Manganese and nitrate are worth checking in Burlington County wells.
2 worth checking, 5 rare out of 7 health checks.
From 60 wells tested in Burlington 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 7 people 62,918 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)
Possible here. A home air test is inexpensive.
Radon zones: EPA map
Here's how Burlington County compares with New Jersey and the counties around it.
Each result puts Burlington County next to the 7 counties that border it, on the chart's 0 to 50% scale.
These 2 are worth checking in Burlington County.
Manganese7 of 54 wells over
Too few tested to show: Philadelphia, PA.
Nitrate4 of 48 wells over
Too few tested to show: Philadelphia, PA.
These 5 are rare in Burlington County.
Arsenic1 of 48 wells over
Too few tested to show: Philadelphia, PA.
Radon in water0 of 16 wells over
Too few tested to show: Mercer, Monmouth, Philadelphia, PA.
Uranium0 of 21 wells over
Too few tested to show: Philadelphia, PA.
Lead0 of 42 wells over
Too few tested to show: Philadelphia, PA.
Coliform bacteria turned up in 2 of 9 tested Burlington County wells, so test for it every year.
Coliform bacteria2 of 9 wells had it
E. coli0 of 9 wells had it
E. coli means human or animal waste is getting in, so if a test of your Burlington County well finds it, boil drinking water until the well is fixed.
Iron reached staining levels in 17 of 58 tested wells, and it isn't a health risk.
Iron stains17 of 58 wells had it
Too few tested to show: Philadelphia, PA.
About 4 in 10 of the 60 wells tested in Burlington County have a test from 2020 or later.
With 25 wells tested since 2020, age matters less here than who did the testing and why.
Most Burlington 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 Burlington County.
- Bacteria
- Nitrate
- Manganese
- 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 125 feet.
That comes from 2,743 wells in New Jersey's drilling records. Most wells of every kind here are 80 to 205 feet deep. Wells as deep as Burlington 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 11 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 Burlington County.
Burlington County is in the EPA's middle radon zone. An indoor air test is cheap and tells you whether to look at your water. Radon guide
Between 2023 and 2025 the EPA had 17 town water systems in Burlington County test for PFAS. 8 of them had at least one test above 4 ng/L, the new EPA limit for PFOA and PFOS. The highest single result was 18 ng/L of PFOA. Only 21 wells in Burlington 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 Burlington County
Is well water in Burlington County safe to drink?
7 of 54 wells tested in Burlington County had manganese over the limit, about 1 in 8. Across New Jersey it's about 1 in 8. That's a bigger share than in 9 of the 16 other New Jersey counties with 10 or more tested wells. So test your own well for manganese before you count on it.
Where can I get my well tested in Burlington 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, manganese and arsenic, the tests that matter most in Burlington County.
How deep are wells in Burlington County?
Half the wells on record here are shallower than 125 feet. Typical wells on record here are shallower than in 11 of the 19 other New Jersey counties with enough drilling records.
How does Burlington County compare with the counties around it?
For manganese, the share of tested wells over the limit: 3 of the 6 neighboring counties with data had a higher share than Burlington County, at 13%. Monmouth had the most, at 22%. Groundwater doesn't stop at county lines, so Monmouth's 22% is worth knowing about if you live near it.
How often should I test my well in Burlington County?
In Burlington County, 2 of 9 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 Burlington County numbers come from
- People on wells: 62,918 in Burlington County, from EPA estimates built on the 2020 Census (Murray et al.).
- Lab tests: 940 well water samples from 60 wells in the Water Quality Portal, run by the USGS and EPA, 2000 to 2023.
- Well depths: 2,743 New Jersey drilling records for Burlington County, gathered in the US Groundwater Well Database (Lin and others, 2024).
- Neighboring counties: the 7 counties that share a border with Burlington County, from the Census Bureau's county adjacency file.
- PFAS: EPA tests of 17 town water systems in Burlington County under the Fifth Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Rule, 2023 to 2025.
- Radon: Burlington County is zone 2 on the EPA Map of Radon Zones.
- State programs and links: Department of Environmental Protection, checked November 1, 2026.