Manganese is worth checking in Ingham County wells.
1 worth checking, 4 rare out of 5 health checks.
From 47 wells tested in Ingham County since 2015; your own well needs its own test. How to read this
Not charted, because fewer than 10 wells were tested: uranium (4).
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 6 people 48,272 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)
Possible here. A home air test is inexpensive.
Radon zones: EPA map
Here's how Ingham County compares with Michigan and the counties around it.
Each result puts Ingham County next to the 5 counties that border it, on the chart's 0 to 50% scale.
This one is worth checking in Ingham County.
Manganese4 of 44 wells over
Too few tested to show: Clinton, Eaton, Jackson, Shiawassee.
These 4 are rare in Ingham County.
Arsenic2 of 47 wells over
Too few tested to show: Clinton, Eaton, Jackson, Shiawassee.
Nitrate0 of 47 wells over
Too few tested to show: Clinton, Eaton, Jackson, Shiawassee.
Lead0 of 23 wells over
Too few tested to show: Clinton, Eaton, Jackson, Shiawassee.
Fluoride0 of 40 wells over
Too few tested to show: Clinton, Eaton, Jackson, Shiawassee.
Too few Ingham County wells were tested for this one.
Uranium4 wells tested
Coliform bacteria turned up in 4 of 4 tested Ingham County wells, so test for it every year.
Coliform bacteria4 of 4 wells had it
E. coli3 of 4 wells had it
E. coli means human or animal waste is getting in, so if a test of your Ingham County well finds it, boil drinking water until the well is fixed.
Iron reached staining levels in 38 of 40 tested wells, and it isn't a health risk.
Iron stains38 of 40 wells had it
Too few tested to show: Clinton, Eaton, Jackson, Shiawassee.
Ingham County has 47 tested wells, and the busiest decade for testing was the 2010s.
None of the 47 wells has a test from 2020 or later, so a fresh test of your own well tells you more than any of these.
Most Ingham 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 Ingham County.
- Bacteria
- Nitrate
- Manganese
- Arsenic
What Michigan offers well owners
- Free testingWe didn't find a free program for all of Michigan. Michigan's private well page
- Certified labsMichigan's list of certified labs
- Well recordsMichigan's well record search
- New wellsEGLE's well testing page says a private well was required to be tested when it was first installed.
Half the household wells here are shallower than 152 feet.
That comes from 12,845 household wells in Michigan's drilling records. Most wells of every kind here are 119 to 230 feet deep. Wells as deep as Ingham 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 go deeper than in 77 of the 82 other Michigan counties with enough drilling records.
Look up your own well's depth in Michigan'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 Ingham County.
Ingham 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 7 town water systems in Ingham County test for PFAS. None found any. No well in Ingham 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 Ingham County
Is well water in Ingham County safe to drink?
4 of 44 wells tested in Ingham County had manganese over the limit, about 1 in 11. Across Michigan it's about 1 in 28. That's the highest share among the 4 Michigan 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 Ingham County?
Use a lab Michigan has certified for drinking water. Michigan's list is linked above, in the box about testing. Ask for bacteria, nitrate, manganese and arsenic, the tests that matter most in Ingham County.
How deep are wells in Ingham County?
Half the household wells here are shallower than 152 feet. Typical household wells here go deeper than in 77 of the 82 other Michigan counties with enough drilling records.
How does Ingham County compare with the counties around it?
For manganese, the share of tested wells over the limit: Livingston, the one neighbor with data, came in lower than Ingham County, at 5% against 9%. Groundwater doesn't stop at county lines, so Livingston's 5% is worth knowing about if you live near it.
How often should I test my well in Ingham County?
In Ingham County, 4 of 4 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 Ingham County numbers come from
- People on wells: 48,272 in Ingham County, from EPA estimates built on the 2020 Census (Murray et al.).
- Lab tests: 305 well water samples from 47 wells in the Water Quality Portal, run by the USGS and EPA, 2015 to 2017.
- Well depths: 12,845 Michigan drilling records for Ingham County, gathered in the US Groundwater Well Database (Lin and others, 2024).
- Neighboring counties: the 5 counties that share a border with Ingham County, from the Census Bureau's county adjacency file.
- PFAS: EPA tests of 7 town water systems in Ingham County under the Fifth Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Rule, 2023 to 2025.
- Radon: Ingham County is zone 2 on the EPA Map of Radon Zones.
- State programs and links: Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE), checked November 1, 2026.