Drinking private well water: Groundwater quality and management of wells in southern Alabama.

Private wells provide a source of household water for over 40 million people in the United States and an estimated 1 million people in the Coastal Lowlands Aquifer system along the Gulf of Mexico. Well water quality is dependent on the local geology and factors that contribute to anthropogenic contamination from the surface. Here, we evaluated groundwater quality and well management in southern Alabama, USA, to better understand factors that influence exposures through drinking water from private wells.