Interpreting Your Results
After you have tested your well water and received your results, now what? Watch the "Interpreting Your Results" Video to learn more about how to interpret the numbers from your test results. Enter your results into the Water Quality Interpretation Tool to verify what applications your water quality is suitable for (drinking water, livestock suitability, suitability for irrigation). Use the Understaning Your Test Results Guide to see if your results are within ideal ranges for drinking water. Check out the factsheets below to read more about specific parameters.
Samples for bacteria need to be analyzed within 30 hours of collection for the most reliable results; see this website for more information on bacteria retesting if a sample reached the lab too late.
Factsheets:
- Alkalinity, pH, and TDS
- Antimony
- Arsenic
- Barium
- Beryllium
- Cadmium
- Coliform and E. coli bacteria
- Copper
- Corrosivity
- Chromium
- Fluoride (CDC Guidance)
- Hardness
- Hydrogen Sulfide- Rotten Egg Odor
(Penn State Extension)
- Iron/Iron Bacteria
- Irrigation Suitability
- Lead
- Livestock Suitability
- Manganese (MT DEQ Guidance)
- Mercury
- Nitrate plus Nitrite as N
- pH
- Selenium
- Thallium
- Total Dissolved Solids
- Uranium (ND DEQ Guidance)