Manganese is widespread in Sedgwick County wells.
1 widespread, 2 worth checking, 3 rare out of 6 health checks.
From 87 wells tested in Sedgwick County since 2000; 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
1 in 3 people 175,157 people
Nobody else tests these wells. Only you do.
People on wells: EPA researchers' 2020 estimate
How deep wells go here
Shallow wells: watch for fertilizer and germs from above.
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 Sedgwick County compares with Kansas and the counties around it.
Each result puts Sedgwick County next to the 6 counties that border it, on the chart's 0 to 50% scale.
This one is widespread in Sedgwick County wells.
Manganese22 of 79 wells over
Too few tested to show: Butler, Cowley, Kingman, Reno, Sumner.
These 2 are worth checking in Sedgwick County.
Nitrate9 of 79 wells over
Too few tested to show: Butler, Cowley, Kingman, Reno, Sumner.
Uranium4 of 51 wells over
Too few tested to show: Butler, Cowley, Kingman, Reno, Sumner.
These 3 are rare in Sedgwick County.
Arsenic2 of 79 wells over
Too few tested to show: Butler, Cowley, Kingman, Reno, Sumner.
Lead0 of 79 wells over
Too few tested to show: Butler, Cowley, Kingman, Reno, Sumner.
Coliform bacteria turned up in 46 of 52 tested Sedgwick County wells, so test for it every year.
Coliform bacteria46 of 52 wells had it
Too few tested to show: Butler, Cowley, Kingman, Reno, Sumner.
E. coli18 of 50 wells had it
Too few tested to show: Butler, Cowley, Kingman, Reno, Sumner.
E. coli means human or animal waste is getting in, so if a test of your Sedgwick County well finds it, boil drinking water until the well is fixed.
Iron reached staining levels in 14 of 87 tested wells, and it isn't a health risk.
Iron stains14 of 87 wells had it
Too few tested to show: Butler, Kingman, Reno.
Most of the 87 wells tested in Sedgwick County were last tested before 2010.
An old result shows the water as it was then, so treat these 87 wells as a starting point and test your own.
Most Sedgwick 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 5 things to check in Sedgwick County.
- Bacteria
- Nitrate
- Manganese
- Uranium
- 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 55 feet.
That comes from 10,900 household wells in Kansas's drilling records. Most wells of every kind here are 40 to 80 feet deep. Wells as shallow as Sedgwick County's pick up bacteria and nitrate from the surface more easily, so the yearly test matters even more here. Typical household wells here are shallower than in 89 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 Sedgwick County.
Sedgwick 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 11 town water systems in Sedgwick County test for PFAS. 1 of them had at least one test above 4 ng/L, the new EPA limit for PFOA and PFOS. The highest single result was 4.5 ng/L of PFOS. No well in Sedgwick 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 Sedgwick County
Is well water in Sedgwick County safe to drink?
22 of 79 wells tested in Sedgwick County had manganese over the limit, about 3 in 10. Across Kansas it's about 1 in 3. That's a smaller share than in 2 of the 3 other 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 Sedgwick 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, uranium and arsenic, the tests that matter most in Sedgwick County.
How deep are wells in Sedgwick County?
Half the household wells here are shallower than 55 feet. Typical household wells here are shallower than in 89 of the 104 other Kansas counties with enough drilling records.
How does Sedgwick County compare with the counties around it?
For manganese, the share of tested wells over the limit: Harvey, the one neighbor with data, came in higher than Sedgwick County, at 52% against 28%. Groundwater doesn't stop at county lines, so Harvey's 52% is worth knowing about if you live near it.
How often should I test my well in Sedgwick County?
In Sedgwick County, 46 of 52 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.
If you buy something through our links, we may earn a commission. We'd recommend the same thing either way, and we'll tell you when a free option exists. How we make money
Where the Sedgwick County numbers come from
- People on wells: 175,157 in Sedgwick County, from EPA estimates built on the 2020 Census (Murray et al.).
- Lab tests: 4,588 well water samples from 87 wells in the Water Quality Portal, run by the USGS and EPA, 2000 to 2023.
- Well depths: 10,900 Kansas drilling records for Sedgwick County, gathered in the US Groundwater Well Database (Lin and others, 2024).
- Neighboring counties: the 6 counties that share a border with Sedgwick County, from the Census Bureau's county adjacency file.
- PFAS: EPA tests of 11 town water systems in Sedgwick County under the Fifth Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Rule, 2023 to 2025.
- Radon: Sedgwick 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.