Free testing, with limits
Montana's free well testing is only for childcare facilities. Check which tests it includes before you count on it for lead.
Montana's private well pageLead in Montana well water, by county
Lead is widespread, over the limit in 15% or more of tested wells, in 1 of the 17 Montana counties with 10 or more tested wells. 1 more look high, but those results likely overstate it. A county's share tells you how likely a problem is nearby. Only a test of your own well tells you what's in it.
These tests sample the groundwater, and lead rarely comes from the ground. In a home it mostly comes from plumbing: old solder, brass fittings and some older pumps. So a county's share can't tell you about your pipes. Test a first-draw sample, water that sat in the pipes overnight, from the tap you drink from.
How Montana compares with the rest of the country
Across Montana, about 1 in 24 tested wells had lead over the EPA action level of 15 µg/L (28 of 677). Across all tested wells in the US it's under 1 in 50. So lead turns up in Montana wells about 3 times as often as in the country as a whole, and a test is worth adding even if your county isn't on the list below.
Why it matters: It harms children's growing brains. The CDC says no amount in a child's blood is known to be safe.
Lead in tested wells, county by county
Share of each county's tested wells with at least one result over the EPA action level of 15 µg/L. Counties need 10 or more tested wells to be listed. Widespread means 15% or more, worth checking 5 to 15%, rare under 5%.
| County | Wells tested | Wells over the limit | Level |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jefferson County | 21 | Widespread | |
| Powder River County | 73 | Widespread | |
| Richland County | 16 | Worth checking | |
| Silver Bow County | 28 | Rare | |
| Lewis and Clark County | 70 | Rare | |
| Rosebud County | 192 | Rare | |
| Powell County | 53 | Rare | |
| Roosevelt County | 49 | Rare | |
| Glacier County | 31 | Rare | |
| Flathead County | 18 | Rare | |
| Ravalli County | 18 | Rare | |
| Carbon County | 14 | Rare | |
| Valley County | 13 | Rare | |
| Big Horn County | 12 | Rare | |
| Yellowstone County | 12 | Rare | |
| Cascade County | 11 | Rare | |
| Sheridan County | 10 | Rare |
* Likely overstated. These shares come from a narrow set of wells, so they probably run high for the county as a whole:
- Powder River County: All of these tests come from a single agency in one small part of the county, so it may not match the rest of the county.
11 more Montana counties have 1 to 9 tested wells for lead, too few to rate.
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Where to get your well tested for lead in Montana
A lab Montana certifies
Ask for lead by name. Results from a certified lab count for a home sale or a loan.
Labs certified by MontanaA mail-in kit
Fill the bottles at your kitchen tap and mail them back. We mark the kits that include lead.
Compare kitsKeep reading about wells in Montana
- Well water testing in Montana: how to get tested and what turns up statewide
- Lead in well water: where it comes from, what it does and how to remove it
- Nitrate in Montana wells, by county
- Arsenic in Montana wells, by county
- Uranium in Montana wells, by county
- Manganese in Montana wells, by county
- Radon in Montana wells, by county
Questions people ask about lead in Montana
Is there lead in Montana well water?
Lead is widespread, over the limit in 15% or more of tested wells, in 1 of the 17 Montana counties with 10 or more tested wells. 1 more look high, but those results likely overstate it. Across Montana, about 1 in 24 tested wells had lead over the EPA action level of 15 µg/L (28 of 677). Across all tested wells in the US it's under 1 in 50. So lead turns up in Montana wells about 3 times as often as in the country as a whole, and a test is worth adding even if your county isn't on the list below.
Where can I get my well tested for lead in Montana?
Montana's free well testing is only for childcare facilities. If that doesn't cover you, use a lab certified by Montana for drinking water, or a mail-in kit that includes lead from a certified lab.
See Montana's list of certified labs, or compare mail-in kits.
Where these numbers come from
- Lab tests: Water Quality Portal (USGS and EPA), well samples since 2000. A well counts as over if any of its tests was over the EPA action level of 15 µg/L. Wells tested for studies and monitoring, not a random sample of homes.
- Likely overstated: our own check of who tested the wells, when and where. How we check.
- State programs and links: Department of Environmental Quality.