How we check counties

For each county we start with the county (or district) health department and ask one question: does it test well water for residents, or send staff to take a sample? Then we add the state lab and university labs that residents can use directly, and, only where neither exists, a few state-certified private labs that publish a homeowner price.

Every fact is read from the provider's own pages and the documents they link to (fee schedules, sampling instructions, order forms), not from other directories, reviews or search results. Each county page links to the pages we used and shows the date we last checked them.

Prices are shown exactly as the provider publishes them, with any trip or sampling fee listed next to them. When we compare counties, we use the cheapest published bacteria test from the county's main provider, or its basic package when it sells no bacteria-only test.

When two official pages disagree, for example a web page and an older fee sheet, we go with the program's own page first, then its fee sheet or form, and the newest dated one among equals. A county leaves search results if it hasn't been re-checked within a year.

We never say whether water is safe. Where a health department recommends what to test and how often, we quote that advice and say whose it is.