Manganese and arsenic are widespread in Harvey County wells.
2 widespread, 1 worth checking, 3 rare out of 6 health checks.
From 175 wells tested in Harvey County since 2000; your own well needs its own test. How to read this
Not charted, because fewer than 10 wells were tested: radon (1).
Rare: under 5%Worth checking: 5 to 15%Widespread: 15%+
Lab results: Water Quality Portal (USGS and EPA)
Who drinks from a well here
1 in 3 people 12,813 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)
Possible here. A home air test is inexpensive.
Radon zones: EPA map
Here's how Harvey County compares with Kansas and the counties around it.
Each result puts Harvey County next to the 5 counties that border it, on the chart's 0 to 50% scale.
These 2 are widespread in Harvey County wells.
Manganese90 of 172 wells over
Too few tested to show: Butler, Marion, McPherson, Reno.
Arsenic60 of 175 wells over
Too few tested to show: Butler, Marion, McPherson, Reno.
This one is worth checking in Harvey County.
Nitrate14 of 172 wells over
Too few tested to show: Butler, Marion, McPherson, Reno.
These 3 are rare in Harvey County.
Uranium0 of 23 wells over
Too few tested to show: Butler, Marion, McPherson, Reno.
Lead0 of 165 wells over
Too few tested to show: Butler, Marion, McPherson, Reno.
Fluoride0 of 172 wells over
Too few tested to show: Butler, Marion, McPherson, Reno.
Too few Harvey County wells were tested for this one.
Radon in water1 well tested
Coliform bacteria turned up in 140 of 172 tested Harvey County wells, so test for it every year.
Coliform bacteria140 of 172 wells had it
Too few tested to show: Butler, Marion, McPherson, Reno.
E. coli21 of 129 wells had it
Too few tested to show: Butler, Marion, McPherson, Reno.
E. coli means human or animal waste is getting in, so if a test of your Harvey County well finds it, boil drinking water until the well is fixed.
Iron reached staining levels in 91 of 172 tested wells, and it isn't a health risk.
Iron stains91 of 172 wells had it
Too few tested to show: Butler, Marion, McPherson, Reno.
Harvey County has 175 tested wells, and the busiest decade for testing was the 2000s.
None of the 175 wells has a test from 2020 or later, so a fresh test of your own well tells you more than any of these.
Most Harvey 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 Harvey County.
- Bacteria
- Nitrate
- Manganese
- Arsenic
What Kansas offers well owners
- Free testingWe didn't find a free program for all of Kansas. Kansas's private well page
- Certified labsWe didn't find an online list.
- Well recordsKansas's well record search
Half the household wells here are shallower than 65 feet.
That comes from 1,369 household wells in Kansas's drilling records. Most wells of every kind here are 49 to 100 feet deep. Wells as deep as Harvey 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 73 of the 104 other Kansas counties with enough drilling records.
Look up your own well's depth in Kansas'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 Harvey County.
Harvey 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 2 town water systems in Harvey County test for PFAS. None found any. No well in Harvey 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 Harvey County
Is well water in Harvey County safe to drink?
90 of 172 wells tested in Harvey County had manganese over the limit, about 5 in 10. Across Kansas it's about 1 in 3. That's the highest share among the 4 Kansas counties with 10 or more tested wells. So test your own well for manganese before you count on it.
Where can I get my well tested in Harvey County?
Use a lab Kansas has certified for drinking water. Kansas's list is linked above, in the box about testing. Ask for bacteria, nitrate, manganese and arsenic, the tests that matter most in Harvey County.
How deep are wells in Harvey County?
Half the household wells here are shallower than 65 feet. Typical household wells here are shallower than in 73 of the 104 other Kansas counties with enough drilling records.
How does Harvey County compare with the counties around it?
For manganese, the share of tested wells over the limit: Sedgwick, the one neighbor with data, came in lower than Harvey County, at 28% against 52%. Groundwater doesn't stop at county lines, so Sedgwick's 28% is worth knowing about if you live near it.
How often should I test my well in Harvey County?
In Harvey County, 140 of 172 tested wells had coliform bacteria, so the CDC's advice matters here: 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 Harvey County numbers come from
- People on wells: 12,813 in Harvey County, from EPA estimates built on the 2020 Census (Murray et al.).
- Lab tests: 15,497 well water samples from 175 wells in the Water Quality Portal, run by the USGS and EPA, 2000 to 2016.
- Well depths: 1,369 Kansas drilling records for Harvey County, gathered in the US Groundwater Well Database (Lin and others, 2024).
- Neighboring counties: the 5 counties that share a border with Harvey County, from the Census Bureau's county adjacency file.
- PFAS: EPA tests of 2 town water systems in Harvey County under the Fifth Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Rule, 2023 to 2025.
- Radon: Harvey County is zone 2 on the EPA Map of Radon Zones.
- State programs and links: Kansas Department of Health and Environment, checked November 1, 2026.