Well Water Nerd

Well water in Guilford, Maine

In Guilford, 3% of 31 private wells tested had arsenic above the Maine guideline (10 ug/L), according to Maine CDC.

37 private wells tested in state summaries; 14 test results across 12 contaminants from at least 1 wells, 2014; radium (226 + 228) has the most at 2. Data refreshed September 3, 2026.

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

What homeowner tests found

Maine Tracking Network private well summaries: private wells tested and reported to the state. Shares are against the level the state applies to each contaminant, named in the last column; several are stricter than EPA.

ContaminantAbove state levelWells testedMedian95th pctHighestState level
Arsenic3110 ug/L
Fluoride372 mg/L
Nitrite361 mg/L
Nitrate3610 mg/L
Manganese32300 ug/L
Uranium3130 ug/L

Closer than the town

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.

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What this means

Among homeowners in Guilford who sent a sample to the state lab, the health-based limits most often exceeded were arsenic (3% of 31 wells). These are ordinary wells tested by their owners, so the shares are the best available picture of a typical well here, with one caveat: people test more often when they suspect a problem.

What to test for in Guilford

  1. 1
    Arsenic
    3% of 31 local wells tested were above the Maine guideline.
  2. 2
    Coliform bacteria
    Recommended for every private well, every year.
  3. 3
    Radon
    Median local reading is 650 pCi/L.
  4. 4
    Nitrate
    Recommended for every private well, especially near farms or septic systems.
  5. 5
    Copper
    Detected in 100% of local samples.
  6. 6
    Fluoride
    Detected in 100% of local samples.
  7. 7
    Chloride
    Detected in 100% of local samples.
  8. 8
    Volatile organic compounds (VOCs)
    4 leaking underground storage tank sites on record locally.

Test your Guilford well for arsenic, coliform bacteria and radon

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 Maine: certified labs, state programs and prices.

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

Wells in Guilford

85 domestic wells in Guilford are on record with the state since 1970. 100% are drilled into bedrock, and the typical well is 185 feet deep (one in ten goes past 273 feet).

In a typical Guilford well, bedrock starts about 6 feet down, the median yield is 7 gallons per minute, 7% of wells yield under 3 gallons per minute and usually need a storage tank.

Bedrock wells are where arsenic, uranium and radon come from: the water sits in fractures in granite and metamorphic rock and picks up whatever the rock carries. That is why testing for those three matters more here than in a dug or gravel well.

7
1980s
28
1990s
20
2000s
8
2010s
11
2020s

The rock under Guilford

Not a principal aquifer

The USGS map places this area outside any principal aquifer, which usually means wells here draw from fractured bedrock or thin local deposits rather than a large regional aquifer. Bedrock wells of that kind are where arsenic, radon and uranium turn up, and yields vary from well to well.

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

Official help in Maine

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.

Contamination sources on record in Guilford

Maine DEP records 4 leaking underground storage tank sites in Guilford, among 12 regulated sites in total. Groundwater does not follow property lines, so a well within a few hundred feet of one of these is worth testing for what that site could release.

4
leaking underground storage tank sitesGasoline and heating oil that leaked from tanks move through groundwater as benzene, MTBE and other volatile organic compounds.
8
other remediation projects

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Get on the list for a free in-home water test in Guilford

No water treatment company serves Guilford 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 Guilford, and you get an email naming it first.

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Common questions

How deep are wells in Guilford?

The typical domestic well in Guilford is 185 feet deep, based on 85 wells reported to the state since 1970. One in ten is deeper than 273 feet. 100% are drilled into bedrock.

How often should I test a private well in Guilford?

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.

Towns near Guilford

Closest first. Groundwater does not stop at a line on a map, so the next town over is a fair second opinion.

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

Sources

  • USGS Water Quality Portal: 14 samples in Guilford. Data from the Water Quality Portal, a service of USGS, EPA and USDA; groundwater samples collected by USGS and cooperators. Retrieved September 3, 2026.
  • Maine Tracking Network private well summaries: summaries for 6 contaminants in Guilford, up to 37 wells each. Town summaries of private well tests run by the Maine Health and Environmental Testing Laboratory, published by Maine CDC through the Maine Tracking Network. Shares are against Maine's guideline for each analyte (arsenic 10 ug/L, uranium 30 ug/L, fluoride 2 mg/L, manganese 0.3 mg/L, nitrate 10 mg/L, nitrite 1 mg/L). Towns with too few tests are suppressed (NR). Only the share above the guideline and wells tested are published; no medians. Retrieved September 3, 2026.
  • Maine Geological Survey well database: 95 well records in Guilford, 85 domestic. Well construction records reported to the Maine Geological Survey by licensed well drillers. Only aggregates are shown; owner names and addresses are never stored. Retrieved September 3, 2026.
  • Maine DEP regulated sites: 12 regulated sites located in Guilford. Remediation sites, leaking underground storage tanks and closed municipal landfills from the Maine Department of Environmental Protection. Retrieved September 3, 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.