Dallas County, and you get an email naming it first.
Common questions
How often should I test a private well in Dallas County?
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 near Dallas County
Closest first. Groundwater does not stop at a line on a map, so the next county over is a fair second opinion.
Want the numbers themselves? Download the Alabama dataset as CSV, every county and town, with the sources named.
Sources
- USGS Water Quality Portal: 403 samples in Dallas County. 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 9,420 people on private wells in Dallas County 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.