Manganese, arsenic and nitrate are worth checking in Berks County wells.
3 worth checking, 4 rare out of 7 health checks.
From 52 wells tested in Berks 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 4 people 107,045 people
Nobody else tests these wells. Only you do.
People on wells: EPA researchers' 2020 estimate
Radon risk (a gas from rock)
Likely here. Test your home's air first.
Radon zones: EPA map
Here's how Berks County compares with Pennsylvania and the counties around it.
Each result puts Berks County next to the 6 counties that border it, on the chart's 0 to 50% scale.
These 3 are worth checking in Berks County.
Manganese4 of 29 wells over
* Likely overstated, so we don't rank it.
Too few tested to show: Lebanon, Lehigh.
Arsenic5 of 39 wells over
Too few tested to show: Lehigh, Schuylkill.
Nitrate3 of 48 wells over
* Likely overstated, so we don't rank it.
Too few tested to show: Lehigh, Schuylkill.
These 4 are rare in Berks County.
Radon in water0 of 14 wells over
Too few tested to show: Lehigh, Montgomery, Schuylkill.
Fluoride0 of 29 wells over
Too few tested to show: Lebanon, Lehigh, Schuylkill.
Lead0 of 24 wells over
Too few tested to show: Lebanon, Lehigh, Schuylkill.
Uranium0 of 24 wells over
Too few tested to show: Lebanon, Lehigh, Schuylkill.
Coliform bacteria turned up in 9 of 17 tested Berks County wells, so test for it every year.
Coliform bacteria9 of 17 wells had it
Too few tested to show: Lebanon, Lehigh, Schuylkill.
E. coli2 of 17 wells had it
Too few tested to show: Lebanon, Lehigh, Schuylkill.
E. coli means human or animal waste is getting in, so if a test of your Berks County well finds it, boil drinking water until the well is fixed.
Iron reached staining levels in 7 of 38 tested wells, and it isn't a health risk.
Iron stains7 of 38 wells had it
Too few tested to show: Lebanon, Lehigh.
Most of the 52 wells tested in Berks County were last tested before 2010.
An old result shows the water as it was then, so treat these 52 wells as a starting point and test your own.
Most Berks 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 Berks County.
- Bacteria
- Nitrate
- Manganese
- Arsenic
What Pennsylvania offers well owners
- Free testingWe didn't find a free program for all of Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania's private well page
- Certified labsPennsylvania's list of certified labs
- Well recordsPennsylvania's well record search
Here's what we know about radon and PFAS in Berks County.
Berks County is in the EPA's highest radon zone. Radon from well water adds to the radon in your indoor air, so test your air first, and your water too if the air is high. Radon guide
Between 2023 and 2025 the EPA had 21 town water systems in Berks County test for PFAS. 10 of them had at least one test above 4 ng/L, the new EPA limit for PFOA and PFOS. The highest single result was 56 ng/L of PFOA. Only 1 well in Berks 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 Berks County
Is well water in Berks County safe to drink?
4 of 29 wells tested in Berks County had manganese over the limit, about 1 in 7. Across Pennsylvania it's about 1 in 11. That's a bigger share than in 14 of the 17 other Pennsylvania counties with 10 or more tested wells, leaving out 2 counties whose results are likely overstated. So test your own well for manganese before you count on it.
Where can I get my well tested in Berks County?
Use a lab Pennsylvania has certified for drinking water. Pennsylvania's list is linked above, in the box about testing. Ask for bacteria, nitrate, manganese and arsenic, the tests that matter most in Berks County.
How does Berks County compare with the counties around it?
For manganese, the share of tested wells over the limit: 1 of the 4 neighboring counties with data had a higher share than Berks County, at 14%. Lancaster had the most, at 21%. Groundwater doesn't stop at county lines, so Lancaster's 21% is worth knowing about if you live near it.
How often should I test my well in Berks County?
In Berks County, 9 of 17 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 Berks County numbers come from
- People on wells: 107,045 in Berks County, from EPA estimates built on the 2020 Census (Murray et al.).
- Lab tests: 346 well water samples from 52 wells in the Water Quality Portal, run by the USGS and EPA, 2000 to 2023.
- Neighboring counties: the 6 counties that share a border with Berks County, from the Census Bureau's county adjacency file.
- PFAS: EPA tests of 21 town water systems in Berks County under the Fifth Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Rule, 2023 to 2025.
- Radon: Berks County is zone 1 on the EPA Map of Radon Zones.
- State programs and links: Department of Environmental Protection, checked November 1, 2026.