Well Water Nerd

Well water in Navarro County, Texas

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Testing strongly recommended

tested well samples in Navarro 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.

182 test results across 11 contaminants from at least 37 wells, 1968 to 2001; sodium has the most at 51. 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 3,219 people in Navarro County get their drinking water from a private well, per USGS 2015 county water use. That is about 7% of residents.

Separately, the USGS national arsenic model estimates that <1% of the 3,219 people on private wells in Navarro County draw water above 10 ug/L, from geology and well depth rather than local tests.

What individual samples found

Each row summarizes every public sample for that contaminant inside Navarro 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.

ContaminantAbove limitSamplesDetectedMedianHighestLimit
Nitrate
1968 to 2001
3494%2956710 mg/L
EPA limit
Fluoride
1968 to 2001
49100%0.463.54 mg/L
EPA limit
Sodium
1968 to 2001
no limit51100%7979120 mg/L
health guideline
Chloride
1968 to 2001
no limit24100%80.5820250 mg/L
nuisance level

Sampled fewer than 10 times, too few to summarize: Lead (4), Arsenic (4), Copper (3), Uranium (1), Gross alpha (1), Iron (6), Manganese (5).

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 (74% of 34 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 Navarro County

  1. 1
    Nitrate
    74% of 34 local samples were above the limit.
  2. 2
    Coliform bacteria
    Recommended for every private well, every year.
  3. 3
    Fluoride
    Detected in 100% of local samples.
  4. 4
    Chloride
    Detected in 100% of local samples.
  5. 5
    Iron
    Detected in 83% of local samples.
  6. 6
    Manganese
    Detected in 80% of local samples.
  7. 7
    Copper
    Detected in 67% of local samples.
  8. 8
    Volatile organic compounds (VOCs)
    95 leaking underground storage tank sites on record locally.
  9. 9
    Metals panel
    1 hazardous waste site on record locally.

Test your Navarro County well for nitrate, coliform bacteria 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 $209Already 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 Navarro County numbers, $29. Every line explained, ranked by what matters, with the fix for each.

The rock under Navarro 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 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.

Contamination sources on record in Navarro County

TCEQ records 95 leaking underground storage tank sites and 1 hazardous waste site in Navarro County, among 109 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.

95
leaking underground storage tank sitesGasoline and heating oil that leaked from tanks move through groundwater as benzene, MTBE and other volatile organic compounds.
1
hazardous waste siteSolvents, degreasers and metals from industrial sites can travel far in fractured bedrock.
13
lined landfills and transfer facilities

Treatment that fits the local profile

Nitrate

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

Chloride

Point-of-use reverse osmosis; Distillation

Iron

Oxidizing filter whole-house; Water softener (low levels); Aeration plus filtration

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 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 Navarro County

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

What are you worried about?

The test is free and there is no obligation. No company is named yet; your details stay with us until one joins for your area, and we log the time and address of this request.

Common questions

How often should I test a private well in Navarro 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 Navarro 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: 103 samples in Navarro 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: 79 samples in Navarro 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 3,219 people on private wells in Navarro 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: 109 regulated sites located in Navarro 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.