Well water in Hampton, New Hampshire

In Hampton, the public well data comes from targeted PFAS sampling near known sources: 23% of 39 PFOA results were above the EPA limit (4 ng/L), based on data from NHDES PFAS sampling and USGS Water Quality Portal.

28 private wells tested 2006 to 2020 in state summaries; 178 test results across 13 contaminants from at least 39 wells, 1954 to 2023; PFOA has the most at 39. Data refreshed September 3, 2026.

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

NHDES samples private wells near known or suspected PFAS sources (industrial sites, airports, landfills, fire training areas), and wells with a detection are resampled over time. PFAS shares describe wells that were tested for a reason, not every well in the area. In that targeted sampling, 15% of 39 PFOS results in Hampton were above the EPA limit of 4 ng/L. In that targeted sampling, 0% of 39 PFHxS results in Hampton were above the EPA limit of 10 ng/L.

Separately, a USGS and NHDES statistical model puts the chance that a bedrock well in Hampton exceeds 5 ug/L of arsenic at 42% (as low as 19% in parts of town), based on geology rather than tests.

What homeowner tests found

NH DHHS WISDOM private well summaries: private wells tested and reported to the state, 2006 to 2020. Shares are against the level the state applies to each contaminant, named in the last column; several are stricter than EPA.

Contaminant	Above state level	Wells tested	Median	95th pct	Highest	State level
Fluoride	0%	28	0.1	0.3	0.6	4 mg/L

What individual samples found

Each row summarizes every public sample for that contaminant inside Hampton. 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
PFOA 2023	23%	39	56%	1.65	12.7	4 ng/L EPA limit
PFOS 2023	15%	39	59%	1.35	8.67	4 ng/L EPA limit
PFHxS 2023	0%	39	79%	0.951	7.07	10 ng/L EPA limit
PFNA 2023	0%	39	3%	0	0.887	10 ng/L EPA limit

Sampled fewer than 10 times, too few to summarize: Fluoride (3), Copper (2), Arsenic (2), Lead (2), Nitrate (1), Iron (3), Sodium (3), Chloride (3), Manganese (3).

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.

Check my address

What this means

Among homeowners in Hampton who sent a sample to the state lab, no health-based limit was exceeded often enough to publish a share. That is good news, but a single well can still be the exception.

What to test for in Hampton

1
PFOA
23% of 39 local samples were above the limit.
2
PFOS
15% of 39 local samples were above the limit.
3
Coliform bacteria
Recommended for every private well, every year.
4
Nitrate
Recommended for every private well, especially near farms or septic systems.
5
Copper
Detected in 100% of local samples.
6
Chloride
Detected in 100% of local samples.
7
Fluoride
Detected in 67% of local samples.
8
Volatile organic compounds (VOCs)
25 leaking underground storage tank sites on record locally.
9
PFAS
1 unlined landfill on record locally.
10
Metals panel
9 hazardous waste sites on record locally.

Test your Hampton well for PFOA, PFOS and coliform bacteria

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.

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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 New Hampshire: certified labs, state programs and prices.

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

Wells in Hampton

181 domestic wells in Hampton are on record with the state since 1984. 99% are drilled into bedrock, and the typical well is 240 feet deep (one in ten goes past 500 feet).

In a typical Hampton well, bedrock starts about 30 feet down, the median yield is 12 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.

1980s

1990s

2000s

2010s

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 NHDES OneStop and choose Water Well.
Enter your town and one word of your street name. Leave out the house number and the Road or Street part; a short search matches more.
In the results, click Show for your address to see the report: total depth, depth to bedrock, casing, yield in gallons per minute, static water level, and the driller.
Save Results exports the whole list to a spreadsheet.

Reports exist only for wells drilled since January 1984, when reporting became mandatory, and street names are as they were when the well was drilled.

The rock under Hampton

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 New Hampshire

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, NHDES
New Hampshire Environmental Laboratory Accreditation Program, NHDES

Contamination sources on record in Hampton

NHDES records 25 leaking underground storage tank sites, 1 unlined landfill, 9 hazardous waste sites, and 17 reported spills and releases in Hampton, among 170 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.

25: leaking underground storage tank sitesGasoline and heating oil that leaked from tanks move through groundwater as benzene, MTBE and other volatile organic compounds.
1: unlined landfillOlder unlined landfills are a leading source of PFAS, VOCs and metals in nearby wells.
9: hazardous waste sitesSolvents, degreasers and metals from industrial sites can travel far in fractured bedrock.
17: reported spills and releasesMost spills are fuel; a few are solvents or chemicals that reach the water table.
39: registered underground storage tank sitesRegistered tanks are regulated and inspected; they matter most when they are old or near a shallow well.
24: locally identified potential contamination sourcesTowns inventory these (vehicle repair, labs, salt piles, farms) when they draw wellhead protection maps.
54: other remediation projects
1: other solid waste facility

Treatment that fits the local profile

PFOA

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

PFOS

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

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 PFOA

Under-sink reverse osmosis system

under-sink or countertop, about $300

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

For PFOA

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 PFOA

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 PFOS

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 PFOS

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.

Free, no obligation

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

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

Common questions

How deep are wells in Hampton?

The typical domestic well in Hampton is 240 feet deep, based on 181 wells reported to the state since 1984. One in ten is deeper than 500 feet. 99% are drilled into bedrock.

How often should I test a private well in Hampton?

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 Hampton

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 New Hampshire dataset as CSV, every county and town, with the sources named.

Sources

NHDES PFAS sampling: 156 samples in Hampton. PFAS results for private wells from the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services Environmental Monitoring Database. Retrieved September 3, 2026.
USGS Water Quality Portal: 22 samples in Hampton. Data from the Water Quality Portal, a service of USGS, EPA and USDA; groundwater samples collected by USGS and cooperators. Retrieved September 3, 2026.
NH DHHS WISDOM private well summaries: summaries for 1 contaminants in Hampton, up to 28 wells each. Town summaries of private well tests run by the New Hampshire Public Health Laboratories, published by NH DHHS through the WISDOM environmental public health tracking portal. Exceedance shares use New Hampshire guidance levels, which are stricter than EPA for arsenic (5 ug/L), manganese (0.3 mg/L), radon (2,000 pCi/L) and sodium (20 mg/L). Statistics for small counts are suppressed (*). Retrieved September 3, 2026.
NH DHHS WISDOM private well summaries: modeled chance (42%) that a well in Hampton exceeds 5 ug/L of arsenic, from geology rather than tests. Town summaries of private well tests run by the New Hampshire Public Health Laboratories, published by NH DHHS through the WISDOM environmental public health tracking portal. Retrieved September 3, 2026.
NHDES Water Well Inventory: 248 well records in Hampton, 181 domestic. Well construction records reported to the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services Water Well Board. Only aggregates are shown; owner names and addresses are never stored. Retrieved September 3, 2026.
NHDES OneStop regulated sites: 170 regulated sites located in Hampton. Remediation sites, underground storage tanks, solid waste facilities and potential contamination sources from the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services OneStop database. 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.