Introduction:
In Poland, a significant part of the population obtains drinking water from dug wells, susceptible to industrial and agricultural contamination. Meanwhile, so-called private water intakes, according to the Polish law, are not subject to the statutory control. This exposes the consumers to negative health effects. The aim of the study was to estimate the selected physicochemical parameters of drinking water from dug wells and to compare results to the permissible standards.

Material and Methods:
36 samples taken from dug wells from the Chmielnik community were tested. Nitrites and ammonium content was examined using a photometer, the pH value and electrolytic conductivity were measured by a multi-parameter meter, and turbidity by a turbidimeter. Chloride concentration was determined by the titration method.

Results:
For the chemical parameters tested, i.e. nitrites, chlorides and ammonium, the permissible standards were not exceeded. Similarly, for the electrolytic conductivity,pH value (2 samples) and turbidity (33 samples) were found to fall beyond the permissible standard.

Conclusions:
Water from the dug wells studied can be described as safe for consumers in terms of controlled chemical parameters, which were found not to exceed the standards. The problem of high turbidity value can be solved by introducing simple water treatment methods. Regular testing of all quality water parameters could explain whether the exceeded pH norm is associated with unacceptable concentrations of chemical indicators which were not studied in this work