Nitrate, arsenic and manganese are worth checking in Livingston County wells.
3 worth checking, 3 rare out of 6 health checks.
From 38 wells tested in Livingston 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
6 in 10 people 114,227 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 Livingston County compares with Michigan and the counties around it.
Each result puts Livingston County next to the 6 counties that border it, on the chart's 0 to 50% scale.
These 3 are worth checking in Livingston County.
Nitrate5 of 38 wells over
Too few tested to show: Genesee, Jackson, Shiawassee.
Arsenic3 of 35 wells over
Too few tested to show: Genesee, Jackson, Shiawassee.
Manganese2 of 38 wells over
Too few tested to show: Genesee, Jackson, Shiawassee.
These 3 are rare in Livingston County.
Uranium0 of 35 wells over
Too few tested to show: Genesee, Ingham, Jackson, Shiawassee.
Lead0 of 35 wells over
Too few tested to show: Genesee, Jackson, Shiawassee.
Coliform bacteria turned up in 1 of 5 tested Livingston County wells, so test for it every year.
Coliform bacteria1 of 5 wells had it
E. coli0 of 5 wells had it
E. coli means human or animal waste is getting in, so if a test of your Livingston County well finds it, boil drinking water until the well is fixed.
Iron reached staining levels in 17 of 38 tested wells, and it isn't a health risk.
Iron stains17 of 38 wells had it
Too few tested to show: Genesee, Jackson, Shiawassee.
Most of the 38 wells tested in Livingston County were last tested before 2010.
An old result shows the water as it was then, so treat these 38 wells as a starting point and test your own.
Most Livingston 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 Livingston County.
- Bacteria
- Nitrate
- Arsenic
- Manganese
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 86 feet.
That comes from 38,059 household wells in Michigan's drilling records. Most wells of every kind here are 63 to 120 feet deep. Wells as deep as Livingston 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 48 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 Livingston County.
Livingston 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 4 town water systems in Livingston County test for PFAS. None found any. No well in Livingston 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 Livingston County
Is well water in Livingston County safe to drink?
5 of 38 wells tested in Livingston County had nitrate over the limit, about 1 in 8. Across Michigan it's about 1 in 26. That's the highest share among the 4 Michigan counties with 10 or more tested wells. So test your own well for nitrate before you count on it.
Where can I get my well tested in Livingston 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, arsenic and manganese, the tests that matter most in Livingston County.
How deep are wells in Livingston County?
Half the household wells here are shallower than 86 feet. Typical household wells here are shallower than in 48 of the 82 other Michigan counties with enough drilling records.
How does Livingston County compare with the counties around it?
For nitrate, the share of tested wells over the limit: Livingston County, at 13%, had a higher share than all 3 neighboring counties with data. Groundwater doesn't stop at county lines, so Washtenaw's 8% is worth knowing about if you live near it.
How often should I test my well in Livingston County?
In Livingston County, 1 of 5 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 Livingston County numbers come from
- People on wells: 114,227 in Livingston County, from EPA estimates built on the 2020 Census (Murray et al.).
- Lab tests: 452 well water samples from 38 wells in the Water Quality Portal, run by the USGS and EPA, 2000 to 2016.
- Well depths: 38,059 Michigan drilling records for Livingston County, gathered in the US Groundwater Well Database (Lin and others, 2024).
- Neighboring counties: the 6 counties that share a border with Livingston County, from the Census Bureau's county adjacency file.
- PFAS: EPA tests of 4 town water systems in Livingston County under the Fifth Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Rule, 2023 to 2025.
- Radon: Livingston 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.