Abstract: Well water contamination is a major public health problem in rural Nigeria. To explore the impact of wellhead protection on well water quality and to identify possible well water contaminants, water samples were collected from twenty (ten protected and ten unprotected) wells in ten rural communities of Enugu state, southeastern Nigeria. Ten physico-chemical and bacteriological water quality parameters including Total coliform count, Escherichia coli, pH, Temperature, Ec, Turbidity, Nitrate, Chloride TDS, and Sulphate were analyzed. The values returned from the analysis of protected and unprotected well water samples were compared with each order and with WHO (2011) benchmark for drinking water. Results obtained indicated that studied wells exhibits high variations in the physico-chemical and bacteriological properties of the water samples. However, bacterial contamination in well water samples was more serious in the unprotected wells; as the Escherichia coli was detected in all samples from the unprotected wells. Contamination by physical and chemical parameters is not a serious problem in the study area. The result of the study has shown that capping is a major factor influencing bacterial contamination levels in well water of the study area. The paper, therefore, recommends that the state government should ensure that all wells in the area are properly capped to keep contaminants away from the community wells on which the people depend for their water needs.