LINCOLN, Neb. — The Nebraska Department of Environment and Energy (NDEE) is extending the deadline for Nebraskans to request a free nitrate sample kit and lab analysis.

Sample kits can now be requested through March 1, 2024, or until funds are expended. The free nitrate sample kits and lab analyses are offered to all Nebraskans with a private drinking water well.

Nebraska’s private drinking water well owners can request a free kit, which comes with sampling instructions and pre-paid return postage, online on the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services website: https://dhhs.ne.gov/Pages/Lab-Price-List.aspx. At this link, there is a box for this project titled “Nitrate Project Kit Request.” Please fill out the PDF form in this box and email it to the address provided in the box. Those without access to the internet who need help requesting a free sample kit may call NDEE at 402-471-2186.

Due to high demand, it may take several weeks or more to receive your kit in the mail. After receiving the kit, NDEE encourages requestors to collect their sample and return it to the Public Health Environmental Lab as soon as possible.

Well owners who participate will receive their sample results, and NDEE will use the data from this sampling effort in a statewide nitrate study that the agency is currently conducting. The study will include nitrate sampling data from public water systems and from private drinking water well owners who agree to participate. Well owners’ identifying information will not be used in the study.

The state does not regularly conduct sampling in private drinking water wells because they are not regulated under the Safe Drinking Water Act. Public participation in this free sampling event is key to ensuring the nitrate study accurately encompasses private drinking water wells in Nebraska.

For more information, see NDEE’s previous press release announcing the availability of the test kits: https://dee.nebraska.gov/news-events/press-releases/ndee-offers-free-nitrate-sample-kits-private-drinking-water-wells.