Well water in Glen Cove, New York

Name: Private well water quality in Glen Cove, New York
Creator: Well Water Nerd
License: Public domain (US federal government data)

In Glen Cove, none of 79 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.

1,194 test results across 14 contaminants from at least 32 wells, 1950 to 2021; chloride has the most at 278. Data refreshed September 3, 2026.

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

What individual samples found

Each row summarizes every public sample for that contaminant inside Glen Cove. 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 1950 to 2016	0%	79	52%	0	0.6	4 mg/L EPA limit
Copper 1962 to 2016	0%	70	87%	0.025	0.23	1.3 mg/L EPA limit
Lead 1972 to 2016	0%	36	19%	0	0.326	15 ug/L EPA limit
Chloride 1950 to 2016	no limit	278	99%	10.8	72.5	250 mg/L nuisance level
Iron 1950 to 2016	no limit	268	90%	70	4,070	300 ug/L nuisance level
Manganese 1950 to 2016	no limit	251	65%	0	180	300 ug/L health guideline
Sodium 1960 to 2016	no limit	188	99%	9	65	20 mg/L health guideline

Sampled fewer than 10 times, too few to summarize: Arsenic (8), Nitrate (8), PFOS (2), Radium (226 + 228) (2), PFOA (2), Uranium (1), Radon (1).

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 contaminants with a federal limit, no tested sample in Glen Cove 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 Glen Cove

1
Coliform bacteria
Recommended for every private well, every year.
2
Radon
Median local reading is 139 pCi/L.
3
Nitrate
Recommended for every private well, especially near farms or septic systems.
4
Chloride
Detected in 99% of local samples.
5
Iron
Detected in 90% of local samples.
6
Copper
Detected in 87% of local samples.
7
Manganese
Detected in 65% of local samples.
8
Volatile organic compounds (VOCs)
14 hazardous waste sites on record locally.
9
Metals panel
14 hazardous waste sites on record locally.

Test your Glen Cove 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 $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 Glen Cove numbers, $29. Every line explained, ranked by what matters, with the fix for each.

The rock under Glen Cove

Northern Atlantic 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 town 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 Glen Cove

NYSDEC remediation sites records 14 hazardous waste sites in Glen Cove, among 23 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.

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

Treatment that fits the local profile

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 Glen Cove

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

Common questions

How often should I test a private well in Glen Cove?

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 Glen Cove

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

Sources

USGS Water Quality Portal: 1,194 samples in Glen Cove. Data from the Water Quality Portal, a service of USGS, EPA and USDA; groundwater samples collected by USGS and cooperators. Retrieved September 3, 2026.
NYSDEC remediation sites: 23 regulated sites located in Glen Cove. 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.