Well water in Nevada

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Testing strongly recommended

tested well samples in Nevada exceeded the EPA limit for arsenic (10 ug/L), based on public data from USGS Water Quality Portal.

38,183 test results across 13 contaminants from at least 2,359 wells, 1934 to 2026; nitrate has the most at 9,023. Data refreshed September 15, 2026.

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

An estimated 192,557 people in Nevada get their drinking water from a private well, per USGS 2015 county water use.

Separately, the USGS national arsenic model estimates that 11% of the 192,557 people on private wells in Nevada draw water above 10 ug/L (the model's range is 9% to 13%), from geology and well depth rather than local tests.

What individual samples found

Each row summarizes every public sample for that contaminant inside Nevada. 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
Arsenic 1954 to 2026	52%	2,217	92%	12	13,800	10 ug/L EPA limit
Nitrate 1950 to 2026	17%	9,023	87%	1.69	1,800	10 mg/L EPA limit
Uranium 1976 to 2025	16%	1,231	94%	2.96	1,950	30 ug/L EPA limit
Fluoride 1950 to 2026	5%	4,338	91%	0.4	49	4 mg/L EPA limit
Lead 1960 to 2025	2%	1,744	32%	0	600	15 ug/L EPA limit
E. coli 2002 to 2016	<1%	134	<1%	0	10	0 MPN/100mL EPA limit
Copper 1960 to 2025	<1%	1,701	44%	0	75	1.3 mg/L EPA limit
Radium (226 + 228) 1958 to 2016	0%	373	59%	0.04	5	5 pCi/L EPA limit
Chloride 1934 to 2026	no limit	5,658	100%	19	181,000	250 mg/L nuisance level
Sodium 1945 to 2026	no limit	4,396	100%	54	110,000	20 mg/L health guideline
Iron 1950 to 2026	no limit	3,744	67%	8.75	6,300,000	300 ug/L nuisance level
Manganese 1951 to 2025	no limit	2,814	76%	3.44	88,000	300 ug/L health guideline
Radon 1986 to 2015	no limit	810	99%	690	16,000	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
Nitrate	12%4,609 samples	26%2,950 samples	13%1,144 samples	23%320 samples
Fluoride	5%2,632 samples	6%931 samples	4%591 samples	5%184 samples
Arsenic	49%1,378 samples	67%457 samples	45%275 samples	53%107 samples
Lead	2%1,073 samples	<1%432 samples	0%182 samples	2%57 samples
Copper	<1%1,046 samples	0%383 samples	0%211 samples	0%61 samples
Uranium	25%481 samples	12%415 samples	9%269 samples	12%66 samples

Nitrate above the limit in Nevada rose from 13% of 1144 samples in the 2010s to 23% of 320 in the 2020s.

Arsenic above the limit in Nevada rose from 45% of 275 samples in the 2010s to 53% of 107 in the 2020s.

Fluoride, lead, 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 arsenic (52% of 2,217 samples), nitrate (17% of 9,023 samples), and uranium (16% of 1,231 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 Nevada

1
Arsenic
52% of 2,217 local samples were above the limit.
2
Nitrate
17% of 9,023 local samples were above the limit.
3
Uranium
16% of 1,231 local samples were above the limit.
4
Fluoride
5% of 4,338 local samples were above the limit.
5
Lead
2% of 1,744 local samples were above the limit.
6
E. coli
<1% of 134 local samples were above the limit.
7
Copper
<1% of 1,701 local samples were above the limit.
8
Volatile organic compounds (VOCs)
3,881 leaking underground storage tank sites on record locally.

Test your Nevada well for arsenic, nitrate and uranium

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 Nevada: certified labs, state programs and prices.

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

Free, one email

Send me the Nevada report

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

Wells in Nevada

67,503 domestic wells in Nevada are on record with the state since 1970. 100% are drilled into bedrock, and the typical well is 160 feet deep (one in ten goes past 375 feet).

In a typical Nevada well, bedrock starts about 84 feet down, the median yield is 22 gallons per minute, <1% 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.

9,522

1970s

9,031

1980s

17,818

1990s

12,453

2000s

5,545

2010s

4,645

2020s

Find your own well's report

The state keeps the driller's report for most wells drilled since 1984. It tells you how deep your well is, where bedrock starts, and how much water it makes, which decides what treatment can work.

Open NDWR well driller reports and choose Water Well.
The report lists depth, casing, static water level and the yield test.

Nevada has required driller reports since the 1940s, so most wells have one.

The rock under Nevada

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 state centroid. A single well can sit in a different unit, especially near a boundary.

Official help in Nevada

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.

Private wells, NDEP
Get Your Drinking Water Tested, NDEP

Contamination sources on record in Nevada

NDEP corrective action release events records 3,881 leaking underground storage tank sites in Nevada, among 3,929 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.

3,881: leaking underground storage tank sitesGasoline and heating oil that leaked from tanks move through groundwater as benzene, MTBE and other volatile organic compounds.
48: other remediation projects

Treatment that fits the local profile

Arsenic

Point-of-use reverse osmosis; Adsorptive media (iron-based) whole-house; Anion exchange

Nitrate

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

Uranium

Point-of-use reverse osmosis; Anion exchange; Whole-house anion exchange

Fluoride

Point-of-use reverse osmosis; Activated alumina; Distillation

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 arsenic

Under-sink reverse osmosis system

under-sink or countertop, about $300

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

For arsenic

Whole-house arsenic and uranium filter

whole-house, at the point of entry, about $2,500

Adsorptive iron-based media; sized to your well yield.

For arsenic

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 lead

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 lead

Acid neutralizing filter

whole-house, at the point of entry, about $1,200

Raises pH so plumbing stops leaching lead and copper.

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

How deep are wells in Nevada?

The typical domestic well in Nevada is 160 feet deep, based on 67,503 wells reported to the state since 1970. One in ten is deeper than 375 feet. 100% are drilled into bedrock.

Is there arsenic in well water in Nevada?

Arsenic was detected in 92% of 2,217 public well samples in Nevada, and 52% 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 Nevada?

The median radon level across 810 public samples in Nevada was 690 pCi/L, with a high of 16,000 pCi/L. New Hampshire recommends treatment above 2,000 pCi/L.

How often should I test a private well in Nevada?

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 Nevada

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

Sources

USGS Water Quality Portal: 38,183 samples in Nevada. 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 192,557 people on private wells in Nevada 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.
Nevada NDWR well driller reports: 145,609 well records in Nevada, 67,503 domestic. Well driller reports filed with the Nevada Division of Water Resources. Only aggregates are shown; owner names and addresses are never stored. Retrieved September 18, 2026.
NDEP corrective action release events: 3,929 regulated sites located in Nevada. Leaking tank and other release events under corrective action at the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection. Retrieved September 18, 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.