Only a few public water systems in Texas have violated the maximum contaminant levels allowed by the Act in the past two years. If you want to know about pollutants that are not tested as part of the SDWA or if you pump water from a private well, you may want to have your water tested. If the results of the screening test suggest that your water may be contam inated, you may want to follow up the screening test with a full-scale water test performed by a qualified laboratory. Deciding who should perform yourwater test is difficult, but here are a few guidelines. Government labs perform some tests, but often have a slow turn-around time and usually cannot provide a comprehensive analysis.
Some local governments provide free tests for bacteria and nitrates.
Local health departments usually only test for a few parameters such as pH and coliform bacteria. Water testing can be expensive. To save money, you may want to choose tests that supply the most information like indicator and screening tests. After testing the water, you may decide that you need a home watertreatment unit. If so, get information f rom salesmen and manufacturers.