Manganese is worth checking in Cape May County wells.
1 worth checking, 2 rare out of 3 health checks.
From 61 wells tested in Cape May County since 2000; your own well needs its own test. How to read this
Not charted, because fewer than 10 wells were tested: nitrate (9), uranium (2), radon (5), lead (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 3 people 36,839 people
Nobody else tests these wells. Only you do.
People on wells: EPA researchers' 2020 estimate
How deep wells go here
Shallow wells: watch for fertilizer and germs from above.
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 Cape May County compares with New Jersey and the counties around it.
Each result puts Cape May County next to the 4 counties that border it, on the chart's 0 to 50% scale.
This one is worth checking in Cape May County.
Manganese6 of 60 wells over
These 2 are rare in Cape May County.
Arsenic0 of 44 wells over
Fluoride0 of 44 wells over
Too few Cape May County wells were tested for these 4.
Nitrate9 wells tested
Uranium2 wells tested
Radon in water5 wells tested
Lead4 wells tested
Coliform bacteria turned up in 1 of 2 tested Cape May County wells, so test for it every year.
Coliform bacteria1 of 2 wells had it
E. coli0 of 2 wells had it
E. coli means human or animal waste is getting in, so if a test of your Cape May County well finds it, boil drinking water until the well is fixed.
Iron reached staining levels in 25 of 61 tested wells, and it isn't a health risk.
Iron stains25 of 61 wells had it
About 5 in 10 of the 61 wells tested in Cape May County have a test from 2020 or later.
With 31 wells tested since 2020, age matters less here than who did the testing and why.
Most Cape May 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 Cape May County.
- Bacteria
- Nitrate
- Manganese
- Arsenic
What New Jersey offers well owners
- Free testingWe didn't find a free program for all of New Jersey. New Jersey's private well page
- Certified labsNew Jersey's list of certified labs
- Well recordsNew Jersey's well record search
- New wellsUnder the Private Well Testing Act (N.J.S.A. 58:12A-26 et seq.), every sale of property with a private potable well requires a water test before closing of title, and landlords must test at least every five years.
Half the wells on record here are shallower than 50 feet.
That comes from 1,966 wells in New Jersey's drilling records. Most wells of every kind here are 35 to 80 feet deep. Wells as shallow as Cape May County's pick up bacteria and nitrate from the surface more easily, so the yearly test matters even more here. That's the shallowest typical depth for wells on record among the 20 New Jersey counties with enough drilling records.
Look up your own well's depth in New Jersey'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 Cape May County.
Cape May County 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 10 town water systems in Cape May County test for PFAS. None found any. Only 2 wells in Cape May County have 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 Cape May County
Is well water in Cape May County safe to drink?
6 of 60 wells tested in Cape May County had manganese over the limit, about 1 in 10. Across New Jersey it's about 1 in 8. That's a smaller share than in 9 of the 16 other New Jersey 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 Cape May County?
Use a lab New Jersey has certified for drinking water. New Jersey's list is linked above, in the box about testing. Ask for bacteria, nitrate, manganese and arsenic, the tests that matter most in Cape May County.
How deep are wells in Cape May County?
Half the wells on record here are shallower than 50 feet. That's the shallowest typical depth for wells on record among the 20 New Jersey counties with enough drilling records.
How does Cape May County compare with the counties around it?
For manganese, the share of tested wells over the limit: Cape May County, at 10%, had a higher share than all 4 neighboring counties with data. Groundwater doesn't stop at county lines, so Cumberland's 7% is worth knowing about if you live near it.
How often should I test my well in Cape May County?
In Cape May County, 1 of 2 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 Cape May County numbers come from
- People on wells: 36,839 in Cape May County, from EPA estimates built on the 2020 Census (Murray et al.).
- Lab tests: 442 well water samples from 61 wells in the Water Quality Portal, run by the USGS and EPA, 2000 to 2023.
- Well depths: 1,966 New Jersey drilling records for Cape May County, gathered in the US Groundwater Well Database (Lin and others, 2024).
- Neighboring counties: the 4 counties that share a border with Cape May County, from the Census Bureau's county adjacency file.
- PFAS: EPA tests of 10 town water systems in Cape May County under the Fifth Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Rule, 2023 to 2025.
- Radon: Cape May County is zone 3 on the EPA Map of Radon Zones.
- State programs and links: Department of Environmental Protection, checked November 1, 2026.