Certified well water labs in Colorado (2026)
Colorado Environmental Public Health Tracking, citing USGS, puts about 7% of residents on private wells. Those taps are not under the Safe Drinking Water Act. The State Public Health Lab still takes bacterial samples for private wells, but water chemistry is temporarily suspended — so nitrate, metals, and uranium usually mean a certified commercial lab, a county path with published fees, or a mail-in kit that emails a PDF. COEPHT’s baseline ask is annual coliform, nitrates/nitrites, TDS, and pH, plus Colorado-common metals (including uranium) every few years.
The short version
- Bacteria: State Lab or a county counter. Order State Lab bottles (FedEx free; no P.O. boxes) from the CDPHE water testing services page, or use a verified county program. Chemistry at the State Lab is suspended — nitrate and metals need another lab.
- Respect the 24-hour bacteria clock. The State Lab must receive the sample within 24 hours of collection (page notes a 26-hour hold). Drop-off Mon–Fri 8 a.m.–3 p.m. at 8100 E Lowry Blvd, Denver — or ship overnight. Do not invent a Friday-for-Monday fantasy. Gilpin accepts Mon–Wed only.
- Match the panel to the rock — and to the lender. Annual: bacteria + nitrate (+ TDS/pH on COEPHT’s list). Every 3–5 years: arsenic, uranium, and other metals COEPHT names. Free statewide PFAS TAP kits exist for private wells while supplies last. Certification does not guarantee a lab takes your homeowner bottle this week — call first.
How Colorado’s system actually works
Private wells are the homeowner’s job. CDPHE does not regulate private-well water quality under the Safe Drinking Water Act; well permits come from the Division of Water Resources. The analyzing hub that still handles homeowner bacteria is the State Public Health Laboratory at Lowry in Denver. Chemistry testing there is temporarily suspended for quality-control work with EPA — CDPHE points homeowners to accredited commercial labs for those analytes and will not recommend a specific name (conflict of interest with the certification program).
COEPHT’s private well water and your health page is the clearest public schedule: annual coliform, TDS, nitrates/nitrites, and pH; every 3–5 years arsenic, copper, fluoride, hardness, iron, lead, manganese, and uranium; a longer baseline for a new or never-tested well. ToxCall at 303-692-2606 helps with health interpretation. CDPHE’s drinking-water lab certification program and accredited lookup tool are how you confirm a lab still holds the method you need.
CDC and EPA both frame the annual minimum as total coliform bacteria, nitrates, total dissolved solids, and pH, plus whatever is a local problem. EPA’s national page still points at a PDF of state certification programs.
Options we verified
Fees and rules live on CDPHE’s water-testing page, COEPHT, Jefferson / Gilpin / Larimer / Mesa county pages, and the mail-in product pages. What we could verify with a public URL tonight:
The table scrolls sideways on a phone.
| Option | What they offer | Listed cost | Catch |
|---|---|---|---|
| CDPHE State Lab — bacteria | Private-customer bottle order (FedEx free). Total coliform & E. coli P/A, MTF, or MPN. Drop-off or overnight ship to 8100 E Lowry Blvd, Denver. Some counties arrange courier pickup — call first. | Confirm when you order / at drop-off. We did not verify a clean public homeowner dollar figure on the live fee list tonight. | Chemistry suspended (no reopen date). Must receive within 24 hours. Mon–Fri 8 a.m.–3 p.m. State bottles only. Payment due at submission. |
| Jefferson County free kits | Free bacteria and nitrate kits for JeffCo private well owners while supplies last. Application / pickup via Environmental Health. Questions: HealthWellWaterTesting@jeffco.us. | Free while supplies last (as printed). | Jefferson County residents. Not a statewide program. JeffCo also notes uranium/radiation as a local groundwater story — ask what the free kit covers. |
| Gilpin County Public Health lab | CDPHE-certified county lab. Presence of nitrates, nitrites, total coliform & E. coli. Results emailed within ~48 hours. | $30 (cash/check/card; +$2 card processing). | Nitrate/nitrite here is presence screening — numerical follow-up if positive. Drop off within 24 hours; Mon–Wed 8 a.m.–4 p.m. only. |
| Larimer County water sampling fees | Published 2026 Environmental Health fee table (effective Jan 1, 2026). Bacteria PA, Quanti-Tray, nitrate/nitrite, metals à la carte, HUD/RE, Annual, and EPA Recommended Private Well packages. | Bacteria PA $25; Quanti-Tray $27; nitrate $23; Annual Package $109; HUD/RE $94; EPA Recommended Private Well $314. | Page says fees are set by the Weld County Lab and may differ slightly. Confirm hold times and private-well intake with Larimer / Weld before you sample. |
| Mesa County Regional Lab | Western Slope regional lab serving 18 counties; bacterial testing for private wells and real-estate paths. Contact 970-248-6999. | Coliform P/A with E. coli $30 (2026); enumerated E. coli $35; HPC $35. | Bacteria-focused fee notice we verified — ask about nitrate/chemistry separately. Not a softener sales pitch; call the regional lab. |
| CDPHE PFAS TAP | Free PFAS testing for Colorado private-well users (drinking/cooking). Cyclopure mails a kit with prepaid return. Eligible households over EPA MCLs may get a free NSF point-of-use filter. | Free while supplies last. | Public-water customers not eligible. Filter path is separate from annual bacteria/nitrate. Contact 303-906-8052. |
| COEPHT confirmed private-well labs | State tracking page lists labs confirmed able to take private-well samples (not exhaustive; not an endorsement). Phones on the page. Use CDPHE certification lookup for current methods. | Fees not on the COEPHT table. Call each lab. | Certification ≠ walk-in acceptance. We omit treatment-company labs from our table below. Out-of-state names on COEPHT are omitted here — see the source table. |
Labs COEPHT confirmed for private-well testing (Colorado subset)
Names and phones below are copied from the live COEPHT private-well labs table (Colorado locations only). CDPHE does not endorse specific labs. We are not inventing certification numbers or fees. Call for private-well acceptance, bottles, hold times, current fees, and whether your lender’s analyte list is covered. Confirm certification scope via CDPHE drinking water lab certification / the accredited lookup tool.
The table scrolls sideways on a phone.
| Lab | Location | Phone (as printed) |
|---|---|---|
| Colorado Analytical Laboratory | Commerce City, CO | (303) 659-2313 |
| GeoWater Services LLC | Evergreen, CO | (720) 861-0944 |
| Colorado State University | Fort Collins, CO | (970) 491-5061 |
| EAnalytics Laboratory | Loveland, CO | (970) 667-6975 |
| EMSL Analytical, Inc | Denver, CO | (303) 740-5700 |
| Eurofins Reservoirs Environmental, Inc. | Arvada, CO | (303) 736-0100 |
| Green Analytical Laboratories | Durango, CO | (970) 247-4220 |
| Hazen Research | Golden, CO | (303) 279-4501 |
| IEH-Warren Analytical Laboratory | Greeley, CO | (970) 475-0252 |
| M.M.S Environmental Laboratories | Fort Collins, CO | (970) 286-2930 |
| Murray-Brown Laboratories, LLC | Northglenn, CO | (303) 296-0264 |
| Northeast Colorado Health Dept. | Fort Morgan, CO | (970) 867-4918 |
| SGS North America, Inc. | Wheat Ridge, CO | (303) 425-6021 |
| Sangre De Cristo Laboratory | Alamosa, CO | (719) 589-1024 |
| Technology Laboratory, Inc. | Fort Collins, CO | (970) 490-1414 |
COEPHT’s full table also lists out-of-state labs and other names we did not copy here. A utility or research lab may exist for system work — ask before you drive with a private bottle. National Testing Laboratories (Cleveland) appears on COEPHT and is covered under mail-in below.
What Colorado guidance actually warrants
Match the panel to the land. COEPHT, JeffCo well pages, CDPHE private-well materials, EPA private-well pages, and CDC testing guidance line up on the core schedule:
- Every year: coliform bacteria, nitrates/nitrites, TDS, and pH. Especially before water goes to an infant under six months. If total coliform is present, treat it as a well-structure / contamination warning and get a qualified well contractor involved — boiling is a short-term fix only for microbes, not for nitrate.
- Every 3–5 years (COEPHT “common Colorado contaminants”): arsenic, copper, fluoride, hardness, iron, lead, manganese, and uranium. Front Range / mountain crystalline rock and some sedimentary formations are the uranium/radon conversation; JeffCo prints gross-alpha and uranium MCL guidance on its well page. We are not inventing a county exceedance map tonight — use your lab result and ToxCall.
- After a flood, wildfire, well work, a dry-then-recovered well, or a change in taste / color / odor: bacteria first. See our after-a-flood guide. CDPHE also publishes fire-damaged well notes.
- Agricultural / septic-adjacent wells: take nitrate seriously. Fertilizer, livestock, and failing septics are the usual story. Public-supply MCL guidance is 10 mg/L as nitrogen. Do not boil high-nitrate water — boiling concentrates it.
- San Luis Valley / historic mining areas: arsenic and metals show up in state guidance conversations — ask the lab for a metals panel if that is your geology (Sangre de Cristo Lab is on the COEPHT private-well list for the valley).
- Lead / copper: plumbing + corrosive water is the usual story. First-draw after water sits overnight.
- PFAS concern: use free PFAS TAP while supplies last, or a Method 533 / 537.1 mail-in panel. Details: PFAS Method 533 / 537.1.
When the Certificate of Analysis arrives, more: how to read a well water report.
Hardware-store strips are screening-only. Softener sales “tests” are screening-only. Neither is what a lender means by “tested.”
Hold times and collection
Plan around a short bacteria clock. CDPHE: the State Lab must receive the sample within 24 hours of collection or reject it; the bacteria bottle notes a 26-hour hold. Accept samples Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., except state holidays. Overnight shipping if you cannot drop at Lowry. Do not ship the business day before a weekend or holiday. Use the lab’s bottles and chain-of-custody form — wrong container, fill line, or missing date/time can invalidate the sample. Sample cold water from a clean spigot (CDPHE recommends avoiding aerators / swing faucets; bathtub spigot is their example). Gilpin: drop within 24 hours, Mon–Wed only. More after weather events: what to test after a flood.
Mail-in kits that work from Colorado
Independent mail-in labs ship to and from Colorado as ordinary domestic US kits. They email a PDF. They are not selling you a softener in the same breath. For a lender or local compliance ask, confirm the analyzing lab meets what the underwriter named. Listed prices we checked on September 26, 2026:
- Tap Score / SimpleLab Essential Well: $209 listed (54 analytes; standard shipping and prepaid return on the product page — includes uranium among metals).
- National Testing Laboratories WaterCheck Basic: $220 listed plus free delivery on watercheck.com. Next-day return shipping is not included. Budget for overnight return on the bacteria bottle.
Those are listed prices, not coupons. Kits change. Read the current product page before you buy. If a county free kit or ~$25–$30 bacteria path covers your question — and you can hit the hold — check that path before you spend $200 on a national kit for the same core question. For nitrate/metals while State Lab chemistry is down, a certified commercial lab or mail-in is the honest next step.
Side by side for a Colorado well
The table scrolls sideways on a phone.
| State Lab bacteria / county fee path | COEPHT-listed commercial lab | Mail-in (Tap Score / NTL) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Best for | Cheap annual bacteria (and some county nitrate) with a hard 24-hour clock | Named certified analysis for nitrate/metals/uranium while State chemistry is suspended, or when a lender names a lab | Broader baseline panel and a PDF when Lowry / county logistics do not fit |
| PDF? | Lab report — ask format and turnaround (email is default at State Lab) | Lab report — ask format and turnaround | Yes. Email is the product |
| Sales visit? | No | No (if you stay on independent labs) | No |
| Lender / CoC? | Often workable for bacteria if you hit hold times — still ask the underwriter; chemistry may need a commercial lab | Often yes if the lab and parameters match the underwriter letter — confirm accreditation and private-well acceptance | Sometimes not. Ask before you sample. See home purchase / lender CoC |
Real estate and lenders
Colorado does not put a statewide private-well transfer-testing mandate in the materials we checked tonight the way some states do. Lenders and some local rules still want bacteria (and often nitrate / metals) from a named path with chain of custody. Order State Lab bottles early if bacteria is the ask; budget overnight shipping or a Lowry drop. If the underwriter named a specific commercial lab, use that lab and verify it still holds the right analytes on CDPHE’s certification list. JeffCo and other counties may have additional local transfer or well rules — ask the county and the title company. More: home purchase / lender chain of custody.
Remind me to test my well every year
CDC and EPA say to test a private well at least once a year. We’ll send one email a year, about when your test is due, with your state’s lab options.
Thanks, you’re on the list. We’ll email you once a year when it’s time to test your well. Nothing else.
What to do in Colorado
- Bacteria: order State Lab bottles or use JeffCo free / Gilpin $30 / Larimer–Weld / Mesa fee paths if you are in those counties.
- Hit the clock: State Lab must receive within 24 hours; Mon–Fri 8–3 at Lowry. Gilpin Mon–Wed only.
- Chemistry / nitrate / uranium: State Lab chemistry is suspended — use a COEPHT-listed certified lab or mail-in. Confirm fees and private-well acceptance by phone.
- PFAS: apply for free PFAS TAP while supplies last (303-906-8052).
- Interpretation: ToxCall 303-692-2606 / cdphe_toxcall@state.co.us.
- If you want a broader PDF this month and local hours do not fit, use Tap Score / SimpleLab or National Testing Laboratories (Watercheck).
- Match the panel to the land. Bacteria every year. Nitrates every year. Uranium / arsenic on COEPHT’s 3–5 year list for Colorado wells. After a flood or fire, start with disinfection and bacteria.
Not this if…
- A lender named a local commercial lab and a chain-of-custody form. Use that lab. Confirm it still holds the analytes — do not assume every certified name takes private bottles.
- Someone offered a free in-home “test” that ends in a softener pitch. That is not on this page. See the Home Depot free-kit comparison.
- You only wanted a strip from the hardware aisle. Fine as screening-only. It is not a certified analysis.
- You shipped a bacteria bottle Friday for a Monday fantasy that blows the 24-hour receive window. Discarded samples do not care about your weekend.
- You assumed State Lab chemistry was still open for nitrate or uranium. It is suspended — use another accredited lab.
- You treated Gilpin’s nitrate result as a numerical MCL check. That path is presence screening; follow up if positive.
- You invented a county fee because a neighbor once paid one. We only listed JeffCo, Gilpin, Larimer/Weld, and Mesa fees we could cite tonight.
- You boiled high-nitrate water. That concentrates nitrate. Find another drinking source or appropriate treatment.
Related: Maryland · Nebraska · Kansas · Oklahoma · Iowa · PFAS 533 / 537.1 · how to read a report · after a flood · lender / CoC · cost table · Home Depot free kit vs a certified lab · How it works · back to the directory.