Manganese is widespread in Douglas County wells.
1 widespread, 2 worth checking, 2 rare out of 5 health checks.
From 57 wells tested in Douglas County since 2000; your own well needs its own test. How to read this
Not charted, because fewer than 10 wells were tested: radon (3), lead (8).
Rare: under 5%Worth checking: 5 to 15%Widespread: 15%+
Lab results: Water Quality Portal (USGS and EPA)
Who drinks from a well here
About 1 in 70 people 8,269 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)
Likely here. Test your home's air first.
Radon zones: EPA map
Here's how Douglas County compares with Nebraska and the counties around it.
Each result puts Douglas County next to the 5 counties that border it, on the chart's 0 to 50% scale.
This one is widespread in Douglas County wells.
Manganese20 of 35 wells over
Too few tested to show: Saunders.
These 2 are worth checking in Douglas County.
Nitrate5 of 57 wells over
Too few tested to show: Saunders.
Arsenic2 of 35 wells over
Too few tested to show: Saunders.
These 2 are rare in Douglas County.
Uranium1 of 35 wells over
Too few tested to show: Pottawattamie, IA, Saunders.
Fluoride0 of 35 wells over
Too few tested to show: Saunders.
Too few Douglas County wells were tested for these 2.
Radon in water3 wells tested
Lead8 wells tested
Every well needs a bacteria test every year.
No bacteria tests from Douglas County wells are in the public data. Test every year anyway.
Iron reached staining levels in 14 of 35 tested wells, and it isn't a health risk.
Iron stains14 of 35 wells had it
Too few tested to show: Saunders.
About 4 in 10 of the 57 wells tested in Douglas County have a test from 2020 or later.
With 22 wells tested since 2020, age matters less here than who did the testing and why.
Most Douglas 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 Douglas County.
- Bacteria
- Nitrate
- Manganese
- Arsenic
What Nebraska offers well owners
- Free testingWe didn't find a free program for all of Nebraska. Nebraska's private well page
- Certified labsNebraska's list of certified labs
- Well recordsNebraska's well record search
Half the household wells here are shallower than 160 feet.
That comes from 983 household wells in Nebraska's drilling records. Most wells of every kind here are 60 to 205 feet deep. Wells as deep as Douglas 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 54 of the 92 other Nebraska counties with enough drilling records.
Look up your own well's depth in Nebraska'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 Douglas County.
Douglas County is in the EPA's highest radon zone. Radon from well water adds to the radon in your indoor air, so test your air first, and your water too if the air is high. Radon guide
Between 2023 and 2025 the EPA had 1 town water system in Douglas County test for PFAS. None found any. No well in Douglas 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 Douglas County
Is well water in Douglas County safe to drink?
20 of 35 wells tested in Douglas County had manganese over the limit, about 6 in 10. Across Nebraska it's about 2 in 10. That's a bigger share than in 19 of the 21 other Nebraska counties with 10 or more tested wells, leaving out 3 counties whose results are likely overstated. So test your own well for manganese before you count on it.
Where can I get my well tested in Douglas County?
Use a lab Nebraska has certified for drinking water. Nebraska's list is linked above, in the box about testing. Ask for bacteria, nitrate, manganese and arsenic, the tests that matter most in Douglas County.
How deep are wells in Douglas County?
Half the household wells here are shallower than 160 feet. Typical household wells here go deeper than in 54 of the 92 other Nebraska counties with enough drilling records.
How does Douglas County compare with the counties around it?
For manganese, the share of tested wells over the limit: 1 of the 4 neighboring counties with data had a higher share than Douglas County, at 57%. Washington had the most, at 61%. Groundwater doesn't stop at county lines, so Washington's 61% is worth knowing about if you live near it.
How often should I test my well in Douglas County?
Douglas County has no public bacteria results for wells, so follow the CDC's advice: 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 Douglas County numbers come from
- People on wells: 8,269 in Douglas County, from EPA estimates built on the 2020 Census (Murray et al.).
- Lab tests: 1,024 well water samples from 57 wells in the Water Quality Portal, run by the USGS and EPA, 2000 to 2023.
- Well depths: 983 Nebraska drilling records for Douglas County, gathered in the US Groundwater Well Database (Lin and others, 2024).
- Neighboring counties: the 5 counties that share a border with Douglas County, from the Census Bureau's county adjacency file.
- PFAS: EPA tests of 1 town water systems in Douglas County under the Fifth Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Rule, 2023 to 2025.
- Radon: Douglas County is zone 1 on the EPA Map of Radon Zones.
- State programs and links: Department of Water, Energy, and Environment, checked November 1, 2026.