Last checked:
Private wells in Kentucky: labs, drillers and who to call
One place for Kentucky well owners, buyers and the pros who work with them: the state's private well program, how to find a state-certified lab and a licensed well driller, and every Kentucky page on this site. Every fact links to its source.
Kentucky at a glance
- Who's on a well: USGS estimates about 441,000 people in Kentucky supplied their own household water in 2015, about 10% of the state's population. Most of them use private wells.1
- Who tests: EPA rules for public water systems don't apply to private wells, so testing is up to the owner. CDC says to test at least once a year for total coliform bacteria, nitrates, total dissolved solids and pH, use a state-certified lab, and ask your health department what else to test for where you live.2
- Selling or buying a home: we haven't reviewed Kentucky's home-sale testing or disclosure rules yet, so we don't say whether a test is required. Ask your agent or attorney and the state program below, and see the state table in our homebuyer's guide.
Who to contact
- State private well information: Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet: Water Well Information.3
- Licensed well drillers: we haven't confirmed Kentucky's well driller licensing page yet. Ask the state program above or your county or local health department who licenses drillers, and see getting a new well drilled.
- State-certified labs: the Kentucky Department for Environmental Protection certifies labs for drinking water testing. Request the list from the program on the certification program page. Many certified labs are city or industry labs that only test their own samples, so call before you send a sample.4
- Local help: CDC says local or state health or environmental departments often test for nitrates and coliform bacteria, should have a list of certified labs, and can help you understand your results.2
- EPA Safe Drinking Water Hotline: (800) 426-4791.2
County pages
We haven't published a Kentucky county page yet. Until we do, the state contacts above and the guides below apply statewide.
Find a pro in Kentucky
Our directory doesn't cover Kentucky yet. Use the official driller and lab lookups above.
Guides for Kentucky well owners
- Buying a home with a well (offer contingencies, which tests to order, and home-sale rules by state)
- Who regulates private wells?
- How often to test a private well
- Best way to test well water
- How to read your well water test results
- Arsenic in well water, nitrate, uranium and radon
- Getting a new well drilled
- Shock chlorinating a well
- For professionals: selling a home with a well (realtors) and homes with a well (home inspectors)
-
Dieter, C.A., and others, 2018, Estimated Use of Water in the United States County-Level Data for 2015 (ver. 2.0), U.S. Geological Survey data release (state totals of the county self-supplied domestic population). https://doi.org/10.5066/F7TB15V5 ↩
-
CDC, "Guidelines for Testing Well Water" (July 1, 2024). https://www.cdc.gov/drinking-water/safety/guidelines-for-testing-well-water.html ↩↩↩
-
U.S. EPA, "Private Drinking Water Well Programs in Your State" (state links; we updated links that had moved). https://www.epa.gov/privatewells/private-drinking-water-well-programs-your-state ↩
-
U.S. EPA, "State Certification Programs Certify Laboratories to Conduct Drinking Water Analyses" (August 2025). https://www.epa.gov/system/files/documents/2023-03/state-cert-programs-certify-labs-to-conduct-drinking-water-analyses.pdf ↩