Private well guide

Well Water in Georgia: Testing, Rules, Labs and Licensed Contractors

605,758 households in Georgia get their water from a private well. Here is what the state requires, where to get it tested, and who is licensed to work on it.

Find a certified labLicensed contractorsPick my county
319Licensed contractorschecked against state records
12Certified labsfrom the state certified list
156Counties covered
605,758Households on wells18% of households (est.)

About 600,000 Georgia households, one in seven, get their water from a private well, and outside metro Atlanta the share climbs past half in county after county. Georgia licenses the people who drill, sets the construction standard, and then hands the water back to you, with the best-organized low-cost testing route in the South: the UGA Extension office in your county.

Who is in charge of a Georgia well

The Environmental Protection Division and the State Water Well Standards Advisory Council license water well contractors and certify pump contractors under the Water Well Standards Act, and they write the construction rules every well must meet: setbacks from septic systems and property lines, grouted casing, disinfection and a well record for the owner. There is no state permit for an individual home well and no state inspection. Where a permit exists it is a county one, through the county board of health or environmental health office, and a couple of dozen counties (Cherokee, Forsyth, Hall, Paulding and others in the north, a few on the coast) require one along with a bacteria test before the well is used. Water quality otherwise belongs to the Department of Public Health’s advice and to the University of Georgia’s testing program, which runs through the Extension office in every county.

What is required, and what is left to you

A licensed contractor, construction to the state standard and the well record. Unless your county has its own well ordinance, nobody tests the water when the well is new and nobody tests it when the house is sold. The advice from Public Health and UGA is a bacteria test every year and the UGA basic chemistry test every two or three years, which is cheap enough (kits are sold at cost through the county Extension office) that there is little reason not to. In the Piedmont, ask for radon and uranium as well.

At a glance

Water test for a new wellNot required statewide

No statewide water test and no state permit for an individual household well. The Water Well Standards Act requires the well to be drilled by a licensed water well contractor to the state construction standards (grouted casing, 10 ft from property lines, 50 ft from septic tanks and 100 ft from drainfields), and the contractor must disinfect it and give you a well record. Several counties, mostly in north Georgia and around Atlanta, require a well permit and a bacteriological test through the county environmental health office before the well is used, so check with your county.

Water test when a home is soldNot required statewide

No statewide requirement. The seller's disclosure only says whether the property is on a well. FHA, VA and USDA loans normally require a bacteria, nitrate and lead sample from a certified lab before closing, and a few county health departments require a well inspection at transfer.

What the state recommends

The Department of Public Health and UGA Extension recommend testing a private well for coliform bacteria every year and running the UGA basic water test (pH, hardness, nitrate and about 20 metals including iron, manganese, lead, copper and arsenic) every two to three years. Add radon and uranium in the Piedmont and the mountains, sodium and chloride near the coast, and test again after flooding, well work or a change in taste, color or smell.

Free or low-cost testingAvailable

Every county has a UGA Cooperative Extension office that sells the UGA water test kits at cost: the basic chemistry test (W1) and the bacteria test (W33) run roughly $30 to $50 each, with results explained by the county agent. Extension and the county health departments also run periodic free or discounted testing days, and several county environmental health offices test bacteria for a small fee.

What the water is like

The fall line splits Georgia’s groundwater in two. North of it, in the Piedmont and the mountains, wells drill into fractured granite and gneiss: yields are modest, the water is soft and often acidic enough to corrode copper plumbing, so lead and copper show up at the tap, and the granite carries radon and uranium, which is why the north metro counties have some of the highest radon-in-water readings in the country. Iron and manganese staining is the everyday complaint. South of the fall line the Coastal Plain draws from the Floridan and Claiborne limestones and sands: harder water, sometimes with a sulfur smell, nitrate in the farm counties of the southwest, and saltwater creeping into the Floridan around Brunswick and the coastal islands. Bacteria is the test most Georgia wells fail, everywhere.

Certified labs and the UGA Extension test

Georgia certifies drinking water laboratories through EPD for public water system monitoring, and the list of commercial labs is short. For a household well the usual route is the University of Georgia’s Agricultural and Environmental Services Laboratories: you pick up a kit at any county Extension office, drop the sample back, and UGA runs the basic chemistry or bacteria test and the county agent explains the result. The EPD-certified commercial labs below handle the wider panel, radon, VOCs and PFAS, and most will mail bottles anywhere in the state.

12 certified labs

Eurofins Atlanta

GA certified

Atlanta, GA · Commercial

  • Arsenic
  • Coliform Bacteria
  • Full Homeowner Panel
  • Hardness
  • Iron and Manganese
  • Lead
  • Nitrate / Nitrite
  • Pesticides
  • Volatile Organic Compounds

See all 12 certified labs in Georgia

Licensed water well contractors and certified pump contractors

Georgia licenses the individual, not the company. Every profile below is built from the EPD list of licensed water well contractors, grouped under the business the state record names, with each licensed driller shown; licenses run through June 30, 2027. Certified pump contractors, who may install and repair pumps but not drill, are listed separately with a P before the certificate number and run through June 30, 2028.

319 licensed contractors

AAA Well Drilling Inc

Verified license

Lexington, SC · Lexington County

License 615 Active

  • Pump Installation
  • Pump Repair
  • Well Abandonment
  • Well Drilling
  • Well Repair

See all 319 licensed contractors in Georgia

By county

Well use runs from almost nobody in Fulton, DeKalb, Gwinnett and Clayton counties to more than 70% of homes in Madison, Crawford, Twiggs, Long and Lumpkin counties and more than 80% in Pike and Brantley. Each county page carries its well population, the nearest certified labs and the licensed contractors based there.

Georgia well water questions

Do I need a permit to drill a well in Georgia?

Not from the state. A number of counties require a well permit through the county environmental health office, usually with a bacteria test before the well is used, and the coastal counties in the Coastal Georgia Water Management Region have their own rules. Your licensed contractor will know; call the county to be sure.

Is a water test required when I sell my house?

No. Georgia has no statewide requirement. Government-backed mortgages require a bacteria, nitrate and lead test before closing, so most sales include one anyway.

How do I get my well tested cheaply?

Go to your county UGA Extension office. The basic water test covers pH, hardness, nitrate and about 20 metals, the bacteria test covers coliform and E. coli, and each runs about $30 to $50 with the agent’s interpretation included. Radon needs a separate kit.

How do I find the record for my well?

Georgia has no statewide well log database. The contractor is required to give the owner a well record at completion; if you do not have one, ask the driller named on the pump or pressure tank, or the county environmental health office if the county permits wells.

Which lab should I use?

UGA through your Extension office for the routine tests, and an EPD-certified commercial lab for VOCs, radon, PFAS or a lender’s full panel.