Well water in Erie County, New York

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Testing recommended

tested well samples in Erie County exceeded the EPA limit for nitrate (10 mg/L), based on public data from USGS Water Quality Portal.

1,832 test results across 12 contaminants from at least 177 wells, 1951 to 2023; chloride has the most at 289. Data refreshed September 15, 2026.

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

An estimated 264,990 people in Erie County get their drinking water from a private well, per USGS 2015 county water use. That is about 29% of residents.

Separately, the USGS national arsenic model estimates that 1% of the 264,990 people on private wells in Erie County draw water above 10 ug/L (the model's range is <1% to 2%), from geology and well depth rather than local tests.

What individual samples found

Each row summarizes every public sample for that contaminant inside Erie 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
Nitrate 1951 to 2021	14%	182	70%	0.635	43.4	10 mg/L EPA limit
Lead 1971 to 2021	7%	184	32%	0	500	15 ug/L EPA limit
Arsenic 1971 to 2021	1%	162	19%	0	20	10 ug/L EPA limit
Fluoride 1951 to 2021	0%	181	66%	0.2	1.3	4 mg/L EPA limit
Copper 1971 to 2021	0%	178	35%	0	0.441	1.3 mg/L EPA limit
Uranium 2006 to 2021	0%	29	55%	0.06	0.618	30 ug/L EPA limit
E. coli 2006 to 2021	0%	25	0%	0	0	0 MPN/100mL EPA limit
Chloride 1951 to 2023	no limit	289	100%	25	2,520	250 mg/L nuisance level
Sodium 1951 to 2021	no limit	201	100%	16	539	20 mg/L health guideline
Iron 1951 to 2021	no limit	191	57%	50	900,000	300 ug/L nuisance level
Manganese 1951 to 2021	no limit	181	81%	40.6	8,300	300 ug/L health guideline
Radon 2006 to 2021	no limit	29	100%	198	1,020	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
Lead	8%155 samples	n/a	0%14 samples	n/a
Nitrate	16%153 samples	n/a	0%14 samples	n/a
Fluoride	0%152 samples	n/a	0%14 samples	n/a
Copper	0%149 samples	n/a	0%14 samples	n/a
Arsenic	2%133 samples	n/a	0%14 samples	n/a

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 address

What this means

The contaminants most often above their limit here are nitrate (14% of 182 samples), lead (7% of 184 samples), and arsenic (1% of 162 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 Erie County

1
Nitrate
14% of 182 local samples were above the limit.
2
Lead
7% of 184 local samples were above the limit.
3
Arsenic
1% of 162 local samples were above the limit.
4
Coliform bacteria
Recommended for every private well, every year.
5
Radon
Median local reading is 198 pCi/L.
6
Chloride
Detected in 100% of local samples.
7
Manganese
Detected in 81% of local samples.
8
Volatile organic compounds (VOCs)
220 hazardous waste sites on record locally.
9
Metals panel
220 hazardous waste sites on record locally.

Test your Erie County well for nitrate, lead and arsenic

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 New York: certified labs, state programs and prices.

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

Wells in Erie County

2,379 domestic wells in Erie County are on record with the state. the typical well is 70 feet deep (one in ten goes past 120 feet).

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 NYSDEC water well completion reports and choose Water Well.
The report lists depth, depth to bedrock, cased depth, yield and the driller.

Drillers have filed reports with the state since April 2000; a well drilled before then usually has no record.

The rock under Erie County

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

Official help in New York

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, NYSDOH
Environmental Laboratory Approval Program, NYSDOH

Contamination sources on record in Erie County

NYSDEC remediation sites records 220 hazardous waste sites in Erie County, among 529 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.

220: hazardous waste sitesSolvents, degreasers and metals from industrial sites can travel far in fractured bedrock.
309: other remediation projects

Treatment that fits the local profile

Nitrate

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

Lead

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

Arsenic

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

Chloride

Point-of-use reverse osmosis; Distillation

Manganese

Oxidizing filter (greensand, birm) whole-house; Water softener (low levels); Point-of-use reverse osmosis

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 nitrate

Under-sink reverse osmosis system

under-sink or countertop, about $300

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

For nitrate

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 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 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 Erie County

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

Common questions

How deep are wells in Erie County?

The typical domestic well in Erie County is 70 feet deep, based on 2,379 wells reported to the state. One in ten is deeper than 120 feet.

Is there arsenic in well water in Erie County?

Arsenic was detected in 19% of 162 public well samples in Erie County, 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 Erie County?

The median radon level across 29 public samples in Erie County was 198 pCi/L, with a high of 1,020 pCi/L. New Hampshire recommends treatment above 2,000 pCi/L.

How often should I test a private well in Erie 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.

Towns in Erie County

26 towns have fewer than 30 public samples and are included in the Erie County totals above rather than shown separately: Alden, Amherst, Aurora, Boston, Brant, Buffalo, Cattaraugus Reservation, Cheektowaga, Colden, Collins, Eden, Elma, Evans, Grand Island, Hamburg, Holland, Lackawanna, Marilla, Newstead, North Collins, Orchard Park, Tonawanda, Tonawanda, Tonawanda Reservation, Wales, West Seneca.

Counties near Erie 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 New York dataset as CSV, every county and town, with the sources named.

Sources

USGS Water Quality Portal: 1,832 samples in Erie 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 264,990 people on private wells in Erie 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.
NYSDEC water well completion reports: 2,472 well records in Erie County, 2,379 domestic. Water well completion reports filed with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation Water Well Contractor Program since 2000. Only aggregates are shown; owner names and addresses are never stored. Retrieved September 16, 2026.
NYSDEC remediation sites: 529 regulated sites located in Erie County. State Superfund, brownfield, voluntary cleanup, RCRA and spill remediation sites from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation Environmental Remediation Sites database. Retrieved September 16, 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.