Arsenic and manganese are worth checking in Jackson County wells.
2 worth checking, 4 rare out of 6 health checks.
From 168 wells tested in Jackson County since 2001; 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
1 in 4 people 61,863 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)
Less likely, but the EPA still says test your air.
Radon zones: EPA map
Here's how Jackson County compares with Oregon and the counties around it.
Each result puts Jackson County next to the 4 counties that border it, on the chart's 0 to 50% scale.
These 2 are worth checking in Jackson County.
Arsenic11 of 168 wells over
Manganese10 of 168 wells over
These 4 are rare in Jackson County.
Nitrate8 of 168 wells over
Lead0 of 69 wells over
Uranium0 of 131 wells over
Fluoride0 of 44 wells over
Too few tested to show: Douglas, Klamath.
Coliform bacteria turned up in 45 of 104 tested Jackson County wells, so test for it every year.
Coliform bacteria45 of 104 wells had it
Too few tested to show: Douglas, Josephine.
E. coli8 of 104 wells had it
Too few tested to show: Douglas, Josephine.
E. coli means human or animal waste is getting in, so if a test of your Jackson County well finds it, boil drinking water until the well is fixed.
Iron reached staining levels in 37 of 168 tested wells, and it isn't a health risk.
Iron stains37 of 168 wells had it
Jackson County has 168 tested wells, and the busiest decade for testing was the 2010s.
Only 20 of the 168 wells have a test from 2020 or later, so a fresh test of your own well tells you more than any of these.
Most Jackson 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 Jackson County.
- Bacteria
- Nitrate
- Arsenic
- Manganese
What Oregon offers well owners
- Free testingWe didn't find a free program for all of Oregon. Oregon's private well page
- Certified labsOregon's list of certified labs
- Well recordsOregon's well record search
- New wellsUnder the Domestic Well Testing Act, sellers must test the well for arsenic, nitrate and total coliform bacteria during a real estate transaction and send the results to the buyer and OHA within 90 days.
Half the household wells here are shallower than 180 feet.
That comes from 28,083 household wells in Oregon's drilling records. Most wells of every kind here are 100 to 300 feet deep. Wells as deep as Jackson 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 23 of the 35 other Oregon counties with enough drilling records.
Look up your own well's depth in Oregon'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 Jackson County.
Jackson 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 7 town water systems in Jackson County test for PFAS. 1 of them had at least one test above 4 ng/L, the new EPA limit for PFOA and PFOS. The highest single result was 11 ng/L of PFOS. No well in Jackson 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 Jackson County
Is well water in Jackson County safe to drink?
11 of 168 wells tested in Jackson County had arsenic over the limit, about 1 in 15. Across Oregon it's about 1 in 8. That's a smaller share than in 13 of the 22 other Oregon counties with 10 or more tested wells, leaving out 3 counties whose results are likely overstated. So test your own well for arsenic before you count on it.
Where can I get my well tested in Jackson County?
Use a lab Oregon has certified for drinking water. Oregon's list is linked above, in the box about testing. Ask for bacteria, nitrate, arsenic and manganese, the tests that matter most in Jackson County.
How deep are wells in Jackson County?
Half the household wells here are shallower than 180 feet. Typical household wells here go deeper than in 23 of the 35 other Oregon counties with enough drilling records.
How does Jackson County compare with the counties around it?
For arsenic, the share of tested wells over the limit: 2 of the 4 neighboring counties with data had a higher share than Jackson County, at 7%. Douglas had the most, at 13%. Groundwater doesn't stop at county lines, so Douglas's 13% is worth knowing about if you live near it.
How often should I test my well in Jackson County?
In Jackson County, 45 of 104 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 Jackson County numbers come from
- People on wells: 61,863 in Jackson County, from EPA estimates built on the 2020 Census (Murray et al.).
- Lab tests: 1,569 well water samples from 168 wells in the Water Quality Portal, run by the USGS and EPA, 2001 to 2026.
- Well depths: 28,083 Oregon drilling records for Jackson County, gathered in the US Groundwater Well Database (Lin and others, 2024).
- Neighboring counties: the 4 counties that share a border with Jackson County, from the Census Bureau's county adjacency file.
- PFAS: EPA tests of 7 town water systems in Jackson County under the Fifth Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Rule, 2023 to 2025.
- Radon: Jackson County is zone 3 on the EPA Map of Radon Zones.
- State programs and links: Oregon Health Authority, checked November 1, 2026.