This data provides improved estimates of the dependence and spatial distribution of housing units reliant on private domestic wells by census block group and block. Nationally, based on an understanding of well use from state well logs and the housing unit density, an estimated 23 million housing units are being served by this water resource, 17 per cent of the population. In 1990, 15.1 million households were reliant on wells. In the ensuing 30 years there has been over a 50 percent increase in the number of households relying on these wells. This dataset will assist in a better understanding of the reliance on private domestic wells in the US, better positioning local, state, and federal groups in protecting this water resource from contaminant sources.

This dataset is associated with the following publication: Murray, A., A. Hall, J. Weaver, and F. Kremer. Methods for Estimating Locations of Housing Units Served by Private Domestic Wells in the United States Applied to 2010. JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN WATER RESOURCES ASSOCIATION. American Water Resources Association, Middleburg, VA, USA, 57(5): 828-843, (2021).