PENNSYLVANIA · 84 MIN FROM OUR GREENVILLE OFFICE
Erie County is the far end of our Pennsylvania map, about an hour and a half from Greenville, and its wells are the shallowest in the Pennsylvania record we hold. The lake plain and the ridges behind it are different ground, and we drill both.
Serving our communities since 1967
WHERE WE WORK IN ERIE COUNTY
Whether you’re located in Erie, Edinboro, Waterford, or the countryside in between, we’re equipped to drill and service private wells that meet your property’s water demands.
Between towns, or not on the list? We cover the whole county, so call and we’ll schedule from Greenville.
WHAT WE DO IN ERIE COUNTY
Whether you’re on a private well or city water, the same crew handles the water source, the pressure, and what comes out of the tap.
Planning to build, expand, or upgrade your water system? Chatfield offers complete well drilling services tailored to Erie County’s geological conditions. We handle everything from start to finish, including permitting and system design, so you get dependable results without the hassle.
Erie County’s water can contain natural and environmental contaminants like iron, sulfur, bacteria, PFAS, chlorine, and manganese. That’s why we design and install whole-home filtration and purification systems that treat both well and municipal water sources. We’ll test your water, explain the results, and recommend a solution that fits your home or business.
Don’t let poor water pressure or unreliable pumps disrupt your day. We offer complete pump and pressure tank services to keep your water flowing smoothly, whether you’re running a household, a livestock operation, or a manufacturing facility.
WATER IN ERIE COUNTY
Erie County's town well logs show modest yields: medians of 5 to 10 gallons a minute at all 16 towns on our map. Around Girard and Lake City, bedrock also sits well down, at a median 53 and 61 feet.
North East and Wesleyville have the lowest median yield in the logs, 5 gallons a minute. Albion, Cranesville and McKean log 6, Platea 7, and Erie and Waterford 8. Corry, Edinboro, Elgin, Fairview, Girard, Lake City, Mill Village and Wattsburg reach 10. Each figure is a median across the logs within 5 miles of a town center, so one well can do better or worse.
On a slower well, the pump and pressure tank have to be matched to what the well gives, and Chatfield designs the pump system around the yield. A constant-pressure upgrade evens out the pressure at the tap. If a well that used to keep up starts running short, pump diagnostics and repair come before any talk of a new well, and well cleaning can be part of the answer.
Median well depths in the logs run from 50 feet around North East to 86 around Elgin, and the USGS county record of 1,755 wells has a median of 60 feet, with a middle half of 45 to 78. Depth to bedrock splits the towns. Around North East and Wesleyville the logs reach rock at a median 18 and 19 feet; around Girard and Lake City, at 53 and 61, against median well depths there of 60 and 62.
Girard Shale is mapped at the Fairview, Girard and Lake City town centers, and Northeast Shale at Erie, North East and Wesleyville. The Venango Formation is mapped at Corry, Edinboro, Elgin and Mill Village, and the Chadakoin Formation at the other six. With that much variation, the logs nearest a lot are worth reading before a new well goes in.
Thirteen of the 16 towns sit inside a public system on EPA's map. The Erie City Water Authority, by far the largest, draws from two Lake Erie intakes and Presque Isle Bay and covers three of those towns, Erie and Wesleyville among them. North East Borough takes surface water from three reservoirs, Videtto Springs and Lake Erie. The rest pump groundwater. Albion draws from eight active wells, Corry and the Fairview Township authority's District 3 from seven each, and Waterford from five. Edinboro and Girard use three, Lake City two and Wattsburg one. Cranesville buys its water from Albion.
Elgin, Mill Village and Platea have no system on that map, which doesn't mean no home there is connected; a home on a public line gets its report from the utility. The Erie County treatment page covers what the systems do to their water.
Source: Water quality: USGS National Water Information System results for Erie County wells, served through the Water Quality Portal, sampled between 1927 and 2023, retrieved 2026-09-14. Each well counts once, as the median of its samples. The 0.3 mg/L iron and 0.05 mg/L manganese marks are EPA secondary standards, which are aesthetic limits, not health limits. Well depth: USGS groundwater site inventory for Erie County, 1,755 wells with a recorded depth, retrieved 2026-09-14.
WHY ERIE COUNTY CHOOSES CHATFIELD
Rated 4.7 on Google across 104 reviews. Here is what working with us looks like, in a customer’s words.
“Chatfield Drilling replaced a submersible pump, extended our well casing above ground, and installed a sanitary cap at our farm house. This is our first experience with a well. Both Matt and Sam were happy to answer all of our questions, no matter how small, in a way that we could understand and enabled us to make informed decisions.”
ALSO SERVING
We cover ten counties in two states from the same two offices. If you’re near a county line, either page gets you the same crew.
A LITTLE CLARITY
Yes. Complete well drilling across Erie County, from Erie and Edinboro to Waterford and the countryside between, including permitting and system design, so the project runs start to finish with one crew.
Yes. PFAS and VOC filtration is one of the treatment systems we install, on well water and on municipal water. Testing comes first, because the treatment for PFAS is not the treatment for iron or bacteria, and Erie County water can carry any of them.
Our Greenville office is at 854 Mercer Rd., Greenville, PA 16125, about 84 minutes and 65.4 miles by road from Erie. Service calls for Erie County are scheduled from Greenville.
All of them. Our service map lists 16 Erie County communities, including Cranesville, Edinboro, Erie, Fairview, Girard, North East, and the townships between them. If your town is not on the map, call anyway; the county line is the boundary, not the town list.
In USGS records for 349 Erie County wells, the median hardness was 140 mg/L as calcium carbonate, about 8.2 grains per gallon, and 68% of wells were hard or very hard. A softener sized to your test result handles it. The test comes first because hardness varies well to well, even on the same road.
Often. 33% of the Erie County wells in USGS records were above 0.3 mg/L of iron, the level where orange staining starts, and 83% were above 0.05 mg/L of manganese, the level behind black marks and a metallic taste. The FerronX Iron System treats iron and dissolved metals at the point of entry; testing establishes the level and the right configuration.
USGS has depth records for 1,755 Erie County wells: the median is 60 feet, and the middle half fall between 45 and 78 feet. Your well's depth depends on the formation under your property and the yield your household needs, which is why Chatfield tests water flow rather than drilling to a number.
Talk with the Chatfield team.
(724) 588-2652A LITTLE KNOWLEDGE GOES A LONG WAY
WATER TESTINGWhat a test measures, what the results mean, and what happens next.
WELL DRILLINGWhat drives the price of drilling a well in our region, and what to ask before you sign.
WATER PROBLEMSThe signs, what causes hardness in our region, and how to confirm it.
YOUR NEXT STEP
Tell us what you’re noticing. We’ll come out from Greenville, test your water, and walk you through the next step.