Drinking Water

Well water can have contaminants that we cannot smell, taste, or see. The only way to know if your well is contaminated is through testing! There are a few essential tests that should be performed routinely on every private well. You may decide to test more often if your previous results were unsafe.

Recommended Testing

There are a few essential tests that should be performed routinely on every private well:

  • Bacteria: once a year and when you notice a change in taste, color or smell.
  • Nitrate: once a year and before the well will be used by a woman who is or may become pregnant.
  • Arsenic: every well should be tested once. Sample yearly if arsenic was present in previous tests.

For more information, see Drinking Water Tests for Private Wells [PDF].

 

The Health Department can test your well water! Test kits can be picked up at the Health Department Monday-Friday 8:00am-4:30pm. The kit contains the bottles, testing instructions, and a Private Well Water Test Request Form. We accept returned samples Monday-Thursday from 8:00am-4:00pm. No samples will be accepted on holidays or Fridays because samples cannot be analyzed over the weekend.

Prices:

  • Bacteria: $30 and will be analyzed in-house
  • Nitrate: $30 and will be sent to UW-Oshkosh for testing