Well water in Alamance County, North Carolina

In Alamance County, 2% of 2,590 private wells tested between 1998 and 2019 had lead above the North Carolina groundwater standard (15 ug/L), according to the NC State Laboratory of Public Health (NCWELL).

2,600 private wells tested 1998 to 2019 in state summaries; 29 test results across 13 contaminants from at least 2 wells, 2007 to 2014; radium (226 + 228) has the most at 4. Data refreshed September 15, 2026.

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

An estimated 49,917 people in Alamance County get their drinking water from a private well, per USGS 2015 county water use. That is about 32% of residents.

Separately, the USGS national arsenic model estimates that 5% of the 49,917 people on private wells in Alamance County draw water above 10 ug/L (the model's range is 3% to 10%), from geology and well depth rather than local tests.

What homeowner tests found

NCWELL private well summaries: private wells tested and reported to the state, 1998 to 2019. 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	Highest	State level
Manganese	35%	2,600	4,320	50 ug/L
Iron	27%	1,891	36,000	300 ug/L
Lead	2%	2,590	22,000	15 ug/L
Nitrate	1%	1,504	150	10 mg/L
Copper	<1%	1,889	2.94	1 mg/L
Arsenic	<1%	2,583	21	10 ug/L
Nitrite	0%	1,504	0.89	1 mg/L

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

Among homeowners in Alamance County who sent a sample to the state lab, the health-based limits most often exceeded were lead (2% of 2,590 wells), nitrate (1% of 1,504 wells), and copper (<1% of 1,889 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.

Manganese and iron exceed the state's advisory level in a sizable share of wells; these are mostly a taste, staining or diet issue rather than a toxicity one.

What to test for in Alamance County

1
Lead
2% of 2,590 local wells tested were above the North Carolina groundwater standard.
2
Nitrate
1% of 1,504 local wells tested were above the EPA limit.
3
Copper
<1% of 1,889 local wells tested were above the North Carolina groundwater standard.
4
Arsenic
<1% of 2,583 local wells tested were above the North Carolina groundwater standard.
5
Coliform bacteria
Recommended for every private well, every year.
6
Radon
Median local reading is 620 pCi/L.
7
Manganese
35% of 2,600 local wells tested were above the North Carolina groundwater standard.
8
Iron
27% of 1,891 local wells tested were above the North Carolina groundwater standard.
9
Volatile organic compounds (VOCs)
795 leaking underground storage tank sites on record locally.

Test your Alamance County well for lead, nitrate and copper

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 North Carolina: certified labs, state programs and prices.

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

The rock under Alamance County

Piedmont and Blue Ridge crystalline-rock aquifers

Igneous and metamorphic-rock. Granite and similar crystalline rock hold water only in fractures. Wells are deep and yields modest, and the rock itself is the source of arsenic, radon and uranium, which is why those three head the test list in bedrock country.

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 North Carolina

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 Well Water Testing FAQs, NCDHHS
NCSLPH - Lab Certification, NCDHHS

Contamination sources on record in Alamance County

NC DEQ records 795 leaking underground storage tank sites in Alamance County, among 795 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.

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

Treatment that fits the local profile

Manganese

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

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 manganese

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 Alamance County

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

Common questions

How often should I test a private well in Alamance 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.

Counties near Alamance 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 North Carolina dataset as CSV, every county and town, with the sources named.

Sources

USGS Water Quality Portal: 29 samples in Alamance 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.
NCWELL private well summaries: summaries for 7 contaminants in Alamance County, up to 2,600 wells each. County summaries of private well tests run by the NC State Laboratory of Public Health, 1998 to 2019, compiled by the UNC Superfund Research Program (NCWELL database). Counts are tests, not distinct wells; since 2008 every new well is tested once, so most tests are unique wells. Shares are against the NC 2L groundwater standard where one exists (manganese 50 ug/L, lead 15, iron 300) and otherwise the EPA limit. Medians are not used because more than half of results sit at the reporting limit for most analytes. Retrieved September 9, 2026.
USGS national arsenic model (Ayotte 2017): estimated share of 49,917 people on private wells in Alamance 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.
NC DEQ regulated sites: 795 regulated sites located in Alamance County. Underground storage tank incidents from the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality UST Section. Retrieved September 9, 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.