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About 1.1 million Texans rely on private wells for their drinking water.* Under the Safe Drinking Water Act, water supply systems for communities with less than 15 connections or 25 people are not regulated, meaning they do not have to meet federal and state monitoring and treatment standards. Those served by private wells must test their own water themselves to determine if it is safe to drink, particularly to ascertain high levels of coliform bacteria and nitrates, the two most common pollutants found in Texas. There are a number of government-run laboratories—mainly county health departments—around the state that can help citizens test their water.
Surveys of the groundwater quality of private wells in Texas are rare. Between May 1999 and September 2001, the
Texas Agricultural Extension Services sampled private wells in 34 counties. Approximately 7.5 percent of the wells tested positive for fecal coliforms, while four percent had levels of
nitrogen or nitrates above an action level of 8 mg per liter. In addition, an analysis done by the TCEQ of private well data collected by the Texas Water Development Board found that 7.7
percent have alpha concentratations above the MCL of 15 picocuries per liter; 9.2 percent had arsenic levels above the MCL*. These results suggest that much greater testing of private wells and dissemination of the results is needed.
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