Nitrate, manganese and 2 more are worth checking in Shawano County wells.
4 worth checking, 2 rare out of 6 health checks.
From 30 wells tested in Shawano County since 2001; your own well needs its own test. How to read this
Not charted, because fewer than 10 wells were tested: radon (4).
Rare: under 5%Worth checking: 5 to 15%Widespread: 15%+
Lab results: Water Quality Portal (USGS and EPA)
Who drinks from a well here
6 in 10 people 25,506 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 Shawano County compares with Wisconsin and the counties around it.
Each result puts Shawano County next to the 8 counties that border it, on the chart's 0 to 50% scale.
These 4 are worth checking in Shawano County.
Nitrate3 of 30 wells over
* Likely overstated, so we don't rank it.
Too few tested to show: Menominee.
Manganese1 of 13 wells over
Too few tested to show: Brown, Langlade, Marathon, Menominee, Oconto, Outagamie.
Arsenic1 of 13 wells over
Too few tested to show: Brown, Langlade, Marathon, Menominee, Oconto, Outagamie.
Uranium1 of 13 wells over
Too few tested to show: Brown, Langlade, Marathon, Menominee, Oconto, Outagamie.
These 2 are rare in Shawano County.
Lead0 of 13 wells over
Too few tested to show: Brown, Langlade, Marathon, Menominee, Oconto, Outagamie.
Too few Shawano County wells were tested for this one.
Radon in water4 wells tested
Coliform bacteria turned up in 1 of 3 tested Shawano County wells, so test for it every year.
Coliform bacteria1 of 3 wells had it
E. coli0 of 3 wells had it
E. coli means human or animal waste is getting in, so if a test of your Shawano County well finds it, boil drinking water until the well is fixed.
Iron reached staining levels in 3 of 13 tested wells, and it isn't a health risk.
Iron stains3 of 13 wells had it
Too few tested to show: Brown, Langlade, Marathon, Menominee, Oconto, Outagamie.
Shawano County has 30 tested wells, and the busiest decade for testing was the 2010s.
Only 8 of the 30 wells have a test from 2020 or later, so a fresh test of your own well tells you more than any of these.
Most Shawano 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 5 things to check in Shawano County.
- Bacteria
- Nitrate
- Arsenic
- Uranium
- Manganese
What Wisconsin offers well owners
- Free testingWe didn't find a free program for all of Wisconsin. Wisconsin's private well page
- Certified labsWisconsin's list of certified labs
- Well recordsWisconsin's well record search
- New wellsUnder NR 812.46, the well driller must collect a water sample from any new or reconstructed potable well within 30 days of completion and have it tested for coliform bacteria by a certified lab.
Half the wells on record here are shallower than 121 feet.
That comes from 6,061 wells in Wisconsin's drilling records. Most wells of every kind here are 65 to 185 feet deep. Wells as deep as Shawano 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 wells on record here go deeper than in 39 of the 71 other Wisconsin counties with enough drilling records.
Look up your own well's depth in Wisconsin'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 Shawano County.
Shawano 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 2 town water systems in Shawano County test for PFAS. 1 found some PFAS, all below the new limits. No well in Shawano 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 Shawano County
Is well water in Shawano County safe to drink?
3 of 30 wells tested in Shawano County had nitrate over the limit, about 1 in 10. Across Wisconsin it's about 1 in 12. That's a smaller share than in 23 of the 40 other Wisconsin counties with 10 or more tested wells, leaving out 20 counties 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 Shawano County?
Use a lab Wisconsin has certified for drinking water. Wisconsin's list is linked above, in the box about testing. Ask for bacteria, nitrate, arsenic, uranium and manganese, the tests that matter most in Shawano County.
How deep are wells in Shawano County?
Half the wells on record here are shallower than 121 feet. Typical wells on record here go deeper than in 39 of the 71 other Wisconsin counties with enough drilling records.
How does Shawano County compare with the counties around it?
For nitrate, the share of tested wells over the limit: 5 of the 7 neighboring counties with data had a higher share than Shawano County, at 10%. Portage had the most, at 49%. Groundwater doesn't stop at county lines, so Portage's 49% is worth knowing about if you live near it.
How often should I test my well in Shawano County?
In Shawano County, 1 of 3 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 Shawano County numbers come from
- People on wells: 25,506 in Shawano County, from EPA estimates built on the 2020 Census (Murray et al.).
- Lab tests: 220 well water samples from 30 wells in the Water Quality Portal, run by the USGS and EPA, 2001 to 2023.
- Well depths: 6,061 Wisconsin drilling records for Shawano County, gathered in the US Groundwater Well Database (Lin and others, 2024).
- Neighboring counties: the 8 counties that share a border with Shawano County, from the Census Bureau's county adjacency file.
- Nitrate for comparison: Wisconsin DATCP, Agricultural Chemicals in Wisconsin Groundwater (2017).
- PFAS: EPA tests of 2 town water systems in Shawano County under the Fifth Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Rule, 2023 to 2025.
- Radon: Shawano County is zone 1 on the EPA Map of Radon Zones.
- State programs and links: Department of Natural Resources (DNR), checked November 1, 2026.