Arsenic is worth checking in Lycoming County wells.
1 worth checking, 6 rare out of 7 health checks.
From 88 wells tested in Lycoming County since 2003; 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 3 people 40,451 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 Lycoming County compares with Pennsylvania and the counties around it.
Each result puts Lycoming County next to the 9 counties that border it, on the chart's 0 to 50% scale.
This one is worth checking in Lycoming County.
Arsenic9 of 87 wells over
Too few tested to show: Columbia, Montour.
These 6 are rare in Lycoming County.
Radon in water2 of 82 wells over
Too few tested to show: Columbia, Montour, Northumberland, Tioga.
Manganese2 of 83 wells over
Too few tested to show: Columbia, Montour, Union.
Nitrate1 of 87 wells over
Too few tested to show: Columbia, Montour.
Fluoride0 of 83 wells over
Too few tested to show: Columbia, Montour, Union.
Lead0 of 78 wells over
Too few tested to show: Columbia, Montour, Tioga, Union.
Uranium0 of 78 wells over
Too few tested to show: Columbia, Montour, Tioga, Union.
Coliform bacteria turned up in 42 of 82 tested Lycoming County wells, so test for it every year.
Coliform bacteria42 of 82 wells had it
Too few tested to show: Columbia, Montour, Northumberland, Sullivan, Tioga, Union.
E. coli10 of 82 wells had it
Too few tested to show: Columbia, Montour, Northumberland, Sullivan, Tioga, Union.
E. coli means human or animal waste is getting in, so if a test of your Lycoming County well finds it, boil drinking water until the well is fixed.
Iron reached staining levels in 23 of 83 tested wells, and it isn't a health risk.
Iron stains23 of 83 wells had it
Too few tested to show: Columbia, Montour, Union.
Lycoming County has 88 tested wells, and the busiest decade for testing was the 2010s.
Only 2 of the 88 wells have a test from 2020 or later, so a fresh test of your own well tells you more than any of these.
Most Lycoming 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 Lycoming County.
- Bacteria
- Nitrate
- 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 Lycoming County.
Lycoming 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 4 town water systems in Lycoming County test for PFAS. 2 of them had at least one test above 4 ng/L, the new EPA limit for PFOA and PFOS. The highest single result was 12 ng/L of PFOS. No well in Lycoming 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 Lycoming County
Is well water in Lycoming County safe to drink?
9 of 87 wells tested in Lycoming County had arsenic over the limit, about 1 in 10. Across Pennsylvania it's about 1 in 24. That's a bigger share than in 20 of the 22 other Pennsylvania counties with 10 or more tested wells. So test your own well for arsenic before you count on it.
Where can I get my well tested in Lycoming 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 and arsenic, the tests that matter most in Lycoming County.
How does Lycoming County compare with the counties around it?
For arsenic, the share of tested wells over the limit: Lycoming County, at 10%, had a higher share than all 7 neighboring counties with data. Groundwater doesn't stop at county lines, so Tioga's 8% is worth knowing about if you live near it.
How often should I test my well in Lycoming County?
In Lycoming County, 42 of 82 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 Lycoming County numbers come from
- People on wells: 40,451 in Lycoming County, from EPA estimates built on the 2020 Census (Murray et al.).
- Lab tests: 899 well water samples from 88 wells in the Water Quality Portal, run by the USGS and EPA, 2003 to 2023.
- Neighboring counties: the 9 counties that share a border with Lycoming County, from the Census Bureau's county adjacency file.
- PFAS: EPA tests of 4 town water systems in Lycoming County under the Fifth Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Rule, 2023 to 2025.
- Radon: Lycoming County is zone 1 on the EPA Map of Radon Zones.
- State programs and links: Department of Environmental Protection, checked November 1, 2026.