Protect your family's health. Know what's really in your well water.
JLM Environmental collects water samples — from private wells and public water systems alike — submits them to an accredited Oklahoma laboratory, and walks you through the results, with well disinfection service when your well needs it.
Services built around who you are and what you need.
Pick the one that matches you to see what we offer and how it works.
Three services, one point of contact — from the wellhead to a plan you understand. Below that, the specific contamination topics we test for most, from bacteria and nitrate to Oklahoma's own geology and oilfield-related risks.
Well Water Sampling & Lab Submission
We collect your sample at the wellhead using proper protocol and chain-of-custody handling, then submit it to an accredited Oklahoma laboratory for analysis — bacteriological, chemical, or both, depending on what your well needs.
Technical Assistance & Consultations
Lab reports are dense. We walk through your results line by line, explain what each number means for your household, and lay out practical, prioritized options — no upselling equipment you don't need.
Well Disinfection (Shock Chlorination)
When bacteria show up in your results, we perform shock chlorination to disinfect the well and plumbing system, then schedule a confirmation sample so you know the treatment actually worked.
Mold testing and lead-based paint testing are in the works — reach out if you'd like to be first in line once they're available.
Why it matters
Private wells aren't regulated the way city water is.
The EPA regulates public water systems, but a private well is the owner's own responsibility — nobody tests it unless you do. The EPA recommends testing annually at minimum, and Oklahoma groundwater is known to carry naturally occurring nitrate, fluoride, and arsenic in some areas, alongside common nuisance minerals like iron and hardness.
These aren't just numbers on a lab report — each one carries a real health risk when it's out of range:
Total Coliform & E. coli
Coliform bacteria signal that surface water or waste has found a way into your well. E. coli specifically causes diarrhea, cramping, and nausea, and can be more serious for infants, the elderly, and anyone immunocompromised.
Nitrate
The biggest concern is for infants under six months — high nitrate can cause methemoglobinemia ("blue baby syndrome"), which reduces the blood's ability to carry oxygen. It's also a risk during pregnancy.
Arsenic
Long-term exposure is linked to skin damage, circulatory problems, and an increased risk of certain cancers. We cover this in more depth below, since it's especially common in the Garber-Wellington Aquifer.
Lead
There is no known safe level of lead exposure. In children, it can affect brain development, learning, and behavior; in adults, it's linked to high blood pressure and kidney problems. It most often reaches well water from corrosion of old plumbing, solder, or fixtures rather than the aquifer itself — which is why the water's corrosivity matters (below).
pH Out of Range
Water outside the 6.5–8.5 range is corrosive to well components and household plumbing, which can leach lead, copper, and other metals into your water even when the source itself is clean.
A common complaint
Sulfur ("rotten egg") smelling well water
A strong rotten-egg odor is almost always hydrogen sulfide gas. It's one of the most common complaints we hear from well owners, and while it's more a nuisance than a direct health hazard at the concentrations typically found in household well water, it's still worth testing for and tracking down the source.
Where it comes from
Most often it's naturally occurring sulfate-reducing bacteria in the aquifer, soil, or the well itself converting sulfur compounds into hydrogen sulfide gas. A magnesium or aluminum anode rod reacting with sulfate inside a water heater is another frequent cause — and a useful clue: if only the hot water smells, the water heater is usually the source, not the well.
Health & practical effects
At the low concentrations typical in well water, hydrogen sulfide is mainly a nuisance — it affects taste and odor, blackens silverware, and stains plumbing fixtures. At higher concentrations, especially in an enclosed space like a well pit or pump house, the gas can be toxic and is flammable, so strong or worsening odors are worth having checked. It's also corrosive to pipes, water heaters, and well components over time.
Because a sulfur odor can trace back to several different causes — the aquifer, the well itself, or a water heater — diagnostic testing and a look at where the smell shows up (hot water only vs. both hot and cold) is the fastest way to pin down the source and the right fix.
Local geology
The Garber-Wellington Aquifer
If your well sits in central Oklahoma, there's a good chance it draws from the Garber-Wellington Aquifer (also called the Central Oklahoma Aquifer) — a Permian-age sandstone and shale formation that supplies drinking water to roughly 1.2 million people across the Oklahoma City metro and surrounding communities. It spans about 3,000 square miles across Oklahoma, Cleveland, Lincoln, Logan, and Pottawatomie counties, and nearly every community in the area outside Oklahoma City itself relies on it at least in part.
These four elements come from the aquifer's own geology, not from surface contamination — and concentrations can vary sharply from one well to the next, even between a shallow and a deep well on the same property. Here's what sustained exposure above EPA's limits is associated with:
Arsenic
Long-term exposure above EPA's 10 µg/L limit is linked to skin damage (lesions and discoloration), circulatory system problems, and an increased risk of skin, bladder, and lung cancer.
Chromium
Total chromium above EPA's 100 µg/L limit has been linked to allergic dermatitis. Hexavalent chromium — a more toxic form that can occur naturally in groundwater — is classified as a likely carcinogen by inhalation and remains under continued study for ingestion risk.
Selenium
An essential nutrient in trace amounts, but chronic intake above EPA's 50 µg/L limit can cause selenosis — hair and nail brittleness or loss, skin rashes, and gastrointestinal or nervous system effects.
Uranium
At the concentrations typically found in groundwater, the primary concern is chemical toxicity to the kidneys rather than radiation exposure. EPA's 30 µg/L limit is set specifically to limit that kidney-related risk.
Oklahoma doesn't require private well testing, but DEQ offers discounted analysis specifically for wells drawing from the Garber-Wellington Aquifer. If your results come back elevated, we'll help you understand what the numbers mean and whether an at-the-tap treatment option like reverse osmosis or ion exchange makes sense — that's typically more practical than treating the whole house.
This is specific to the Garber-Wellington's footprint in central Oklahoma. Wells further west draw from different formations with their own characteristics, which we'll flag during sampling rather than assume.
Something not right with your water?
Well & pond water troubleshooting
Not every problem waits for a scheduled test. A sudden change in taste, color, or odor — or a pond that's turned cloudy, foul-smelling, or is killing fish — means something changed, and diagnostic testing is how you find out what.
Well Water Troubleshooting
On-site diagnostic sampling and field testing to track down sudden changes — staining, sediment, or a new taste or odor — followed by lab analysis and a clear plan when the cause needs it.
Pond & Surface Water Diagnostics
Field water quality testing and algae assessment for ponds and surface water, including harmful algal bloom (HAB) evaluation and fish kill investigation support — drawing on years leading Oklahoma's state HAB program.
Ponds & surface water
Blue-green algae & harmful algal blooms
What looks like ordinary pond scum can be a harmful algal bloom (HAB) — a rapid overgrowth of cyanobacteria (commonly, if misleadingly, called "blue-green algae") that can release toxins dangerous to people, pets, and livestock. Blooms often show up as a thick green, blue-green, or reddish-brown scum, paint-like streaks on the surface, or a strong musty odor, especially during warm, calm, nutrient-rich conditions in mid-to-late summer.
Microcystins
The cyanotoxin most often found in Oklahoma ponds. A liver toxin that can also cause skin rashes and eye irritation on contact, and nausea, vomiting, or diarrhea if swallowed.
Anatoxin-a
A fast-acting neurotoxin. Exposure can cause muscle twitching, numbness, and in severe cases respiratory failure — it's the toxin most often behind sudden dog and livestock deaths after drinking from a bloom.
Cylindrospermopsin
Damages the liver and kidneys and can cause gastrointestinal illness. Symptoms are sometimes delayed by a day or more after exposure, which can make the cause harder to trace.
Saxitoxins
The same family of neurotoxins behind paralytic shellfish poisoning. Can cause tingling, numbness, and, at high exposure, muscle paralysis.
Not every bloom produces detectable toxins, and toxin levels can shift day to day, so testing is the only way to know what you're dealing with. If you notice a bloom, keep people, pets, and livestock out of the water and away from drinking it until it's been checked — toxin exposure in animals can be fatal within hours.
JLM Environmental provides field water quality testing and algae/HAB assessment for ponds, drawing on Nicholas's background leading Oklahoma's state harmful algal bloom program at ODEQ.
A specialized concern in Oklahoma
Saltwater & oilfield brine contamination
Oklahoma has one of the highest concentrations of oil and gas activity in the country, and with it, tens of thousands of Class II injection wells used to dispose of the saltwater (brine) that comes up alongside oil and gas production. That brine is often several times saltier than seawater and can carry trace metals along with it.
When a disposal well, an old plugged well, or aging oilfield infrastructure fails, that brine can migrate into the shallow aquifers private wells draw from — a documented issue in several of Oklahoma's oil-producing counties. It doesn't always announce itself the way bacterial contamination does, either. Watch for a salty or metallic taste, fixtures and pipes corroding faster than usual, or vegetation dying off near the wellhead.
Because naturally salty groundwater, water softener discharge, and road salt can all look similar to oilfield brine on a basic test, getting the right analysis matters. This is a contamination pathway JLM Environmental has direct experience with, including sampling tied to oil-and-gas-related water contamination investigations during our years at Oklahoma's state environmental laboratory. If your results point to brine, we'll walk you through what the numbers show and help you understand the next step — including when it's appropriate to report a suspected leak to the Oklahoma Corporation Commission, which regulates the state's oil and gas injection wells.
What Testing Can Reveal
A related oilfield risk
Oil & petroleum contamination
Separate from saltwater brine, petroleum itself can reach groundwater — from a leaking tank battery, pipeline, well pad, or older, poorly plugged oil well. An oily sheen or rainbow film on the water's surface, a strong gasoline or diesel smell, or a sudden change in taste are the usual first signs, though low-level contamination can be present without an obvious smell.
The standard way to screen for this is Total Petroleum Hydrocarbons (TPH) testing, which measures the combined concentration of petroleum-derived compounds in a sample rather than identifying every individual chemical. It's typically run alongside BTEX analysis — benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylene, the four petroleum compounds regulators watch most closely, since they're the most soluble in water and the most likely to travel away from the source.
Of those, benzene is the one with the most serious health profile: it's a known human carcinogen, linked to leukemia and other blood disorders with long-term exposure even at fairly low concentrations. Toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylene are more of a nervous-system concern — headaches, dizziness, and fatigue at lower exposures, with liver and kidney effects possible at higher levels. If your results come back elevated, we'll help you understand what was found and whether the source looks like it's on your property or upstream of it, including when a report to the Oklahoma Corporation Commission or DEQ is the right next step.
What Testing Can Reveal
Agricultural runoff
Pesticides & herbicides in drinking water
Wells in or near cropland can pick up trace levels of pesticides and herbicides from runoff and infiltration, particularly shallow wells and those close to fields treated during the growing season. Glyphosate — the active ingredient in Roundup and the most widely used herbicide in the country — is one of the ones we get asked about most.
The EPA sets a maximum contaminant level (MCL) for glyphosate of 0.7 mg/L (700 µg/L) in drinking water. Its health-effects listing for exposure above that level over many years includes kidney problems and reproductive difficulties.
Glyphosate's cancer risk specifically is a genuinely disputed question among regulators, and we think it's worth laying out both sides rather than picking one. The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), part of the World Health Organization, classified glyphosate as "probably carcinogenic to humans" in 2015. The EPA's own assessment has concluded it's "not likely to be carcinogenic to humans" under realistic exposure conditions — a conclusion shared by regulators in Canada, the EU, Australia, and several other countries. The EPA has an updated human health risk assessment underway, expected in late 2026. We'll report your result against the current EPA standard and are happy to point you to both assessments if you want to read further.
Other Common Ag Herbicides
Oklahoma doesn't require a well water test before a sale, but most lenders and many buyers ask for one anyway — and on a transaction, timing is everything. We work around your closing date, not the other way around, and get results back fast enough to keep the deal moving.
Whether you're representing the buyer or the seller, we handle the sampling and lab submission directly, then walk the client through what the results mean in plain language — so you're not the one fielding water-quality questions. Request an appointment and flag it as a real estate transaction; we'll ask for your closing date so we can schedule around it.
Need a faster answer than a full chemical panel allows? Bacteria results are typically the quickest turnaround of anything we test for, and we'll always tell you upfront what a realistic timeline looks like against your closing date.
Real Estate Panel
Home inspectors don't test well water themselves, but clients often ask about it anyway — especially on a property with a private well. JLM Environmental works as a referral partner: send your client our way, and we handle the sampling, lab submission, and results conversation directly with them, with a turnaround fast enough that it won't hold up their closing.
There's no cost or liability on your end — we just need a point of contact for the buyer or seller, and we'll take it from there. Most inspectors send us a quick text or email with the property address and the client's contact info once an inspection is scheduled, and we coordinate the sampling visit directly with the client, often around the same time as the inspection itself.
If you'd like to send clients our way regularly, reach out and we'll set up a simple way to do that — a card to hand out, a line in your inspection report template, whatever's easiest for your workflow.
Why Inspectors Refer To Us
We provide compliance sampling and technical assistance for small and medium public water systems — scheduling, sample collection, and results interpretation — drawing directly on years spent running Oklahoma's own Small Systems Assistance program at ODEQ.
Small systems often don't have the staff to manage compliance sampling on top of everything else running a system takes. We handle the scheduling, come to you for collection, submit to an accredited lab, and walk through results against Safe Drinking Water Act requirements — the same technical assistance role Nicholas ran for years at the state level, now available directly to your system.
What We Help With
Eleven years in Oklahoma's state water lab, now working for you.
Nicholas founded JLM Environmental in 2026 after more than a decade inside Oklahoma's state environmental laboratory system. Most recently, he spent over six years as an Environmental Chemical Laboratory Scientist at the Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality (ODEQ) State Environmental Laboratory, where he led the lab's Small Systems Assistance program — providing technical assistance directly to public water systems — and ran microbiological and chemical analysis on private well, public water supply, and Oklahoma Water Resource Board samples, including testing for total coliform, E. coli, and enterococci. He also assisted with sampling tied to oil-and-gas-related water contamination investigations and Superfund site studies — experience that now shapes how JLM Environmental approaches saltwater and brine contamination consultations (more below).
Before that, he worked as an Environmental Programs Specialist at the same lab, handling sample intake, QA/QC, and data review, and started as a technical laboratory employee running microbiology and chemistry analysis on incoming water samples. JLM Environmental brings that same lab-side rigor directly to private well owners — the sampling protocol, the data interpretation, and the follow-through, from one person you can actually reach.
Credentials
From wellhead to answers, in four steps.
Schedule & collect the sample
We come to your property, locate the right sampling point, and collect your sample following proper protocol so the results reflect your water — not handling errors.
Submit to an accredited laboratory
Your sample is delivered to a certified Oklahoma lab within the required holding time, tested for the parameters that make sense for your well and property.
Review results together
Once results are in, we go through them with you — what's within safe limits, what isn't, and what it actually means for your household.
Disinfect & confirm, if needed
If bacteria are present, we perform well disinfection and schedule a follow-up sample to confirm your water is clear.
Central & Western Oklahoma
JLM Environmental serves private well owners across central and western Oklahoma. Not sure if your property is in range? Call or email — coverage often extends a bit further for the right job.
Frequently asked questions
How often should I test my well water?
At minimum, annually for bacteria — more often for shallow, old, or poorly constructed wells. Broader chemical testing is generally recommended every three to five years, and immediately after flooding, nearby construction, a noticeable change in taste, odor, or color, or any well or plumbing repair.
Why does the sample go to a separate lab instead of being tested on-site?
Accurate results — especially for bacteria — require certified laboratory equipment and controlled handling. We collect the sample correctly and get it to an accredited lab within the required time, so you get a result you can actually trust and act on.
What happens if bacteria or another contaminant is found?
We'll walk you through exactly what was found and what it means. For bacterial contamination, that usually means shock chlorination followed by a confirmation retest. For chemical issues like nitrate or arsenic, we'll discuss practical options based on your results.
Do you only work with private wells, or public systems too?
Both. JLM Environmental works with private well owners — the households and rural properties that don't have a municipal utility testing their water for them — and also provides compliance sampling and technical assistance to small and medium public water systems.
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Ready to find out what's in your water?
Call or email to schedule a sampling visit anywhere in central or western Oklahoma. Most questions about pricing and scheduling are easiest to answer over the phone.