Manganese is widespread in Faulkner County wells.
1 widespread, 5 rare out of 6 health checks.
From 85 wells tested in Faulkner County since 2010; your own well needs its own test. How to read this
Rare: under 5%Worth checking: 5 to 15%Widespread: 15%+
Lab results: Water Quality Portal (USGS and EPA)
Who drinks from a well here
About 1 in 50 people 2,456 people
Nobody else tests these wells. Only you do.
People on wells: EPA researchers' 2020 estimate
How deep wells go here
Middle depth: some shelter from the surface, not complete.
Well depths: US Groundwater Well Database
Radon risk (a gas from rock)
Less likely, but the EPA still says test your air.
Radon zones: EPA map
Here's how Faulkner County compares with Arkansas and the counties around it.
Each result puts Faulkner County next to the 7 counties that border it, on the chart's 0 to 50% scale.
This one is widespread in Faulkner County wells.
Manganese20 of 85 wells over
Too few tested to show: Perry.
These 5 are rare in Faulkner County.
Arsenic0 of 84 wells over
Too few tested to show: Perry.
Lead0 of 61 wells over
Too few tested to show: Perry.
Nitrate0 of 59 wells over
Too few tested to show: Cleburne, Conway, Lonoke, Perry, Pulaski.
Fluoride0 of 32 wells over
Too few tested to show: Perry.
Uranium0 of 58 wells over
Too few tested to show: Cleburne, Conway, Lonoke, Perry, Pulaski.
Every well needs a bacteria test every year.
No bacteria tests from Faulkner County wells are in the public data. Test every year anyway.
Iron reached staining levels in 21 of 85 tested wells, and it isn't a health risk.
Iron stains21 of 85 wells had it
Too few tested to show: Perry.
Faulkner County has 85 tested wells, and the busiest decade for testing was the 2010s.
None of the 85 wells has a test from 2020 or later, so a fresh test of your own well tells you more than any of these.
Most Faulkner County wells in these records were tested for research or because someone suspected a problem, which can push the shares above what a typical home well would show (how we read the numbers).
One mail-in lab test covers the 4 things to check in Faulkner County.
- Bacteria
- Nitrate
- Manganese
- Arsenic
What Arkansas offers well owners
- Free testingThe state Public Health Laboratory tests private well samples for total coliform and E. coli for $17 per sample, with kits from local health units. See the program
- Certified labsWe didn't find an online list.
- Well recordsArkansas's well record search
Half the household wells here are shallower than 136 feet.
That comes from 1,250 household wells in Arkansas's drilling records. Most wells of every kind here are 100 to 200 feet deep. Wells as deep as Faulkner County's are usually better protected from fertilizer and bacteria at the surface, but they can pick up more of what's in the rock, like arsenic and uranium. Typical household wells here are shallower than in 38 of the 60 other Arkansas counties with enough drilling records.
Look up your own well's depth in Arkansas's well record search, or see how to find it.
Well depths: US Groundwater Well Database
Here's what we know about radon and PFAS in Faulkner County.
Faulkner County is in the EPA's lowest radon zone, so radon from well water is unlikely to be a problem. Radon guide
Between 2023 and 2025 the EPA had 9 town water systems in Faulkner County test for PFAS. None found any. No well in Faulkner County has public PFAS results, so the town systems are the best clue to what's in the groundwater nearby. PFAS guide
Radon zones: EPA Map of Radon Zones. PFAS: EPA tests of town water systems, 2023 to 2025
Questions people ask about well water in Faulkner County
Is well water in Faulkner County safe to drink?
20 of 85 wells tested in Faulkner County had manganese over the limit, about 1 in 4. Across Arkansas it's about 3 in 10. That's a bigger share than in 9 of the 16 other Arkansas counties with 10 or more tested wells, leaving out 2 counties whose results are likely overstated. So test your own well for manganese before you count on it.
Can I get my well tested for free in Faulkner County?
The state Public Health Laboratory tests private well samples for total coliform and E. coli for $17 per sample, with kits from local health units. If not, use a lab Arkansas has certified for drinking water. Ask for bacteria, nitrate, manganese and arsenic, the tests that matter most in Faulkner County.
How deep are wells in Faulkner County?
Half the household wells here are shallower than 136 feet. Typical household wells here are shallower than in 38 of the 60 other Arkansas counties with enough drilling records.
How does Faulkner County compare with the counties around it?
For manganese, the share of tested wells over the limit: 3 of the 6 neighboring counties with data had a higher share than Faulkner County, at 24%. Lonoke had the most, at 89%. Groundwater doesn't stop at county lines, so Lonoke's 89% is worth knowing about if you live near it.
How often should I test my well in Faulkner County?
Faulkner County has no public bacteria results for wells, so follow the CDC's advice: test for bacteria and nitrate every year, and right away after a flood, a repair, or any change in taste or smell.
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Where the Faulkner County numbers come from
- People on wells: 2,456 in Faulkner County, from EPA estimates built on the 2020 Census (Murray et al.).
- Lab tests: 607 well water samples from 85 wells in the Water Quality Portal, run by the USGS and EPA, 2010 to 2016.
- Well depths: 1,250 Arkansas drilling records for Faulkner County, gathered in the US Groundwater Well Database (Lin and others, 2024).
- Neighboring counties: the 7 counties that share a border with Faulkner County, from the Census Bureau's county adjacency file.
- PFAS: EPA tests of 9 town water systems in Faulkner County under the Fifth Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Rule, 2023 to 2025.
- Radon: Faulkner County is zone 3 on the EPA Map of Radon Zones.
- State programs and links: Department of Health, checked November 1, 2026.