testing our well water?

I'd like to get our well water tested but am not sure the best way to go about it. Our county will test it, but only for bacteria, lead & nitrates. I'd like a much more thorough check - with pesticides, VOCs, metals, etc. I found a national lab that does that, but it's so expensive! So - not really knowing what I'm doing I wanted to learn more about what kind of cost I should expect, if there are any particularly trusted labs, &/or anything else that would be helpful to know. Thanks!

Most places that sell water softners will test your water for you. It is still expensive (not sure how much). Lowes/Home depot sells kits to check for the metal content of your water.

My state's Department of Environmental Protection has a water testing lab. Maybe yours does too.

That said, even their service is expensive. When I was in the process of buying my house a year ago, I spent about $300 to have them do a series of water tests. That price included various radioactive elements (common in the bedrock around here) but not pesticides or herbicides (expensive, and not a concern on my property) or industrial pollutants (ditto).

Your concerns may be different from mine, but I'd guess that if you want to test for every harmful substance that could conceivably be in your water, it will be expensive!

I used this company in August 2013. Received my results back in a week. I'd use them again.

http://protestinglab.everris.us.com/water_packagingPricing.php

Thanks everyone - will look into those options!