Fluoride and manganese are widespread in McKenzie County wells.
2 widespread, 1 worth checking, 2 rare out of 5 health checks.
From 14 wells tested in McKenzie County since 2002; your own well needs its own test. How to read this
Not charted, because fewer than 10 wells were tested: nitrate (9).
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 2 people 5,901 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 McKenzie County compares with North Dakota and the counties around it.
Each result puts McKenzie County next to the 8 counties that border it, on the chart's 0 to 50% scale.
These 2 are widespread in McKenzie County wells.
Fluoride5 of 14 wells over
Too few tested to show: Billings, Golden Valley, Wibaux, MT.
Manganese3 of 14 wells over
Too few tested to show: Billings, Golden Valley, Wibaux, MT.
This one is worth checking in McKenzie County.
Lead1 of 14 wells over
Too few tested to show: Billings, Golden Valley, Wibaux, MT.
These 2 are rare in McKenzie County.
Arsenic0 of 14 wells over
* Likely overstated, so we don't rank it.
Too few tested to show: Billings, Golden Valley, Wibaux, MT.
Uranium0 of 12 wells over
Too few tested to show: Billings, Golden Valley, Wibaux, MT, Williams.
Too few McKenzie County wells were tested for this one.
Nitrate9 wells tested
Every well needs a bacteria test every year.
No bacteria tests from McKenzie County wells are in the public data. Test every year anyway.
Iron reached staining levels in 4 of 14 tested wells, and it isn't a health risk.
Iron stains4 of 14 wells had it
Too few tested to show: Billings, Golden Valley, Wibaux, MT.
McKenzie County has 14 tested wells, and the busiest decade for testing was the 2010s.
Only 3 of the 14 wells have a test from 2020 or later, so a fresh test of your own well tells you more than any of these.
Most McKenzie 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 6 things to check in McKenzie County.
- Bacteria
- Nitrate
- Fluoride
- Manganese
- Lead
- Arsenic
What North Dakota offers well owners
- Free testingWe didn't find a free program for all of North Dakota. North Dakota's private well page
- Certified labsNorth Dakota's list of certified labs
- Well recordsNorth Dakota's well record search
Half the household wells here are shallower than 125 feet.
That comes from 168 household wells in North Dakota's drilling records. Most wells of every kind here are 63 to 205 feet deep. Wells as deep as McKenzie 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 16 of the 24 other North Dakota counties with enough drilling records.
Look up your own well's depth in North Dakota'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 McKenzie County.
McKenzie 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 McKenzie County test for PFAS. None found any. No well in McKenzie 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 McKenzie County
Is well water in McKenzie County safe to drink?
5 of 14 wells tested in McKenzie County had fluoride over the limit, about 1 in 3. Across North Dakota it's about 1 in 22. That's the highest share among the 11 North Dakota counties with 10 or more tested wells. So test your own well for fluoride before you count on it.
Where can I get my well tested in McKenzie County?
Use a lab North Dakota has certified for drinking water. North Dakota's list is linked above, in the box about testing. Ask for bacteria, nitrate, fluoride, manganese, lead and arsenic, the tests that matter most in McKenzie County.
How deep are wells in McKenzie County?
Half the household wells here are shallower than 125 feet. Typical household wells here are shallower than in 16 of the 24 other North Dakota counties with enough drilling records.
How does McKenzie County compare with the counties around it?
For fluoride, the share of tested wells over the limit: McKenzie County, at 36%, had a higher share than all 5 neighboring counties with data. Groundwater doesn't stop at county lines, so Roosevelt, MT's 27% is worth knowing about if you live near it.
How often should I test my well in McKenzie County?
McKenzie 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 McKenzie County numbers come from
- People on wells: 5,901 in McKenzie County, from EPA estimates built on the 2020 Census (Murray et al.).
- Lab tests: 125 well water samples from 14 wells in the Water Quality Portal, run by the USGS and EPA, 2002 to 2021.
- Well depths: 168 North Dakota drilling records for McKenzie County, gathered in the US Groundwater Well Database (Lin and others, 2024).
- Neighboring counties: the 8 counties that share a border with McKenzie County, from the Census Bureau's county adjacency file.
- PFAS: EPA tests of 1 town water systems in McKenzie County under the Fifth Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Rule, 2023 to 2025.
- Radon: McKenzie County is zone 1 on the EPA Map of Radon Zones.
- State programs and links: Department of Environmental Quality, checked November 1, 2026.