Nitrate is widespread in Worth County wells.
1 widespread, 4 rare out of 5 health checks.
From 13 wells tested in Worth County since 2000; your own well needs its own test. How to read this
Not charted, because fewer than 10 wells were tested: uranium (9), radon (3).
Rare: under 5%Worth checking: 5 to 15%Widespread: 15%+
Lab results: Water Quality Portal (USGS and EPA)
Who drinks from a well here
6 in 10 people 12,687 people
Nobody else tests these wells. Only you do.
People on wells: EPA researchers' 2020 estimate
How deep wells go here
Deep wells: fewer surface germs, more minerals from the rock.
Well depths: US Groundwater Well Database
Radon risk (a gas from rock)
Less likely, but the EPA still says test your air.
Radon zones: EPA map
Here's how Worth County compares with Georgia and the counties around it.
Each result puts Worth County next to the 7 counties that border it, on the chart's 0 to 50% scale.
This one is widespread in Worth County wells.
Nitrate4 of 11 wells over
Too few tested to show: Colquitt, Crisp, Lee, Mitchell.
These 4 are rare in Worth County.
Manganese0 of 11 wells over
Too few tested to show: Colquitt, Crisp, Lee, Mitchell.
Arsenic0 of 10 wells over
Too few tested to show: Colquitt, Crisp, Lee, Mitchell.
Lead0 of 10 wells over
Too few tested to show: Colquitt, Crisp, Dougherty, Lee, Mitchell.
Fluoride0 of 10 wells over
Too few tested to show: Colquitt, Crisp, Lee, Mitchell.
Too few Worth County wells were tested for these 2.
Uranium9 wells tested
Radon in water3 wells tested
Coliform bacteria turned up in 3 of 3 tested Worth County wells, so test for it every year.
Coliform bacteria3 of 3 wells had it
E. coli1 of 3 wells had it
E. coli means human or animal waste is getting in, so if a test of your Worth County well finds it, boil drinking water until the well is fixed.
Iron reached staining levels in 0 of 11 tested wells, and it isn't a health risk.
Iron stains0 of 11 wells had it
Too few tested to show: Colquitt, Crisp, Lee, Mitchell.
Worth County has 13 tested wells, and the busiest decade for testing was the 2000s.
Only 1 of the 13 wells have a test from 2020 or later, so a fresh test of your own well tells you more than any of these.
Most Worth County wells in these records were tested for research or because someone suspected a problem, which can push the shares above what a typical home well would show (how we read the numbers).
One mail-in lab test covers the 3 things to check in Worth County.
- Bacteria
- Nitrate
- Arsenic
What Georgia offers well owners
- Free testingWe didn't find a free program for all of Georgia. Georgia's private well page
- Certified labsGeorgia's list of certified labs
- Well recordsWe didn't find an online search.
Half the wells on record here are shallower than 460 feet.
That comes from 544 wells in Georgia's drilling records. Most wells of every kind here are 300 to 600 feet deep. Wells as deep as Worth County's are usually better protected from fertilizer and bacteria at the surface, but they can pick up more of what's in the rock, like arsenic and uranium. Typical wells on record here go deeper than in 44 of the 62 other Georgia counties with enough drilling records.
How to find your own well's depth
Well depths: US Groundwater Well Database
Here's what we know about radon and PFAS in Worth County.
Worth County is in the EPA's lowest radon zone, so radon from well water is unlikely to be a problem. Radon guide
Between 2023 and 2025 the EPA had 1 town water system in Worth County test for PFAS. None found any. No well in Worth County has public PFAS results, so the town systems are the best clue to what's in the groundwater nearby. PFAS guide
Radon zones: EPA Map of Radon Zones. PFAS: EPA tests of town water systems, 2023 to 2025
Questions people ask about well water in Worth County
Is well water in Worth County safe to drink?
4 of 11 wells tested in Worth County had nitrate over the limit, about 1 in 3. Across Georgia it's about 1 in 18. That's the highest share among the 14 Georgia counties with 10 or more tested wells. So test your own well for nitrate before you count on it.
Where can I get my well tested in Worth County?
Use a lab Georgia has certified for drinking water. Georgia's list is linked above, in the box about testing. Ask for bacteria, nitrate and arsenic, the tests that matter most in Worth County.
How deep are wells in Worth County?
Half the wells on record here are shallower than 460 feet. Typical wells on record here go deeper than in 44 of the 62 other Georgia counties with enough drilling records.
How does Worth County compare with the counties around it?
For nitrate, the share of tested wells over the limit: Worth County, at 36%, had a higher share than all 3 neighboring counties with data. Groundwater doesn't stop at county lines, so Tift's 29% is worth knowing about if you live near it.
How often should I test my well in Worth County?
In Worth County, 3 of 3 tested wells had coliform bacteria, so the CDC's advice matters here: test for bacteria and nitrate every year, and right away after a flood, a repair, or any change in taste or smell.
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Where the Worth County numbers come from
- People on wells: 12,687 in Worth County, from EPA estimates built on the 2020 Census (Murray et al.).
- Lab tests: 119 well water samples from 13 wells in the Water Quality Portal, run by the USGS and EPA, 2000 to 2023.
- Well depths: 544 Georgia drilling records for Worth County, gathered in the US Groundwater Well Database (Lin and others, 2024).
- Neighboring counties: the 7 counties that share a border with Worth County, from the Census Bureau's county adjacency file.
- PFAS: EPA tests of 1 town water systems in Worth County under the Fifth Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Rule, 2023 to 2025.
- Radon: Worth County is zone 3 on the EPA Map of Radon Zones.
- State programs and links: University of Georgia Cooperative Extension (labs certified by Environmental Protection Division), checked November 1, 2026.