Manganese and arsenic are worth checking in Shelby County wells.
2 worth checking, 4 rare out of 6 health checks.
From 109 wells tested in Shelby 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 331 people 2,808 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 Shelby County compares with Tennessee and the counties around it.
Each result puts Shelby County next to the 6 counties that border it, on the chart's 0 to 50% scale.
These 2 are worth checking in Shelby County.
Manganese15 of 104 wells over
Arsenic6 of 66 wells over
These 4 are rare in Shelby County.
Lead2 of 95 wells over
Nitrate0 of 66 wells over
Fluoride0 of 105 wells over
Uranium0 of 56 wells over
Too few Shelby County wells were tested for this one.
Radon in water3 wells tested
None of the 17 Shelby County wells tested for bacteria had it, but every well needs a yearly test.
Coliform bacteria0 of 17 wells had it
E. coli0 of 17 wells had it
E. coli means human or animal waste is getting in, so if a test of your Shelby County well finds it, boil drinking water until the well is fixed.
Iron reached staining levels in 57 of 104 tested wells, and it isn't a health risk.
Iron stains57 of 104 wells had it
Shelby County has 109 tested wells, and the busiest decade for testing was the 2000s.
Only 19 of the 109 wells have a test from 2020 or later, so a fresh test of your own well tells you more than any of these.
Most Shelby 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 Shelby County.
- Bacteria
- Nitrate
- Manganese
- Arsenic
What Tennessee offers well owners
- Free testingWe didn't find a free program for all of Tennessee. Tennessee's private well page
- Certified labsTennessee's list of certified labs
- Well recordsTennessee's well record search
Half the household wells here are shallower than 137 feet.
That comes from 1,448 household wells in Tennessee's drilling records. Most wells of every kind here are 100 to 260 feet deep. Wells as deep as Shelby 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 53 of the 94 other Tennessee counties with enough drilling records.
Look up your own well's depth in Tennessee'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 Shelby County.
Shelby 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 6 town water systems in Shelby County test for PFAS. None found any. No well in Shelby 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 Shelby County
Is well water in Shelby County safe to drink?
15 of 104 wells tested in Shelby County had manganese over the limit, about 1 in 7. Across Tennessee it's about 1 in 10. So test your own well for manganese before you count on it.
Where can I get my well tested in Shelby County?
Use a lab Tennessee has certified for drinking water. Tennessee's list is linked above, in the box about testing. Ask for bacteria, nitrate, manganese and arsenic, the tests that matter most in Shelby County.
How deep are wells in Shelby County?
Half the household wells here are shallower than 137 feet. Typical household wells here are shallower than in 53 of the 94 other Tennessee counties with enough drilling records.
How often should I test my well in Shelby County?
None of the 17 wells tested for bacteria in Shelby County had it, but the CDC still says to 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 Shelby County numbers come from
- People on wells: 2,808 in Shelby County, from EPA estimates built on the 2020 Census (Murray et al.).
- Lab tests: 2,320 well water samples from 109 wells in the Water Quality Portal, run by the USGS and EPA, 2000 to 2023.
- Well depths: 1,448 Tennessee drilling records for Shelby County, gathered in the US Groundwater Well Database (Lin and others, 2024).
- Neighboring counties: the 6 counties that share a border with Shelby County, from the Census Bureau's county adjacency file.
- PFAS: EPA tests of 6 town water systems in Shelby County under the Fifth Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Rule, 2023 to 2025.
- Radon: Shelby County is zone 3 on the EPA Map of Radon Zones.
- State programs and links: Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC), Division of Water Resources, checked November 1, 2026.