Roughly Four in Ten New Hampshire Households
NHDES puts it at about 46% of New Hampshire residents getting household water from a private well; CDC environmental health tracking gives about 44% of households. Either way it is roughly four in ten, and the Lakes Region skews higher than the state average because of how rural and how seasonal its housing is.
What follows from that is the point of this page: a very large number of New Hampshire households are personally responsible for a water supply that nobody else monitors, tests or maintains. There is no utility. There is no annual inspection. There is only whatever the owner arranges.
Sources: NHDES Private Wells; CDC Environmental Health Tracking, New Hampshire.
What a Well Costs
| Item | Typical cost | What drives it |
|---|---|---|
| Drilling | $30–$70 per foot | Ground conditions, access, rig time |
| Mobilisation / set-up | $600–$1,400 | Distance, site preparation needed |
| Steel casing | Included per foot | Overburden depth — more loose material means more casing |
| Complete new well, NH average | ~$14,400 | The statewide figure, for orientation |
| Submersible pump, installed | $700–$1,600 | Depth of setting, horsepower, access |
| Pressure tank, installed | $400–$1,200 | Size and type |
| Pressure switch | $150–$400 | Straightforward component |
| Full pump system | $3,000–$8,500 | Pump, tank, pitless adapter, wiring, trench and line |
| Complete well & system | $3,000–$15,000 | Depending on scope and what already exists |
| Hydrofracking | $2,000–$4,500 | Per job, on a low-yield existing well |
| Storage system | $1,500–$4,000 | Tank size and installation complexity |
| Water testing | $75–$350 | Which panel |
| Real-estate well inspection | $300–$600 | Yield test plus water sample plus report |
Ranges reflect typical Lakes Region residential work in 2026 and are our own figures except the NH average for a new drilled well, which follows widely published statewide figures. Your written estimate is the number that counts.
Why Nobody Can Quote You a Fixed Number
This is the thing the industry is least good at explaining, and it is the source of most of the unpleasant surprises.
Water in granite does not sit in a pool at the bottom of a hole. It moves through fractures — cracks in the rock. A well produces whatever the fractures it happens to intersect will give it.
So a well that hits a productive fracture at 240 feet can comfortably out-produce a neighbour's at 420 feet. Two lots on the same road can need very different wells. And the only way to find out what is under a particular piece of ground is to drill it.
Which means a driller quoting a tidy fixed total before starting is doing one of two things: padding heavily enough to cover the worst case — you pay for their risk — or setting up a conversation you are going to have at 400 feet with a rig on your lot and no leverage.
A real quote is a per-foot rate, an honest expected range based on genuine local experience, and an agreement in advance about what happens if the hole runs long. That is less comfortable to read than a single number, and it is considerably more honest.
Typical Depths Across the Lakes Region
These are the ranges we plan against, based on the ground each town sits on. They are planning ranges, not predictions — see above for why no such thing exists.
| Town | County | Typical depths | Ground |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gilmanton | Belknap | Commonly 250–450 ft | Shallow till over granite bedrock, ridge and hollow |
| Moultonborough | Carroll | Commonly 200–500 ft | Granite bedrock, variable till, lakeside ledge |
| Sanbornton | Belknap | Commonly 300–500 ft | Granite bedrock, hill-country till, steep ridges |
| Barnstead | Belknap | Commonly 200–400 ft | Granite bedrock, sandy outwash near the Suncooks |
| Alton | Belknap | Commonly 250–450 ft | Granite bedrock, ledge close to surface on the hills |
| Gilford | Belknap | Commonly 200–450 ft | Granite bedrock, Belknap range till, lakeside ledge |
| New Hampton | Belknap | Commonly 200–450 ft | Granite bedrock, Pemigewasset valley outwash |
| Belmont | Belknap | Commonly 200–400 ft | Granite bedrock, Winnisquam-side till |
| Meredith | Belknap | Commonly 200–450 ft | Granite bedrock, Neck ledge, valley till |
| Center Harbor | Belknap | Commonly 250–450 ft | Granite bedrock, Squam-side ledge |
| Wolfeboro | Carroll | Commonly 200–450 ft | Granite bedrock, variable till, lakeside ledge |
| Tuftonboro | Carroll | Commonly 250–500 ft | Granite bedrock, Ossipee foothill till |
| Laconia | Belknap | Commonly 200–400 ft | Mixed — city water in the core, bedrock wells on the fringe |
| Northfield | Merrimack | Commonly 250–450 ft | Granite bedrock, river-valley till |
| Tilton | Belknap | Commonly 200–400 ft | Granite bedrock, river-valley outwash |
| Franklin | Merrimack | Commonly 200–400 ft | Mixed — municipal core, bedrock and outwash on the edges |
| Holderness | Grafton | Commonly 250–500 ft | Granite bedrock, rocky wooded terrain, thin till |
| Ashland | Grafton | Commonly 200–400 ft | Granite bedrock, Squam River valley outwash |
| Bristol | Grafton | Commonly 250–500 ft | Granite bedrock, steep Newfound terrain |
| Plymouth | Grafton | Commonly 200–450 ft | Granite bedrock, Baker and Pemigewasset valley outwash |
The pattern in that table is consistent: hill country runs deeper than valley ground. Properties on the ridges in Sanbornton, the steep ground above Newfound, and the Ossipee foothills behind Tuftonboro sit further above the water table and generally need more footage than valley ground around Tilton or along the Pemigewasset in New Hampton.
Where there is genuine glacial outwash — sand and gravel deposits in the river valleys — yields tend to be both better and more predictable, which is why estimates for those towns carry narrower ranges.
Component Lifespans, and What Kills Them Early
| Component | Typical life | What shortens it |
|---|---|---|
| Submersible pump | 15–25 years | Short-cycling, sediment, repeated dry running |
| Pressure tank | 10–15 years | Water quality, heavy cycling |
| Pressure switch | 8–15 years | Contact wear from frequent switching |
| Steel casing | Decades | Corrosive water chemistry |
| The well itself | Indefinite | Declining regional water table; fracture siltation |
| Jet pump (surface) | 10–20 years | Loss of prime, running dry, freezing |
The single most valuable number on this page: a pressure tank costs $400–$1,200 and a submersible pump costs $700–$1,600. A tank that has lost its air charge makes the pump start and stop every few seconds, and motors wear out from starting rather than running. A very large share of the pump replacements in this region should have been tank replacements a year earlier. Run a tap, listen to the pump, and if it cycles rapidly, deal with the tank.
What to Test For in New Hampshire
Nobody tests a private well but its owner. And the three contaminants that most warrant attention in this state's granite bedrock give no warning at all.
| Test for | Why, in New Hampshire | Detectable without a test? |
|---|---|---|
| Arsenic | Naturally occurring in NH bedrock groundwater | No — no taste, smell or appearance |
| Radon in water | Naturally occurring; releases into indoor air when water is used | No |
| Uranium | Naturally occurring in granite | No |
| Bacteria (coliform / E. coli) | Well integrity, surface contamination | No |
| Nitrate / nitrite | Septic systems, agricultural influence | No |
| Iron & manganese | Staining, taste, plumbing effects | Usually — staining and taste |
| Hardness, pH, chloride | What the water does to plumbing and fixtures | Partly |
The pattern in the right-hand column is the whole argument. The things you would notice are mostly nuisance issues. The things you would not notice are the ones worth testing for. Water that looks and tastes perfect tells you nothing about the first three rows.
Accredited laboratories and testing guidance are listed on our resources page.
What the State Actually Requires
Well drillers and pump installers in New Hampshire are licensed by the Water Well Board under RSA 482, and construction standards sit in rules We 100–1000. These are the dimensions those rules and the NHDES design guidance set — useful because most of them are invisible once the job is backfilled, and because several of them are the difference between a well that survives a winter and one that does not.
| What | Figure | Why it is that number |
|---|---|---|
| Casing above ground surface | At least 8 inches | We 602.02(e)(1), in effect since 1985. More than 8 inches may be warranted where seasonal high water can reach the top of the casing. Public supply wells: at least 12 inches |
| Pitless adapter depth | Below the frost zone — typically 4 ft or more | Lets the discharge line leave the casing below frost while the wellhead stays above flood level. NHDES gives four to five feet for the buried line |
| Electrical conduit, well to house | At least 18 inches deep | Buried run from the service to the wellhead |
| Casing seated into bedrock | At least 10 feet | Drive shoe set into competent rock, sealing out the overburden above it |
| Pump clearance off the bottom | 20–50 feet | Keeps the pump above accumulating sediment |
| Setback from contamination sources | 75 feet | Septic components, livestock pens. Also 75 ft from property lines, 50 ft from surface water |
| Median NH bedrock well depth | ~400 feet | Most household wells run 200–500 ft; some exceed 1,000 |
| Median NH bedrock well yield | 15 gpm | There is no state minimum — a well must simply meet the household's daily demand |
| Storage in a 6-inch casing | ~1.5 gallons per foot | Per foot of water standing above the pump. This is why a low-yield well can still serve a family |
Two of those rows matter more than the rest. The pitless adapter is why a correctly built modern wellhead does not freeze — the pressurised line leaves the casing below the frost zone and the casing itself stands proud of the ground. And wells constructed before 2 July 1985 were not required to meet the 8-inch rule, which is why so many older Lakes Region camps have a wellhead sitting in a pit or buried below grade. NHDES is blunt about those: a buried wellhead is the most common reason bedrock wells become bacterially contaminated, because surface water reaches the top of the well. Pits are permitted only where raising the casing would create a safety hazard, and then only drained to daylight, vented, and with a compliant cap.
Sources: NHDES DWGB-1-2, Bedrock (Artesian, Drilled) Well Design; NHDES DWGB-1-14, Extending Bedrock Well Casings. Rule text: NH Water Well Board rules We 100–1000.
How Much Water a Household Actually Uses
The other half of every yield question. A well does not have to match a household minute for minute — it has to keep up over a day, with enough water standing in the casing to cover the peaks.
| What | Figure | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Average American family, at home | More than 300 gallons per day | EPA WaterSense national figure |
| Share of that used indoors | Roughly 70% | The rest is outdoor use — lawns, gardens, washing cars |
| Conventional showerhead | 2.5 gallons per minute | EPA WaterSense; WaterSense-labelled showerheads use no more than 2.0 gpm |
| What a well yield delivers in a day | Yield (gpm) × 1,440 | Minutes in a day. 1 gpm sustained is 1,440 gallons over 24 hours |
Set the first and last rows against each other and the arithmetic is the whole story: a well producing a steady 1 gpm makes several times what an average family uses in a day. What it cannot do on its own is run two 2.5 gpm showers at once — that is the job of the water standing in the casing, or of a storage tank. Our yield versus storage guide works it through.
Sources: EPA WaterSense, How We Use Water; EPA WaterSense, Showerheads.