Manganese is widespread in Sarpy County wells.
1 widespread, 1 worth checking, 4 rare out of 6 health checks.
From 151 wells tested in Sarpy 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).
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 26 people 7,331 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)
Likely here. Test your home's air first.
Radon zones: EPA map
Here's how Sarpy County compares with Nebraska and the counties around it.
Each result puts Sarpy County next to the 5 counties that border it, on the chart's 0 to 50% scale.
This one is widespread in Sarpy County wells.
Manganese30 of 93 wells over
Too few tested to show: Cass, Saunders.
This one is worth checking in Sarpy County.
Nitrate19 of 151 wells over
Too few tested to show: Saunders.
These 4 are rare in Sarpy County.
Arsenic3 of 69 wells over
Too few tested to show: Cass, Saunders.
Uranium0 of 69 wells over
Too few tested to show: Cass, Mills, IA, Pottawattamie, IA, Saunders.
Lead0 of 10 wells over
Too few tested to show: Cass, Douglas, Saunders.
Fluoride0 of 79 wells over
Too few tested to show: Cass, Saunders.
Too few Sarpy County wells were tested for this one.
Radon in water3 wells tested
Every well needs a bacteria test every year.
No bacteria tests from Sarpy County wells are in the public data. Test every year anyway.
Iron reached staining levels in 27 of 93 tested wells, and it isn't a health risk.
Iron stains27 of 93 wells had it
Too few tested to show: Cass, Saunders.
Sarpy County has 151 tested wells, and the busiest decade for testing was the 2010s.
Only 43 of the 151 wells have a test from 2020 or later, so a fresh test of your own well tells you more than any of these.
Most Sarpy 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 Sarpy 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 120 feet.
That comes from 1,355 household wells in Nebraska's drilling records. Most wells of every kind here are 60 to 200 feet deep. Wells as deep as Sarpy 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 58 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 Sarpy County.
Sarpy 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 3 town water systems in Sarpy County test for PFAS. None found any. No well in Sarpy 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 Sarpy County
Is well water in Sarpy County safe to drink?
30 of 93 wells tested in Sarpy County had manganese over the limit, about 1 in 3. Across Nebraska it's about 2 in 10. That's a bigger share than in 16 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 Sarpy 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 Sarpy County.
How deep are wells in Sarpy County?
Half the household wells here are shallower than 120 feet. Typical household wells here are shallower than in 58 of the 92 other Nebraska counties with enough drilling records.
How does Sarpy County 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 Sarpy County, at 32%. Douglas had the most, at 57%. Groundwater doesn't stop at county lines, so Douglas's 57% is worth knowing about if you live near it.
How often should I test my well in Sarpy County?
Sarpy 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 Sarpy County numbers come from
- People on wells: 7,331 in Sarpy County, from EPA estimates built on the 2020 Census (Murray et al.).
- Lab tests: 1,967 well water samples from 151 wells in the Water Quality Portal, run by the USGS and EPA, 2000 to 2023.
- Well depths: 1,355 Nebraska drilling records for Sarpy County, gathered in the US Groundwater Well Database (Lin and others, 2024).
- Neighboring counties: the 5 counties that share a border with Sarpy County, from the Census Bureau's county adjacency file.
- PFAS: EPA tests of 3 town water systems in Sarpy County under the Fifth Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Rule, 2023 to 2025.
- Radon: Sarpy 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.