The testing moment
Free and low-cost well water testing in Michigan
When Michigan funded a free well testing round in 2023, about 15,000 kits were requested in roughly a week and the free kits sold out, per EGLE's October 2023 announcement. That demand is the clearest signal in Michigan water: well owners want numbers. This page keeps the three legitimate routes to those numbers in one place, free state rounds when they are open, county health department programs, and EGLE-certified laboratories, so the testing moment never stalls on where to start.
Already holding a result? Skip straight to Your Michigan Well Test, Explained and band every line of it.
Is free well testing available right now?
Sometimes, and it moves fast when it is. The state-funded rounds are periodic, not permanent: the 2023 round ran on a $5 million legislative appropriation, and its free kits were claimed in about a week. As of July 2026, the standing offer on EGLE's private well testing page is a kit at no charge with a per-analysis fee for the tests you order, covering the standard private-well panel.
The practical playbook: bookmark the EGLE page, watch the EGLE newsroom for a new round, and when one opens, request the kit the same week. A free round is the cheapest certified data a well owner will ever get, and the 2023 sellout says the window does not wait.
What should the test cover?
Two lines every year, the rest by geography. EGLE recommends testing every well annually for coliform bacteria and nitrate, per its private well testing guidance, because both can change with a season, a repair, or what happens upfield of the well.
The geographic additions are Michigan-specific. Wells in the Thumb and Southeast Michigan draw over the Marshall Sandstone, the arsenic-bearing bedrock documented by USGS, so any well there without an arsenic number on file should get one; the arsenic removal page covers what the result means. Households near a documented PFAS site should test through a lab certified for PFAS analysis, a narrower list than the general one; the PFAS treatment page and MPART cover who that applies to. And when treatment equipment is about to be sized, add iron, manganese, and hardness, because those numbers decide capacity and price.
County health department programs
Every Michigan county health department handles private wells, but the shape of the program varies: some run their own certified lab, some sell kits, some route samples to EGLE-certified laboratories. The details below were verified from official county pages for the counties this site covers; each county page carries the fuller local story.
| County | Program, verified July 2026 |
|---|---|
| Genesee | Health department runs a bacteria testing lab in Flint and keeps well records, (810) 257-3603 |
| Kent | County-run Kent County Regional Laboratory in Grand Rapids analyzes water samples, (616) 632-7210 |
| Huron | Health department in Bad Axe issues well permits and holds well records |
| Tuscola | Environmental health office in Caro handles wells, (989) 673-8119 |
| Sanilac | Environmental health division in Sandusky oversees private supply testing, (810) 648-4098 |
| Lapeer | No county lab; the health department routes samples to EGLE-certified laboratories |
| Washtenaw | Health department publishes drinking water testing guidance for well owners |
| Livingston | Environmental health division in Howell recommends annual bacteria testing, (517) 546-9858 |
Outside these counties, call your health department's environmental health division and ask two questions: whether it sells well sample kits, and which certified lab it uses. Every county has an answer.
EGLE-certified laboratories
The third route is direct: order from a certified drinking water laboratory yourself. EGLE certifies labs across the state and explains the process on its how to get your water tested page. Certification is the detail that matters, because a certified result is the one your health department accepts, a lender accepts in a home sale, and a treatment contractor can size equipment from. A hardware store strip can start a suspicion; it cannot finish a decision.
Prices vary by lab and by panel, which is why this site quotes no single figure for a test. What the treatment side costs once a result calls for it is documented, with sources, in the Michigan treatment cost guide.
Why test first, every time
Because everything downstream is sized from the number. About 1.12 million Michigan households draw from a private well, per MDHHS, and the state leaves the testing decision with the owner. The serious findings, arsenic, nitrate, coliform, PFAS, carry no taste, color, or smell, so a well that seems fine is a well that has not been measured. Testing first is also how honest treatment gets priced: no equipment before evidence.
When a result comes back with a line over a limit, we connect you with an independent licensed local contractor who quotes the fix from your actual numbers, free. Request your free match
Michigan well testing questions
Is the Michigan free well water testing program still open?
Rounds open and close, so check before assuming either way. The 2023 state-funded round, backed by a $5 million appropriation, saw about 15,000 kits requested in roughly a week and the free kits sold out, per EGLE. As of July 2026, the standing route is the EGLE private well testing page, where residents can request a kit at no charge and pay a per-analysis fee for the tests they order. When a new free round opens, that page and the EGLE newsroom announce it, and history says it will not stay open long.
What tests should a Michigan well owner actually order?
Coliform bacteria and nitrate every year, per EGLE guidance, since both can change quickly. Beyond the annual pair, order by geography: arsenic at least once for any well in the Thumb or Southeast Michigan without a number on file, PFAS through a certified lab if your county has a documented site or your health department advises it, and metals plus hardness whenever treatment equipment is about to be sized. A contractor quoting from a report with those lines is quoting from evidence.
Do county health department results count the same as private lab results?
Yes, when the analysis runs through a certified laboratory, and that is how county programs work. Some counties operate their own certified lab, like the Kent County regional laboratory, while others, like Lapeer County, collect or direct samples to EGLE-certified labs. Certified results are the ones health departments accept and treatment contractors can size equipment from, which makes the county program a legitimate starting point, not a lesser one.
The results came back. Now what?
Read each line against its limit before spending anything. Your Michigan Well Test, Explained on this site walks every common line, arsenic, iron, manganese, nitrate, hardness, coliform, and PFAS, band by band with the agency that set each number. If a line calls for treatment, we connect you with an independent licensed local contractor who quotes from your actual report, free. Great Lakes Well Water is a matching service, so the testing, the interpretation authorities, and the installing contractor all stay independent of each other.