What We Test For
- NMED provides free testing of private domestic wells only for Nitrate, Iron and Fluoride.
- Private laboratories may provide additional analysis at owners expense.
- We do not test water from a public supply system, since testing is already done as required by the federal Safe Drinking Water Act. Contact the NMED Drinking Water Bureau to obtain test results if you are served by a public water system.
Sample Collection and Analysis:
- Collect a sample from the cold water tap of your kitchen sink.
- Collect at least one quart of water in a clean, covered, glass or plastic container such as a canning jar or water bottle.
- Plan your sample delivery soon after collection to your local NMED Field Office.
- Old samples can give inaccurate results.
- Write down the date and time you collected the sample.
- Please print and fill out the Well Testing Form for each sample
- If you have a Global Positioning System (GPS) unit, please determine the latitude, longitude and elevation of your wellhead, and add that information to the Well Testing Form.
- Bring your water sample, along with the Well Test Form, to the nearest NMED Field Office.
- We will test your water for fluoride, iron, and nitrate. Tests for electrical conductivity (a measure of total dissolved solids) and organic vapor may also be performed subject to instrument availability.
- We will mail you the results on the Well Test Form when the analyses are completed.
- The back of the form contains information about acceptable levels of these parameters to help you interpret results.
Confidentiality Notice
The names, addresses, phone numbers, and GPS coordinates of homeowners and wells are kept confidential and are not released to the public. Upon request, we provide summaries of well-water quality data by general area (e.g. Alcalde).
We do not test water from a public supply system, since testing is already done as required by the federal Safe Drinking Water Act. Contact the NMED Drinking Water Bureau to obtain test results if you are served by a public water system.