Nitrate and lead are worth checking in Atlantic County wells.
2 worth checking, 5 rare out of 7 health checks.
From 48 wells tested in Atlantic County since 2000; your own well needs its own test. How to read this
Rare: under 5%Worth checking: 5 to 15%Widespread: 15%+
Lab results: Water Quality Portal (USGS and EPA)
Who drinks from a well here
1 in 6 people 42,606 people
Nobody else tests these wells. Only you do.
People on wells: EPA researchers' 2020 estimate
How deep wells go here
Middle depth: some shelter from the surface, not complete.
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 Atlantic County compares with New Jersey and the counties around it.
Each result puts Atlantic County next to the 6 counties that border it, on the chart's 0 to 50% scale.
These 2 are worth checking in Atlantic County.
Nitrate4 of 41 wells over
Too few tested to show: Cape May.
Lead2 of 28 wells over
Too few tested to show: Cape May.
These 5 are rare in Atlantic County.
Manganese1 of 45 wells over
Radon in water0 of 11 wells over
Too few tested to show: Cape May.
Uranium0 of 11 wells over
Too few tested to show: Cape May.
Arsenic0 of 37 wells over
Fluoride0 of 35 wells over
Coliform bacteria turned up in 3 of 12 tested Atlantic County wells, so test for it every year.
Coliform bacteria3 of 12 wells had it
E. coli0 of 12 wells had it
E. coli means human or animal waste is getting in, so if a test of your Atlantic County well finds it, boil drinking water until the well is fixed.
Iron reached staining levels in 8 of 47 tested wells, and it isn't a health risk.
Iron stains8 of 47 wells had it
Atlantic County has 48 tested wells, and the busiest decade for testing was the 2000s.
Only 10 of the 48 wells have a test from 2020 or later, so a fresh test of your own well tells you more than any of these.
Most Atlantic 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 4 things to check in Atlantic County.
- Bacteria
- Nitrate
- Lead
- Arsenic
What New Jersey offers well owners
- Free testingWe didn't find a free program for all of New Jersey. New Jersey's private well page
- Certified labsNew Jersey's list of certified labs
- Well recordsNew Jersey's well record search
- New wellsUnder the Private Well Testing Act (N.J.S.A. 58:12A-26 et seq.), every sale of property with a private potable well requires a water test before closing of title, and landlords must test at least every five years.
Half the wells on record here are shallower than 100 feet.
That comes from 5,373 wells in New Jersey's drilling records. Most wells of every kind here are 80 to 100 feet deep. Wells as deep as Atlantic 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 are shallower than in 12 of the 19 other New Jersey counties with enough drilling records.
Look up your own well's depth in New Jersey's well record search, or see how to find it.
Well depths: US Groundwater Well Database
Here's what we know about radon and PFAS in Atlantic County.
Atlantic 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 15 town water systems in Atlantic County test for PFAS. 3 of them had at least one test above 4 ng/L, the new EPA limit for PFOA and PFOS. The highest single result was 11 ng/L of PFOA. Only 7 wells in Atlantic County have 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 Atlantic County
Is well water in Atlantic County safe to drink?
4 of 41 wells tested in Atlantic County had nitrate over the limit, about 1 in 10. Across New Jersey it's about 1 in 13. That's a bigger share than in 11 of the 15 other New Jersey 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 Atlantic County?
Use a lab New Jersey has certified for drinking water. New Jersey's list is linked above, in the box about testing. Ask for bacteria, nitrate, lead and arsenic, the tests that matter most in Atlantic County.
How deep are wells in Atlantic County?
Half the wells on record here are shallower than 100 feet. Typical wells on record here are shallower than in 12 of the 19 other New Jersey counties with enough drilling records.
How does Atlantic County compare with the counties around it?
For nitrate, the share of tested wells over the limit: 1 of the 5 neighboring counties with data had a higher share than Atlantic County, at 10%. Cumberland had the most, at 17%. Groundwater doesn't stop at county lines, so Cumberland's 17% is worth knowing about if you live near it.
How often should I test my well in Atlantic County?
In Atlantic County, 3 of 12 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 Atlantic County numbers come from
- People on wells: 42,606 in Atlantic County, from EPA estimates built on the 2020 Census (Murray et al.).
- Lab tests: 607 well water samples from 48 wells in the Water Quality Portal, run by the USGS and EPA, 2000 to 2023.
- Well depths: 5,373 New Jersey drilling records for Atlantic County, gathered in the US Groundwater Well Database (Lin and others, 2024).
- Neighboring counties: the 6 counties that share a border with Atlantic County, from the Census Bureau's county adjacency file.
- PFAS: EPA tests of 15 town water systems in Atlantic County under the Fifth Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Rule, 2023 to 2025.
- Radon: Atlantic County is zone 3 on the EPA Map of Radon Zones.
- State programs and links: Department of Environmental Protection, checked November 1, 2026.