Arsenic and manganese are widespread in Salt Lake County wells.
2 widespread, 2 worth checking, 3 rare out of 7 health checks.
From 244 wells tested in Salt Lake County since 2000; 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
About 1 in 160 people 7,394 people
Nobody else tests these wells. Only you do.
People on wells: EPA researchers' 2020 estimate
Radon risk (a gas from rock)
Possible here. A home air test is inexpensive.
Radon zones: EPA map
Here's how Salt Lake County compares with Utah and the counties around it.
Each result puts Salt Lake County next to the 6 counties that border it, on the chart's 0 to 50% scale.
These 2 are widespread in Salt Lake County wells.
Arsenic88 of 207 wells over
* Likely overstated, so we don't rank it.
Manganese42 of 226 wells over
* Likely overstated, so we don't rank it.
These 2 are worth checking in Salt Lake County.
Lead12 of 196 wells over
Uranium5 of 100 wells over
Too few tested to show: Morgan, Summit.
These 3 are rare in Salt Lake County.
Nitrate3 of 143 wells over
* Likely overstated, so we don't rank it.
Fluoride0 of 119 wells over
Radon in water0 of 52 wells over
Coliform bacteria turned up in 3 of 56 tested Salt Lake County wells, so test for it every year.
Coliform bacteria3 of 56 wells had it
E. coli0 of 55 wells had it
E. coli means human or animal waste is getting in, so if a test of your Salt Lake County well finds it, boil drinking water until the well is fixed.
Iron reached staining levels in 50 of 226 tested wells, and it isn't a health risk.
Iron stains50 of 226 wells had it
Most of the 244 wells tested in Salt Lake County were last tested before 2010.
An old result shows the water as it was then, so treat these 244 wells as a starting point and test your own.
Most Salt Lake 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 Salt Lake County.
- Bacteria
- Nitrate
- Arsenic
- Manganese
- Lead
- Uranium
What Utah offers well owners
- Free testingWe didn't find a free program for all of Utah. Utah's private well page
- Certified labsUtah's list of certified labs
- Well recordsUtah's well record search
Here's what we know about radon and PFAS in Salt Lake County.
Salt Lake County is in the EPA's middle radon zone. An indoor air test is cheap and tells you whether to look at your water. Radon guide
Between 2023 and 2025 the EPA had 23 town water systems in Salt Lake 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 7.1 ng/L of PFOS. No well in Salt Lake 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 Salt Lake County
Is well water in Salt Lake County safe to drink?
88 of 207 wells tested in Salt Lake County had arsenic over the limit, about 4 in 10. Across Utah it's about 1 in 4. That's the highest share among the 22 Utah counties with 10 or more tested wells, leaving out 2 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 Salt Lake County?
Use a lab Utah has certified for drinking water. Utah's list is linked above, in the box about testing. Ask for bacteria, nitrate, arsenic, manganese, lead and uranium, the tests that matter most in Salt Lake County.
How does Salt Lake County compare with the counties around it?
For arsenic, the share of tested wells over the limit: Salt Lake County, at 43%, had a higher share than all 6 neighboring counties with data. Groundwater doesn't stop at county lines, so Davis's 35% is worth knowing about if you live near it.
How often should I test my well in Salt Lake County?
In Salt Lake County, 3 of 56 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 Salt Lake County numbers come from
- People on wells: 7,394 in Salt Lake County, from EPA estimates built on the 2020 Census (Murray et al.).
- Lab tests: 3,710 well water samples from 244 wells in the Water Quality Portal, run by the USGS and EPA, 2000 to 2023.
- Neighboring counties: the 6 counties that share a border with Salt Lake County, from the Census Bureau's county adjacency file.
- PFAS: EPA tests of 23 town water systems in Salt Lake County under the Fifth Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Rule, 2023 to 2025.
- Radon: Salt Lake County is zone 2 on the EPA Map of Radon Zones.
- State programs and links: Department of Health and Human Services (Utah Public Health Laboratory) and local health departments, checked November 1, 2026.