Well water in Preston County, West Virginia

Name: Private well water quality in Preston County, West Virginia
Creator: Well Water Nerd
License: Public domain (US federal government data)

In Preston County, 3% of 31 tested well samples exceeded the EPA limit for lead (15 ug/L), based on public data from USGS Water Quality Portal.

The strongest signal is E. coli: 8% of 13 local samples were above the limit, too few samples to carry the headline but first on the test list below.

380 test results across 15 contaminants from at least 31 wells, 1941 to 2021; nitrate has the most at 50. Data refreshed September 15, 2026.

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

An estimated 13,915 people in Preston County get their drinking water from a private well, per USGS 2015 county water use. That is about 41% of residents.

Separately, the USGS national arsenic model estimates that 1% of the 13,915 people on private wells in Preston 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 Preston 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
E. coli 2002 to 2008	8%	13	8%	0	2	0 MPN/100mL EPA limit
Arsenic 1984 to 2021	4%	28	43%	0	12	10 ug/L EPA limit
Lead 1981 to 2021	3%	31	39%	0	17.1	15 ug/L EPA limit
Nitrate 1961 to 2021	2%	50	54%	0.045	11.3	10 mg/L EPA limit
Fluoride 1961 to 2021	0%	37	76%	0.1	1.7	4 mg/L EPA limit
Copper 1981 to 2021	0%	18	44%	0	0.155	1.3 mg/L EPA limit
Uranium 1996 to 2021	0%	14	36%	0	0.041	30 ug/L EPA limit
Radium (226 + 228) 2011	0%	13	92%	0.79	3.2	5 pCi/L EPA limit
Manganese 1961 to 2021	no limit	41	100%	130	6,400	300 ug/L health guideline
Iron 1941 to 2021	no limit	38	97%	192	25,000	300 ug/L nuisance level
Sodium 1961 to 2021	no limit	37	100%	8.67	1,150	20 mg/L health guideline
Chloride 1961 to 2021	no limit	37	100%	4.96	1,650	250 mg/L nuisance level
Radon 1996 to 2008	no limit	17	100%	180	4,130	2,000 pCi/L health guideline

Sampled fewer than 10 times, too few to summarize: PFOA (3), PFOS (3).

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	0%18 samples	4%26 samples	n/a	n/a
Fluoride	0%14 samples	0%13 samples	n/a	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 e. coli (8% of 13 samples), arsenic (4% of 28 samples), and lead (3% of 31 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.

Manganese, Iron, and Chloride 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 Preston County

1
E. coli
8% of 13 local samples were above the limit.
2
Arsenic
4% of 28 local samples were above the limit.
3
Lead
3% of 31 local samples were above the limit.
4
Nitrate
2% of 50 local samples were above the limit.
5
Radon
Median local reading is 180 pCi/L.
6
Manganese
Detected in 100% of local samples.
7
Chloride
Detected in 100% of local samples.

Test your Preston County well for E. coli, arsenic and lead

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 West Virginia: certified labs, state programs and prices.

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

The rock under Preston County

Pennsylvanian aquifers

Sandstone. Sandstone wells draw from pore space in the rock and tend to be dependable. Iron, manganese and hardness are common, and some sandstones carry arsenic or radium, so a first test should include both.

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 West Virginia

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.

Individual Water Supplies, WV OEHS
Water Quality Laboratories Certified in WV, WV OEHS

Treatment that fits the local profile

E. coli

Shock chlorination and fix the well cap or casing; UV disinfection whole-house; Chlorination system

Arsenic

Point-of-use reverse osmosis; Adsorptive media (iron-based) whole-house; Anion exchange

Lead

Point-of-use reverse osmosis; Certified lead-removal carbon filter; Neutralizing filter to raise pH and stop leaching

Nitrate

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

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 E. coli

UV disinfection system

whole-house, at the point of entry, about $900

Fix the well cap and casing first; UV keeps bacteria from returning.

For E. coli

Aquasana Rhino Well Water with UV

whole-house, at the point of entry, about $2,871

Whole-house system built for wells: sediment pre-filter, KDF and carbon, and a UV lamp rated to kill 99.99% of bacteria and viruses. It does not remove arsenic, nitrate, uranium or radon.

For arsenic

Under-sink reverse osmosis system

under-sink or countertop, about $300

Look for NSF/ANSI 58 certification listing the contaminant you need removed.

For arsenic

Whole-house arsenic and uranium filter

whole-house, at the point of entry, about $2,500

Adsorptive iron-based media; sized to your well yield.

For arsenic

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 lead

Aquasana Claryum 3-Stage under-sink filter

under-sink or countertop, about $175

Certified to NSF/ANSI 53 to reduce 99% of lead and 99.7% of PFOA and PFOS at the tap. Not a fix for arsenic, nitrate or bacteria.

For lead

Acid neutralizing filter

whole-house, at the point of entry, about $1,200

Raises pH so plumbing stops leaching lead and copper.

Free, no obligation

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

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

Common questions

Is there arsenic in well water in Preston County?

Arsenic was detected in 43% of 28 public well samples in Preston County, and 4% 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 high is radon in well water in Preston County?

The median radon level across 17 public samples in Preston County was 180 pCi/L, with a high of 4,130 pCi/L. New Hampshire recommends treatment above 2,000 pCi/L.

How often should I test a private well in Preston 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 Preston 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 West Virginia dataset as CSV, every county and town, with the sources named.

Sources

USGS Water Quality Portal: 380 samples in Preston 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.
USGS national arsenic model (Ayotte 2017): estimated share of 13,915 people on private wells in Preston 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.

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.