Nitrate is widespread in Lane County wells.
1 widespread, 1 worth checking, 3 rare out of 5 health checks.
From 278 wells tested in Lane County since 2000; your own well needs its own test. How to read this
Not charted, because fewer than 10 wells were tested: fluoride (2).
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 5 people 77,044 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)
Less likely, but the EPA still says test your air.
Radon zones: EPA map
Here's how Lane County compares with Oregon and the counties around it.
Each result puts Lane County next to the 6 counties that border it, on the chart's 0 to 50% scale.
This one is widespread in Lane County wells.
Nitrate58 of 273 wells over
This one is worth checking in Lane County.
Manganese7 of 88 wells over
These 3 are rare in Lane County.
Arsenic0 of 86 wells over
Lead0 of 86 wells over
Uranium0 of 17 wells over
Too few Lane County wells were tested for this one.
Fluoride2 wells tested
Coliform bacteria turned up in 20 of 62 tested Lane County wells, so test for it every year.
Coliform bacteria20 of 62 wells had it
Too few tested to show: Douglas, Lincoln.
E. coli3 of 66 wells had it
Too few tested to show: Douglas, Lincoln.
E. coli means human or animal waste is getting in, so if a test of your Lane County well finds it, boil drinking water until the well is fixed.
Iron reached staining levels in 14 of 87 tested wells, and it isn't a health risk.
Iron stains14 of 87 wells had it
Most of the 278 wells tested in Lane County were last tested before 2010.
An old result shows the water as it was then, so treat these 278 wells as a starting point and test your own.
Most Lane 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 Lane County.
- Bacteria
- Nitrate
- Manganese
- Arsenic
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 120 feet.
That comes from 28,328 household wells in Oregon's drilling records. Most wells of every kind here are 59 to 200 feet deep. Wells as deep as Lane 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 27 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 Lane County.
Lane 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 9 town water systems in Lane County test for PFAS. 3 of them had at least one test above 4 ng/L, the new EPA limit for PFOA and PFOS. The highest single result was 9.4 ng/L of PFOS. No well in Lane 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 Lane County
Is well water in Lane County safe to drink?
58 of 273 wells tested in Lane County had nitrate over the limit, about 2 in 10. Across Oregon it's about 1 in 9. That's a bigger share than in 24 of the 27 other Oregon counties with 10 or more tested wells, leaving out 1 county whose results are likely overstated. So test your own well for nitrate before you count on it.
Where can I get my well tested in Lane 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, manganese and arsenic, the tests that matter most in Lane County.
How deep are wells in Lane County?
Half the household wells here are shallower than 120 feet. Typical household wells here are shallower than in 27 of the 35 other Oregon counties with enough drilling records.
How does Lane County compare with the counties around it?
For nitrate, the share of tested wells over the limit: Lane County, at 21%, had a higher share than all 6 neighboring counties with data. Groundwater doesn't stop at county lines, so Benton's 12% is worth knowing about if you live near it.
How often should I test my well in Lane County?
In Lane County, 20 of 62 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 Lane County numbers come from
- People on wells: 77,044 in Lane County, from EPA estimates built on the 2020 Census (Murray et al.).
- Lab tests: 2,012 well water samples from 278 wells in the Water Quality Portal, run by the USGS and EPA, 2000 to 2026.
- Well depths: 28,328 Oregon drilling records for Lane County, gathered in the US Groundwater Well Database (Lin and others, 2024).
- Neighboring counties: the 6 counties that share a border with Lane County, from the Census Bureau's county adjacency file.
- PFAS: EPA tests of 9 town water systems in Lane County under the Fifth Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Rule, 2023 to 2025.
- Radon: Lane County is zone 3 on the EPA Map of Radon Zones.
- State programs and links: Oregon Health Authority, checked November 1, 2026.