Last checked:
Private wells in New Jersey: labs, drillers and who to call
One place for New Jersey 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 New Jersey page on this site. Every fact links to its source.
New Jersey at a glance
- Who's on a well: USGS estimates about 966,000 people in New Jersey supplied their own household water in 2015, about 11% 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: Yes. Under the Private Well Testing Act, a well test is required when a home with a well is sold. The test covers up to 43 parameters, including coliform, nitrate, iron, manganese, pH, lead, arsenic, gross alpha, VOCs and three PFAS, and buyer and seller must review the results before closing.3
Who to contact
- State private well information: New Jersey DEP: Private Wells.4
- Licensed well drillers: we haven't confirmed New Jersey'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 New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection certifies labs for drinking water testing. Find a certified drinking water lab (DataMiner, category: certified drinking water labs). Many certified labs are city or industry labs that only test their own samples, so call before you send a sample.5
- 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
- Well water testing in Hunterdon County, NJHunterdon County Health Department contact, New Jersey Private Well Testing Act requirements (including uranium for Hunterdon), certified-lab lookup, and cost estimates, with sources.
Find a pro in New Jersey
Our directory doesn't cover New Jersey yet. Use the official driller and lab lookups above.
Guides for New Jersey 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 ↩↩↩
-
NJDEP, Private Well Testing Act. https://dep.nj.gov/privatewells/pwta/ ↩
-
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 ↩