Well water in Chambers County, Texas

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Testing recommended

tested well samples in Chambers County exceeded the EPA limit for nitrate (10 mg/L), based on public data from USGS Water Quality Portal and Texas Water Development Board Groundwater Database.

The strongest signal is gross alpha: 33% of 15 local samples were above the limit, too few samples to carry the headline but first on the test list below.

1,383 test results across 16 contaminants from at least 553 wells, 1935 to 2025; chloride has the most at 614. Data refreshed September 15, 2026.

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

TWDB samples an ambient monitoring network of wells on a rotation, so these describe aquifers, not a survey of homeowners' tests.

An estimated 7,949 people in Chambers County get their drinking water from a private well, per USGS 2015 county water use. That is about 20% of residents.

Separately, the USGS national arsenic model estimates that 2% of the 7,949 people on private wells in Chambers County draw water above 10 ug/L (the model's range is 1% to 3%), from geology and well depth rather than local tests.

What individual samples found

Each row summarizes every public sample for that contaminant inside Chambers 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
Gross alpha 1992 to 2025	33%	15	60%	5.7	48.8	15 pCi/L EPA limit
Nitrate 1941 to 2025	10%	153	71%	0.86	100	10 mg/L EPA limit
Fluoride 1941 to 2025	0%	66	98%	0.55	3.85	4 mg/L EPA limit
Arsenic 1992 to 2025	0%	54	48%	0	7.59	10 ug/L EPA limit
Copper 1992 to 2025	0%	50	44%	0	0.026	1.3 mg/L EPA limit
Lead 1992 to 2025	0%	50	14%	0	2.16	15 ug/L EPA limit
Uranium 1994 to 2025	0%	39	49%	0	5.39	30 ug/L EPA limit
Radium (226 + 228) 2002 to 2025	0%	32	75%	0.415	3	5 pCi/L EPA limit
Chloride 1935 to 2025	no limit	614	100%	291	4,710	250 mg/L nuisance level
Sodium 1935 to 2025	no limit	198	100%	258	1,070	20 mg/L health guideline
Manganese 1992 to 2025	no limit	57	98%	90.2	718	300 ug/L health guideline
Iron 1966 to 2025	no limit	37	89%	210	2,060	300 ug/L nuisance level

Sampled fewer than 10 times, too few to summarize: E. coli (8), PFOA (1), PFOS (1), Radon (8).

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
Nitrate	13%121 samples	0%18 samples	0%10 samples	n/a
Fluoride	0%47 samples	0%10 samples	n/a	n/a
Arsenic	0%17 samples	0%23 samples	0%10 samples	n/a
Copper	0%17 samples	0%19 samples	0%10 samples	n/a
Lead	0%17 samples	0%19 samples	0%10 samples	n/a
Uranium	0%12 samples	0%13 samples	0%10 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 gross alpha (33% of 15 samples) and nitrate (10% of 153 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, Manganese, and Iron 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 Chambers County

1
Gross alpha
33% of 15 local samples were above the limit.
2
Nitrate
10% of 153 local samples were above the limit.
3
Coliform bacteria
Recommended for every private well, every year.
4
Radon
Median local reading is 295 pCi/L.
5
Chloride
Detected in 100% of local samples.
6
Fluoride
Detected in 98% of local samples.
7
Manganese
Detected in 98% of local samples.
8
Volatile organic compounds (VOCs)
50 leaking underground storage tank sites on record locally.

Test your Chambers County well for gross alpha, nitrate 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.

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 Texas: certified labs, state programs and prices.

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

Official help in Texas

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, Texas Groundwater Protection Committee
Environmental Laboratory (NELAP) Accreditation, TCEQ

Contamination sources on record in Chambers County

TCEQ records 50 leaking underground storage tank sites in Chambers County, among 56 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.

50: leaking underground storage tank sitesGasoline and heating oil that leaked from tanks move through groundwater as benzene, MTBE and other volatile organic compounds.
6: lined landfills and transfer facilities

Treatment that fits the local profile

Gross alpha

Point-of-use reverse osmosis; Water softener (cation exchange) for radium; Anion exchange for uranium

Nitrate

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

Chloride

Point-of-use reverse osmosis; Distillation

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 gross alpha

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 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 Chambers County

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

Common questions

Is there arsenic in well water in Chambers County?

Arsenic was detected in 48% of 54 public well samples in Chambers County, and 0% 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 often should I test a private well in Chambers 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 Chambers 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 Texas dataset as CSV, every county and town, with the sources named.

Sources

USGS Water Quality Portal: 724 samples in Chambers 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.
Texas Water Development Board Groundwater Database: 659 samples in Chambers County. Water quality samples from the Texas Water Development Board Groundwater Database, collected by TWDB, groundwater conservation districts and cooperators. Retrieved September 9, 2026.
USGS national arsenic model (Ayotte 2017): estimated share of 7,949 people on private wells in Chambers 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.
TCEQ regulated sites: 56 regulated sites located in Chambers County. Leaking petroleum storage tank sites, state Superfund sites and municipal solid waste landfills from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. 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.