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Private Well Usage: Self-Reported as Main Source of Drinking Water by Year, New Jersey, 2011 to 2020

Indicator Report Data View Options

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Why Is This Important?

Water is used for many purposes including drinking, cooking, bathing, cleaning, and recreation. Because water use is so common in daily life, there are many opportunities for contaminated water to impact people. New Jersey has over 600 community water systems which provide drinking water to approximately 87% of the State's population. However, about 13 percent of New Jersey residents obtain their drinking water from private wells.

Definition

Percent of NJ residents self-reporting using and testing a private well as the main water source for their home.

Data Notes

Survey question: "What is the main source of your home water supply: a city, county or town water system; a small water system operated by a home association; a private well serving your home; other source; don't know?" This question was not used in 2012, 2018 or 2019. Annually, 5 - 8% of survey respondents did not know or refused to report the source of their home water supply.

Data Source

Behavioral Risk Factor Survey, Center for Health Statistics, New Jersey Department of Health
(http://www.nj.gov/health/chs/njbrfs/)

How the Measure is Calculated

  • Numerator:

    Number of people age 18 years and older self-reporting using and testing a private well as main water source for their home.

  • Denominator:

    Total number of persons aged 18 and older interviewed during the same survey period.

Data Issues

Data from the New Jersey Behavioral Risk Factor Survey are intended to be representative of all non-institutionalized adult residents of New Jersey. Due to resource issues, however, adults with limited personal access to phone service or limited command of either English or Spanish are not represented. As with all surveys, also, some error results from nonresponse (e.g., refusal to participate in the survey or to answer specific questions), and faulty measurement (e.g., responses affected by social desirability or recall error). Data collection procedures intended to minimize such errors include the use of strict calling protocols, good questionnaire design, standardization of interviewer behavior, interviewer training, and frequent, on-site interviewer monitoring and supervision. Statistical weighting procedures are also used to minimize the potential impact of disproportionate representation of demographic subgroups defined in terms of age, sex, race, ethnicity, education level, marital status, home ownership, and county of residence. (See also [[a href="query/BRFSSQueryTechNotes.html" Behavioral Risk Factor Survey Data Description and Technical Notes]].)

Related Risk Factors Indicators:

Health Topic Pages Related to: Private Well Usage: Self-Reported as Main Source of Drinking Water

Indicator Data Last Updated On 07/18/2022, Published on 03/06/2025
Environmental Public Health Tracking Project, New Jersey Department of Health, PO Box 369, Trenton, NJ 08625-0369, e-mail: nj.epht@doh.nj.gov (https://www.nj.gov/health/epht)