How to Get Your Drinking Water Tested: A Guide for City Water and Private Wells

What should I test for? 

The most common question our team gets about water testing is where to start. There is no single test that captures everything because bacteria, metals, PFAS, pesticides, and other contaminant classes require different analytical methods. The right testing plan depends on your water source and the contaminants that occur in your area. 

Water Testing for City Water 

If you're on city water, start with your utility's Consumer Confidence Report (CCR), which is sometimes called the annual water quality report. It is free, required under the Safe Drinking Water Act, and summarizes your utility’s water source, monitoring results, detected regulated contaminants, and compliance with drinking-water requirements. For contaminants like lead, which come from lead-containing service lines and plumbing, the CCR gives you the results from selected taps sampled from various homes within the city.

Even though the CCR contains a lot of water testing data, we recommend that homeowners test their water for PFAS, while homes with older plumbing and service lines should also consider a first-draw lead test to see if lead leaches into the water.

Water Testing for Well Water 

If you get your water from a private well, federal testing and reporting rules do not apply, and the well owner is responsible for testing the water. EPA recommends testing every year for total coliform bacteria, nitrate, total dissolved solids, and pH. Test more frequently if your area experiences flooding, or whenever the water changes in taste, smell, or color. 

More advanced testing of well water can uncover chemical contamination that can cause health problems over time. For example, some parts of the country have bedrock that contains things like arsenic, radon, and uranium, so if your home is in these regions, we recommend those tests. Another type of testing we routinely recommend is for PFAS (sometimes known as forever chemicals). A USGS study estimated that at least one of the 32 PFAS it measured could be detected in about 45 percent of U.S. drinking-water samples, including rural areas. 

Do I need to use a certified lab? 

Yes, the EPA's guidance is blunt: "Only use laboratories that are certified to do drinking water testing." Certified drinking-water laboratories use approved analytical methods, pass periodic onsite audits, and successfully complete proficiency testing for each method and analyte covered by their certification. Certification is analyte-specific, so a lab certified for metals has demonstrated nothing about its PFAS work. 

Where can I get my water tested? 

The Hydroviv team can help you scope a testing plan and point you to options near you, including free or subsidized programs where your state or county offers them. If you'd rather source a lab yourself, start with your state's list of certified drinking-water laboratories; your local health department may also test, distribute kits, or point private-well owners toward subsidized programs. 

What does laboratory testing cost? 

Cost depends on what you choose to test for. For example, the testing that the CCR reports on would cost over $1,000 to get done on your own. PFAS testing alone can cost several hundred dollars per sample. If you have questions about what you should be testing for in your area to help you manage cost, the Hydroviv team is happy to give you guidance. 

What should I expect from the water testing process? 

The lab mails a kit with bottles, instructions, and a return label. Read the instructions closely.  

Some bottles ship with preservative inside, so you won’t want to rinse the bottles unless the instructions specifically say to. 

Sampling for lead testing has a more detailed "first-draw" collection protocol that is designed to collect water that is sitting stagnant in the pipes, which creates the conditions where lead could leach into the water. You’ll be instructed to collect the sample only after water has been unused for at least six hours. It’s important to follow this because collecting water that has been used more recently could result in a lower-than-normal result. 

When sampling for PFAS, the instructions may call out specific things you need to do to prevent cross-contamination during the sampling process (e.g., don’t wear waterproof clothing, don’t handle food wrappers prior to sampling). 

How do I read the results of water testing? 

Start with the applicable federal or state drinking-water standard to determine how the result compares with the legal limit. Then look at EPA’s Maximum Contaminant Level Goal, or MCLG, for additional health context. Hydroviv generally treats the MCLG as the more health-protective benchmark because it does not account for treatment cost or technical feasibility. Some MCLGs are set at zero, however, so they should not be interpreted as laboratory detection thresholds. For contaminants without an enforceable standard or MCLG, look for current EPA health advisories or guidance from your state health or environmental agency.  

Look for a product certified for reduction of the specific contaminant found in your water. Check the product’s official certification listing because certification to an NSF/ANSI standard does not mean that the product was tested for every reduction claim covered by that standard. 

If you get stuck, reach out via live chat and one of our experts will walk you through it.