$185 Premium Water Test
for Prescott Homes
53 parameters in a single lab-certified sample — arsenic, lead, uranium, nitrates, bacteria, hardness, iron, and more. Results in 7 to 10 business days. It is the panel to run on a private well; on city water a smaller $155 panel is usually enough. Either way you order it from the lab, not from us.
First, so there’s no confusion: Aqua Cat is not the lab.
The lab work is done by SimpleLab, an independent certified laboratory network. You order your kit from SimpleLab directly, they mail it to you, you take the sample at your own sink or well spigot, and you mail it back to them. Aqua Cat does not sell the kits, never handles your sample, and is not paid anything when you order one. What we do is read the report with you afterward, free.
Who Does What
Aqua Cat — free, with your estimate
While we’re at your home writing an estimate, we check hardness, chlorine and TDS on a meter at your sink. It takes a few minutes, it’s included, and those three numbers are enough to size a softener or conditioner. It is a meter reading, not a lab test — it cannot see arsenic, uranium, lead, nitrate or bacteria. We don’t make a separate trip just to run it.
SimpleLab — the certified lab
Anything past those three numbers has to go to a lab. You order the kit yourself using the buttons below, SimpleLab ships it to you, you fill the bottles and mail them back the same day, and the lab emails you a 12–15 page report comparing every result to the EPA limits. Turnaround is usually 7 to 10 business days.
Aqua Cat — free, again
Send us the PDF and we’ll walk it line by line with you, in plain English, and tell you what — if anything — your water actually needs. No charge, no obligation, and no commission on the test either way. If the report comes back clean, we’ll tell you that and you buy nothing.
Which Test Should You Order?
Pick the row that matches your situation. Each button opens that exact product on SimpleLab’s site.
You’re on city water
Drinking Water Test: Level 1 — $155, 47 parameters
Prescott, Prescott Valley, Chino Valley, Sedona, Cottonwood, Flagstaff and the Phoenix metro are all on treated, regulated supplies that publish an annual report. What that report can’t tell you is what happens between the main and your faucet. This panel gives you the numbers at your tap — hardness, TDS, iron, manganese, chlorine and its byproducts, plus lead and copper picked up from your own plumbing. That’s everything needed to size a softener or conditioner and decide whether an under-sink RO is worth it.
At SimpleLab · ships to you
You’re on a private well
Drinking Water Test: Level 1 + Bacteria — $185, 53 parameters
No agency tests or treats a private well — the EPA and the State of Arizona don’t regulate them, so whatever is in the rock is in your water until you find it. This is Level 1 plus total coliform and E. coli, and it covers arsenic and uranium, the two that matter most in Yavapai County. This is the $185 test referenced throughout this site. If you only ever run one, run this one.
At SimpleLab · ships to you
Well near historic mining, farmland, a landfill or fuel storage — or you’re buying the house and there’s no test on record
Drinking Water Test: Level 2 + Bacteria — $284, 113 parameters
More than double the panel. It adds a much wider metals sweep plus volatile and semi-volatile organic compounds — the things that come from what people did on the land, rather than from the rock itself. Yavapai County has a long mining history, so this is the one to run once, at purchase, so you know exactly what you bought.
At SimpleLab · ships to you
You’re within a few miles of an airport, a military installation or a fire-training site
PFAS Water Test — $334, 18 compounds by EPA method 537.1
PFAS is not part of any standard mineral panel — it needs its own lab method, which is why it’s priced separately. Firefighting foam is the usual reason a specific address is worth checking. Most homes in this area don’t need it; proximity is what makes it worth the money. Results take 3 to 4 weeks because the method is slower.
At SimpleLab · 3–4 week results
Private well in granite country, and your home already tests high for radon in the air
Radon Water Test — $91
Radon dissolves into groundwater out of the rock, then escapes into the air of your house every time you shower or run the dishwasher. The EPA notes it’s a groundwater issue — surface-water supplies release it long before the water reaches your tap — so this is a private-well test, not a city-water test. It’s cheap, and it’s only worth running if you already know air radon is elevated.
At SimpleLab · wells only
Prices and panel sizes above are SimpleLab’s published list prices, checked August 2026. SimpleLab sets them, not Aqua Cat — confirm the current price on their page before you order. You can also browse every SimpleLab drinking-water test. Not sure which one fits your house? Call (928) 228-5770 and we’ll tell you which one to buy — including when the answer is the cheapest one on the list.
What the $185 Premium Water Test Includes
What this site calls the Premium Water Test is SimpleLab’s Drinking Water Test: Level 1 + Bacteria — $185 for 53 parameters in a single sample. SimpleLab is an independent certified laboratory network; you order the kit from them, not from Aqua Cat. They ship it, you collect the sample at home and mail it back, and the lab emails you a 12–15 page report with EPA comparison flags. We read that report with you for free.
Tested categories include:
- Health-risk metals: arsenic, lead, uranium, chromium-6, copper, mercury
- Aesthetic minerals: hardness (calcium & magnesium), iron, manganese, sodium, total dissolved solids
- Bacteria & nitrates: total coliform, E. coli, nitrate-nitrogen, nitrite-nitrogen
- Chlorine & byproducts: free/total chlorine, trihalomethanes
- Other: pH, sulfate, fluoride, chloride, alkalinity, turbidity
The $185 covers everything above. PFAS and radon are not in this panel — each uses a different lab method and is ordered separately. SimpleLab currently lists the PFAS Water Test at $334 and the Radon Water Test at $91.
When You Should Test Your Water
Test if any of these apply:
- You’re on a private well in Yavapai County (annual is the recommended cadence — 40%+ of wells exceed EPA arsenic limits).
- You just bought the home and have no test record from the prior owner.
- You’ve noticed a change in water taste, smell, or color.
- Pregnancy, infant in the home, or anyone immunocompromised.
- You’re shopping for a softener, RO, or whole-house filter and don’t want to oversize.
- Recent flooding, well-pump service, or septic system change.
Many customers also re-test after a treatment system goes in, to confirm it’s hitting the target levels. On our side, we re-check hardness, chlorine and TDS on the meter once your system is running — no charge.
How to Read Your Lab Report
The SimpleLab report compares each measured value to four reference points: the EPA Maximum Contaminant Level (MCL), the EPA Secondary Standard (aesthetic), the World Health Organization guideline, and the Health Canada guideline. Anything above an MCL is flagged red.
Aqua Cat reads your report with you, free, whether or not you ever buy anything from us. We translate “arsenic 18 µg/L” into “1.8× the EPA limit, here’s what it means, here’s the treatment” — in plain English, with no upsell. If your test comes back clean, we tell you that and you don’t buy a system you don’t need. That’s the whole point of the “Trade NOT Sales” philosophy.
Service Areas
Aqua Cat reads lab reports and sizes treatment systems for customers across all of Prescott, Prescott Valley, Chino Valley, Sedona, Cottonwood, Flagstaff, and the entire Phoenix metro.
Related: water treatment overview, well water treatment, arsenic removal.
Reading your report and sizing treatment from it is free, wherever you are: Prescott, Prescott Valley, Chino Valley, Dewey-Humboldt, Sedona, Cottonwood, the Verde Valley, Flagstaff and the Phoenix metro. Outside those areas, call and you’ll get a straight yes or no on whether the job works.
Water Testing Questions
SimpleLab's $185 Drinking Water Test: Level 1 + Bacteria, which customers order directly from the lab, screens for 53 parameters in a single lab-certified sample: arsenic, lead, uranium, chromium-6, copper, hardness, iron, manganese, nitrates, total coliform and E. coli bacteria, chlorine, fluoride, pH, sulfate, TDS, and more. SimpleLab analyzes the sample and returns a 12–15 page EPA-comparison report in 7 to 10 days.
Sample collection takes about 5 minutes at your kitchen tap or well spigot. SimpleLab mails you the kit, you mail the filled bottles back the same day, and the lab returns results in 7 to 10 business days. Specialty PFAS or radon tests take 3 to 4 weeks because they use different lab methods.
Annual testing is the EPA recommendation for private wells. In Yavapai County, where 40%+ of wells exceed arsenic limits, annual is the floor. Test more frequently — every 6 months — if your well is shallow, near a septic system, in an area with historical mining, or after any well pump or casing service. After flooding, test immediately.
Hardware-store strip tests can give you a hardness reading and a chlorine reading. They cannot reliably detect arsenic, lead, uranium, PFAS, or bacteria — these require certified lab analysis. For any water-quality decision more serious than 'is it hard?', a $185 lab test is dramatically more accurate than a $20 strip kit.
No — PFAS testing is a specialized lab method (EPA 537.1) that runs separately; SimpleLab currently lists its PFAS Water Test at $334. Most Prescott homes do not need PFAS testing unless they live within a few miles of a current or former military installation, airport, or fire-training facility. You order the PFAS test yourself from the lab. Call us and we can tell you whether your address is one of the situations that warrants it.
Aqua Cat reads every report with you, in plain English. We compare each value to the EPA limit, explain what it means, and recommend the appropriate treatment — softener, filter, RO, arsenic removal — sized only to what your water actually needs. If the test comes back clean, you don't buy a system. That's the point of testing first.
Test First. Treat Right.
Order the $185 test straight from SimpleLab and mail the sample back the same day. Lab-certified results in 7 to 10 business days — then a free Aqua Cat consult to read them with you.