Last checked: October 22, 2026

Licensed well drillers and certified water labs in Pennsylvania

Every Pennsylvania well driller on the state's licensed driller database, Chester County's own licensed driller list, and labs DEP has accredited for basic well water tests. Filter by county or search by name.

How Pennsylvania licenses well drillers and labs

• Drillers need a state license. Pennsylvania law requires water well drillers to get a license from DCNR's Bureau of Geological Survey.¹ The license year runs June 1 to May 31.²
• A license is not a skills test. DCNR says a license "does not imply that a driller has knowledge of proper drilling or well construction practice," and Pennsylvania has no statewide construction or siting standards for private wells, though some municipalities do.¹
• Voluntary certification: DCNR points to the National Ground Water Association's voluntary driller certification, adding that a lack of certification doesn't mean a driller can't build a good well.¹
• Chester County licenses well drillers, pump installers and geothermal contractors itself under its Chapter 500 rules. The county says licensing does not imply endorsement of any company.³
• Labs: DEP tells well owners to always use a state-certified lab and publishes lists of labs accredited for bacteriological and chemical drinking water tests.⁴

Check a license yourself

• State driller license: search the Pennsylvania Licensed Water Well Drillers Database by name, county served or service type. Questions: DCNR Bureau of Geological Survey, 717-702-2017.¹
• Chester County license: see the county's licensed well driller list (PDF) or call the Chester County Health Department at 610-344-6688.³
• Lab accreditation: DEP's water testing page links its current accredited-lab lists and the DEP offices that sell bacteria test kits.⁴

The list

The lab list below is DEP's most recent published report (June 2024), so confirm a lab's current accreditation with the lab or DEP. We only list labs accredited for at least one of the basic tests DEP recommends for wells (bacteria, nitrate, total dissolved solids, pH) or for arsenic, lead, iron, manganese or uranium.

Sources for this list

• Pennsylvania Licensed Water Well Drillers database (DCNR Bureau of Geological Survey) (live database, downloaded 2026-10-22): 248 entries
• Chester County Health Department licensed well drillers (revised 9-24-26) (revised 2026-09-24): 38 entries
• PA DEP Accredited Labs Reports for drinking water (microbiology 6/13/2024, chemistry 6/11/2024), linked from DEP's private well water testing page (reports dated June 2024): 113 entries

Home inspectors and well inspections

A standard home inspection usually doesn't include a full check of the well. If you're buying or selling a home with a well, ask the home inspector whether they do a well flow (yield) test and water sampling, which state-certified lab runs the samples, and whether they look at the well cap, pressure tank and pump controls. Otherwise, hire a licensed well contractor for the well itself and a certified lab for the water. Are you a home inspector? See our well inspection guide for home inspectors.

NGWA (the National Ground Water Association, a private trade group) recommends a yearly well checkup by a qualified water well professional: a flow test, checks of the water level, pump, pressure tank and switch, a sanitary and code check, a coliform bacteria and nitrate test (plus anything of local concern), and a written report.⁵ To find one, use NGWA's contractor lookup on wellowner.org and its certified professionals directory. These are run by a trade association, not a state agency, so still check the state license.

Where a state publishes its home inspector license list, we load it on that state's page (currently North Carolina and New York). Other states we cover: Texas licenses inspectors through the Texas Real Estate Commission, but TREC's public data file doesn't include a location, so use TREC's license holder search. Wisconsin credentials home inspectors through DSPS, which sells its list rather than publishing it, so use DSPS's credential search. Pennsylvania and Michigan don't have a state license list for home inspectors that we could use.

Water treatment dealers

We list water treatment dealers (softener, filter and treatment system installers) only where a state publishes an official license list. A few states license this work. Where a state publishes its license list we load it (so far Texas: TCEQ Water Treatment Specialists), and where we've found a state license without a usable list, it's noted on that state's page, so check with your state too. To find someone with a voluntary credential, use these lookups. They are run by private trade associations, not by any government agency. A listing there is not a state license, and these groups mostly list their own members:

• Water Quality Association (WQA): Find a WQA-certified professional (people who hold WQA's voluntary certifications) and find WQA-certified treatment products (products WQA has tested and certified).
• National Ground Water Association (NGWA): Find a water well contractor on NGWA's wellowner.org (NGWA members; NGWA says it "neither endorses nor guarantees the work of any company listed")⁶ and the directory of NGWA-certified professionals.

Before you buy treatment, get your water tested by a state-certified lab (each state page lists or links them) and run the results through the free Well Test Results Checker, so you only treat for what's actually in your water.

Questions to ask before hiring a well contractor

Get information on several contractors before you choose.⁷ These questions come from the National Ground Water Association's well owner guidance and New York DEC's consumer checklist:⁷⁸

• Are you licensed, registered or certified by the state for this work? Not every state requires it. Check the answer yourself with the state lookup on this page.
• Is the person supervising the job certified? NGWA offers voluntary certification; its highest level is Master Groundwater Contractor (MGWC).⁷
• Do you file a well log or completion report, and will I get a copy? Some states require the driller to give the owner a copy (New York does, for example).⁸ Keep it with your deed.⁷
• What liability and workers' compensation insurance do you carry?⁷
• Can I talk to recent customers? Ask for references and call them.⁸
• Will you give me a written contract?⁷ In New York, for example, home improvement work over $500 needs a written contract by law.⁸
• Do I need a local permit? Check with your local health and building code officials. Some counties set their own rules.⁸

What to check on a quote

Get more than one estimate.⁸ NGWA says an itemized list of charges is better than a lump sum, because you can't compare offers unless you know what each one covers.⁷ For a drilled well, look for:⁷

• Price per foot of drilling and per foot of casing, plus the casing diameter and thickness
• Other materials (drive shoe, grout, well cap) and other steps (grouting, development, test pumping, disinfection)
• The type of well cap or seal, and the disinfection procedure
• What happens, and what it costs, if they must drill deeper or drill a second well, or abandon and seal a dry or bad hole
• Cleanup of the site, an expected start date, and a guarantee of materials and workmanship
• A statement that the work will meet state and local codes
• What is not included

When the well is finished, NGWA suggests checking the depth against the construction report, asking what yield (gallons per minute) the well was tested at, making sure the cap is secure and at least 6 inches above ground, asking whether the well was disinfected, and getting your copy of the well record.⁷

Buying treatment? Test first. A lab report from a state-certified lab tells you what you're actually treating for. Pennsylvania DEP, for example, says to pick a treatment device for the specific contaminant your test found, and points to NSF's product database.⁹ Put your numbers into our free Well Test Results Checker to see how they compare with EPA benchmarks.

More for Pennsylvania well owners

• Private well testing in Pennsylvania: DEP's testing advice, Penn State county data, test kits
• County pages: Berks, Chester, Lancaster, York
• County directories: Berks, Chester, Lancaster, York
• Well Test Results Checker