Manganese is widespread in Caddo Parish wells.
1 widespread, 2 rare out of 3 health checks.
From 53 wells tested in Caddo Parish since 2000; your own well needs its own test. How to read this
Not charted, because fewer than 10 wells were tested: arsenic (7), uranium (7), radon (6), lead (7).
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 7 people 32,806 people
Nobody else tests these wells. Only you do.
People on wells: EPA researchers' 2020 estimate
How deep wells go here
Deep wells: fewer surface germs, more minerals from the rock.
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 Caddo Parish compares with Louisiana and the counties around it.
Each result puts Caddo Parish next to the 8 counties that border it, on the chart's 0 to 50% scale.
This one is widespread in Caddo Parish wells.
Manganese8 of 53 wells over
Too few tested to show: Cass, TX, Harrison, TX, Marion, TX, Miller, AR, Panola, TX.
These 2 are rare in Caddo Parish.
Nitrate0 of 48 wells over
Too few tested to show: Cass, TX, Harrison, TX, Marion, TX, Miller, AR.
Fluoride0 of 53 wells over
Too few tested to show: Cass, TX, Harrison, TX, Marion, TX, Miller, AR, Panola, TX.
Too few Caddo Parish wells were tested for these 4.
Arsenic7 wells tested
Uranium7 wells tested
Radon in water6 wells tested
Lead7 wells tested
Coliform bacteria turned up in 2 of 6 tested Caddo Parish wells, so test for it every year.
Coliform bacteria2 of 6 wells had it
E. coli2 of 6 wells had it
E. coli means human or animal waste is getting in, so if a test of your Caddo Parish well finds it, boil drinking water until the well is fixed.
Iron reached staining levels in 18 of 53 tested wells, and it isn't a health risk.
Iron stains18 of 53 wells had it
Too few tested to show: Cass, TX, Harrison, TX, Marion, TX, Miller, AR, Panola, TX.
Most of the 53 wells tested in Caddo Parish were last tested before 2010.
An old result shows the water as it was then, so treat these 53 wells as a starting point and test your own.
Most Caddo Parish 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 Caddo Parish.
- Bacteria
- Nitrate
- Manganese
- Arsenic
What Louisiana offers well owners
- Free testingWe didn't find a free program for all of Louisiana. Louisiana's private well page
- Certified labsWe didn't find an online list.
- Well recordsLouisiana's well record search
Half the household wells here are shallower than 200 feet.
That comes from 3,759 household wells in Louisiana's drilling records. Most wells of every kind here are 90 to 230 feet deep. Wells as deep as Caddo Parish'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 go deeper than in 41 of the 57 other Louisiana counties with enough drilling records.
Look up your own well's depth in Louisiana'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 Caddo Parish.
Caddo Parish 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 6 town water systems in Caddo Parish test for PFAS. 3 found some PFAS, all below the new limits. No well in Caddo Parish 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 Caddo Parish
Is well water in Caddo Parish safe to drink?
8 of 53 wells tested in Caddo Parish had manganese over the limit, about 1 in 10. Across Louisiana it's about 2 in 10. That's a bigger share than in 12 of the 23 other Louisiana 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 Caddo Parish?
Use a lab Louisiana has certified for drinking water. Louisiana's list is linked above, in the box about testing. Ask for bacteria, nitrate, manganese and arsenic, the tests that matter most in Caddo Parish.
How deep are wells in Caddo Parish?
Half the household wells here are shallower than 200 feet. Typical household wells here go deeper than in 41 of the 57 other Louisiana counties with enough drilling records.
How does Caddo Parish compare with the counties around it?
For manganese, the share of tested wells over the limit: 2 of the 3 neighboring counties with data had a higher share than Caddo Parish, at 15%. Red River had the most, at 35%. Groundwater doesn't stop at county lines, so Red River's 35% is worth knowing about if you live near it.
How often should I test my well in Caddo Parish?
In Caddo Parish, 2 of 6 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 Caddo Parish numbers come from
- People on wells: 32,806 in Caddo Parish, from EPA estimates built on the 2020 Census (Murray et al.).
- Lab tests: 284 well water samples from 53 wells in the Water Quality Portal, run by the USGS and EPA, 2000 to 2015.
- Well depths: 3,759 Louisiana drilling records for Caddo Parish, gathered in the US Groundwater Well Database (Lin and others, 2024).
- Neighboring counties: the 8 counties that share a border with Caddo Parish, from the Census Bureau's county adjacency file.
- PFAS: EPA tests of 6 town water systems in Caddo Parish under the Fifth Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Rule, 2023 to 2025.
- Radon: Caddo Parish is zone 3 on the EPA Map of Radon Zones.
- State programs and links: Louisiana Department of Health, checked November 1, 2026.