Well water in Dare County, North Carolina

In Dare County, 5% of 462 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).

462 private wells tested 1998 to 2019 in state summaries; 314 test results across 12 contaminants from at least 56 wells, 1943 to 1995; chloride has the most at 74. Data refreshed September 15, 2026.

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

An estimated 3,038 people in Dare County get their drinking water from a private well, per USGS 2015 county water use. That is about 9% of residents.

Separately, the USGS national arsenic model estimates that 2% of the 3,038 people on private wells in Dare County draw water above 10 ug/L (the model's range is 2% to 3%), 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	44%	462	900	50 ug/L
Iron	39%	223	22,000	300 ug/L
Lead	5%	462	88	15 ug/L
Nitrate	2%	50	20	10 mg/L
Arsenic	2%	462	21	10 ug/L
Copper	<1%	223	7.4	1 mg/L
Nitrite	0%	50	0.071	1 mg/L

What individual samples found

Each row summarizes every public sample for that contaminant inside Dare 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 1947 to 1995	4%	49	88%	0.05	13	10 mg/L EPA limit
Fluoride 1943 to 1995	2%	42	100%	0.2	5	4 mg/L EPA limit
Chloride 1943 to 1995	no limit	74	100%	31.5	9,860	250 mg/L nuisance level
Iron 1943 to 1995	no limit	63	100%	370	31,000	300 ug/L nuisance level
Sodium 1955 to 1995	no limit	34	100%	28.5	5,050	20 mg/L health guideline
Manganese 1947 to 1995	no limit	32	100%	30	327	300 ug/L health guideline

Sampled fewer than 10 times, too few to summarize: Copper (7), Uranium (3), Arsenic (3), Radium (226 + 228) (3), Lead (3), Radon (1).

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 Dare County who sent a sample to the state lab, the health-based limits most often exceeded were lead (5% of 462 wells), nitrate (2% of 50 wells), and arsenic (2% of 462 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 Dare County

1
Lead
5% of 462 local wells tested were above the North Carolina groundwater standard.
2
Nitrate
4% of 49 local samples were above the limit.
3
Fluoride
2% of 42 local samples were above the limit.
4
Arsenic
2% of 462 local wells tested were above the North Carolina groundwater standard.
5
Copper
<1% of 223 local wells tested were above the North Carolina groundwater standard.
6
Coliform bacteria
Recommended for every private well, every year.
7
Manganese
44% of 462 local wells tested were above the North Carolina groundwater standard.
8
Iron
39% of 223 local wells tested were above the North Carolina groundwater standard.
9
Volatile organic compounds (VOCs)
121 leaking underground storage tank sites on record locally.

Test your Dare County well for lead, nitrate and fluoride

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 Dare County numbers, $29. Every line explained, ranked by what matters, with the fix for each.

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 Dare County

NC DEQ records 121 leaking underground storage tank sites in Dare County, among 121 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.

121: 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

Nitrate

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

Fluoride

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

Chloride

Point-of-use reverse osmosis; Distillation

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.

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.

Free, no obligation

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

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

Common questions

How often should I test a private well in Dare 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 Dare 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: 314 samples in Dare 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 Dare County, up to 462 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 3,038 people on private wells in Dare 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: 121 regulated sites located in Dare 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.