Nitrate is worth checking in Bingham County wells.

1 worth checking, 4 rare out of 5 health checks.

From 91 wells tested in Bingham County since 2000; your own well needs its own test. How to read this

Tested wells over the limit BinghamIdaho

Nitrate9%8 of 90 Lead5%1 of 21 Arsenic1%1 of 85 Manganese0%0 of 86 Fluoride0%0 of 85

GermsTest every year, whatever the chart says

Coliform bacteria0%0 of 2

StainsNot a health risk

Iron stains1%1 of 86

Not charted, because fewer than 10 wells were tested: uranium (8).

Rare: under 5%Worth checking: 5 to 15%Widespread: 15%+

Lab results: Water Quality Portal (USGS and EPA)

Show bacteria and iron

Who drinks from a well here

5 in 10 people 24,557 people

Nobody else tests these wells. Only you do.

People on wells: EPA researchers' 2020 estimate

Radon risk (a gas from rock)

LowMiddleHigh

Possible here. A home air test is inexpensive.

Radon zones: EPA map

Here's how Bingham County compares with Idaho and the counties around it.

Each result puts Bingham County next to the 7 counties that border it, on the chart's 0 to 50% scale.

This one is worth checking in Bingham County.

Nitrate8 of 90 wells over

About 1 in 11 wells tested here from 2000 to 2023 were over the EPA limit of 10 mg/L, against about 1 in 24 across Idaho. Half the results were under 1.4 mg/L, and the top 1 in 10 were 3.8 mg/L or more. That's a bigger share than in 39 of the 43 other Idaho counties with 10 or more tested wells.

Bingham and its neighbors

Bingham9%

Power4%

Caribou4%

Jefferson3%

Butte1%

Bannock0%

Blaine0%

Bonneville0%

Nitrate guide

These 4 are rare in Bingham County.

Lead1 of 21 wells over

1 of 21 wells tested here from 2001 to 2019 was over the EPA action level of 15 µg/L, against about 1 in 9 across Idaho. That's a bigger share than in 21 of the 24 other Idaho counties with 10 or more tested wells.

Bingham and its neighbors

Bannock6%

Bingham5%

Butte3%

Jefferson0%

Too few tested to show: Blaine, Bonneville, Caribou, Power.

Lead guide

Arsenic1 of 85 wells over

1 of 85 wells tested here from 2000 to 2019 was over the EPA limit of 10 µg/L, against about 1 in 10 across Idaho. Half the results were under 2.4 µg/L, and the top 1 in 10 were 3.3 µg/L or more. That's a smaller share than in 30 of the 42 other Idaho counties with 10 or more tested wells, leaving out 1 county whose results are likely overstated.

Bingham and its neighbors

Jefferson9%

Bannock7%

Blaine6%

Power5%

Caribou4%

Butte1%

Bingham1%

Bonneville0%

Arsenic guide

Manganese0 of 86 wells over

None of the 86 wells tested here from 2000 to 2019 were over the EPA health advisory of 0.3 mg/L, against about 1 in 11 across Idaho. Bingham County had none, while 26 of the 43 other Idaho counties with 10 or more tested wells had at least one.

Bingham and its neighbors

Caribou14%

Butte9%

Bannock7%

Jefferson3%

Bingham0%

Blaine0%

Bonneville0%

Power0%

Manganese guide

Fluoride0 of 85 wells over

None of the 85 wells tested here from 2000 to 2019 were over the EPA limit of 4 mg/L, against about 1 in 45 across Idaho. Half the results were under 0.62 mg/L, and the top 1 in 10 were 0.81 mg/L or more. Bingham County had none, while 14 of the 42 other Idaho counties with 10 or more tested wells had at least one, leaving out 1 county whose results are likely overstated.

Bingham and its neighbors

Caribou4%

Bannock2%

Butte1%

Bingham0%

Blaine0%

Bonneville0%

Jefferson0%

Power0%

Too few Bingham County wells were tested for this one.

Uranium8 wells tested

Only 8 wells here were tested from 2015 to 2019, too few to say how common it is. Across Idaho it's under 1 in 100.

Uranium guide

None of the 2 Bingham County wells tested for bacteria had it, but every well needs a yearly test.

Coliform bacteria0 of 2 wells had it

None of the 2 wells tested here from 2001 to 2002 had coliform bacteria, against about 6 in 10 across Idaho.

Bacteria guide

Iron reached staining levels in 1 of 86 tested wells, and it isn't a health risk.

Iron stains1 of 86 wells had it

1 of 86 wells tested here from 2000 to 2019 had enough iron to stain (0.3 mg/L), against about 1 in 7 across Idaho.

Bingham and its neighbors

Butte20%

Bannock14%

Caribou14%

Jefferson3%

Power2%

Blaine1%

Bingham1%

Bonneville0%

Iron guide

Most of the 91 wells tested in Bingham County were last tested before 2010.

80 wells had a test in the 2000s, 44 in the 2010s and 11 since 2020.

An old result shows the water as it was then, so treat these 91 wells as a starting point and test your own.

Most Bingham 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 3 things to check in Bingham County.

Bacteria
Nitrate
Arsenic

What Idaho offers well owners

Free testingDHW offers free private well water testing kits through Idaho Health Tools, limited to one kit per household every five years. See the program
Certified labsIdaho's list of certified labs
Well recordsIdaho's well record search

Here's what we know about radon and PFAS in Bingham County.

Bingham County is in the EPA's middle radon zone. An indoor air test is cheap and tells you whether to look at your water. Radon guide

Between 2023 and 2025 the EPA had 3 town water systems in Bingham County test for PFAS. 1 found some PFAS, all below the new limits. No well in Bingham 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

Next door to Bingham County

Jefferson

Elsewhere in Idaho

Ada Canyon Bonner Twin Falls Kootenai

All of Idaho

Questions people ask about well water in Bingham County

Is well water in Bingham County safe to drink?

8 of 90 wells tested in Bingham County had nitrate over the limit, about 1 in 11. Across Idaho it's about 1 in 24. That's a bigger share than in 39 of the 43 other Idaho counties with 10 or more tested wells. So test your own well for nitrate before you count on it.

Can I get my well tested for free in Bingham County?

DHW offers free private well water testing kits through Idaho Health Tools, limited to one kit per household every five years. If not, use a lab Idaho has certified for drinking water. Ask for bacteria, nitrate and arsenic, the tests that matter most in Bingham County.

How does Bingham County compare with the counties around it?

For nitrate, the share of tested wells over the limit: Bingham County, at 9%, had a higher share than all 7 neighboring counties with data. Groundwater doesn't stop at county lines, so Power's 4% is worth knowing about if you live near it.

How often should I test my well in Bingham County?

None of the 2 wells tested for bacteria in Bingham County had it, but the CDC still says to test for bacteria and nitrate every year, and right away after a flood, a repair, or any change in taste or smell.

By the Tested Water teamData from the USGS, EPA and Department of Health and WelfareUpdated November 8, 2026

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Where the Bingham County numbers come from

People on wells: 24,557 in Bingham County, from EPA estimates built on the 2020 Census (Murray et al.).
Lab tests: 1,212 well water samples from 91 wells in the Water Quality Portal, run by the USGS and EPA, 2000 to 2023.
Neighboring counties: the 7 counties that share a border with Bingham County, from the Census Bureau's county adjacency file.
PFAS: EPA tests of 3 town water systems in Bingham County under the Fifth Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Rule, 2023 to 2025.
Radon: Bingham County is zone 2 on the EPA Map of Radon Zones.
State programs and links: Department of Health and Welfare, checked November 1, 2026.

Download this county's data (CSV)How we read these numbers Report an error