Nitrate is widespread in Waupaca County wells.
1 widespread, 1 worth checking, 4 rare out of 6 health checks.
From 64 wells tested in Waupaca County since 2000; your own well needs its own test. How to read this
Not charted, because fewer than 10 wells were tested: radon (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
6 in 10 people 30,457 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 Waupaca County compares with Wisconsin and the counties around it.
Each result puts Waupaca County next to the 6 counties that border it, on the chart's 0 to 50% scale.
This one is widespread in Waupaca County wells.
Nitrate19 of 64 wells over
* Likely overstated, so we don't rank it.
This one is worth checking in Waupaca County.
Arsenic1 of 15 wells over
Too few tested to show: Marathon, Outagamie, Winnebago.
These 4 are rare in Waupaca County.
Manganese0 of 15 wells over
Too few tested to show: Marathon, Outagamie, Winnebago.
Lead0 of 15 wells over
Too few tested to show: Marathon, Outagamie, Winnebago.
Uranium0 of 15 wells over
Too few tested to show: Marathon, Outagamie, Winnebago.
Too few Waupaca County wells were tested for this one.
Radon in water2 wells tested
Coliform bacteria turned up in 1 of 2 tested Waupaca County wells, so test for it every year.
Coliform bacteria1 of 2 wells had it
E. coli1 of 2 wells had it
E. coli means human or animal waste is getting in, so if a test of your Waupaca County well finds it, boil drinking water until the well is fixed.
Iron reached staining levels in 2 of 15 tested wells, and it isn't a health risk.
Iron stains2 of 15 wells had it
Too few tested to show: Marathon, Outagamie, Winnebago.
About 5 in 10 of the 64 wells tested in Waupaca County have a test from 2020 or later.
With 32 wells tested since 2020, age matters less here than who did the testing and why.
Most Waupaca 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 3 things to check in Waupaca County.
- Bacteria
- Nitrate
- Arsenic
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 98 feet.
That comes from 8,106 wells in Wisconsin's drilling records. Most wells of every kind here are 67 to 151 feet deep. Wells as deep as Waupaca 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 are shallower than in 45 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 Waupaca County.
Waupaca 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 3 town water systems in Waupaca 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 4.3 ng/L of PFOS. No well in Waupaca 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 Waupaca County
Is well water in Waupaca County safe to drink?
19 of 64 wells tested in Waupaca County had nitrate over the limit, about 3 in 10. Across Wisconsin it's about 1 in 12. That's a bigger share than in 36 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 Waupaca 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 and arsenic, the tests that matter most in Waupaca County.
How deep are wells in Waupaca County?
Half the wells on record here are shallower than 98 feet. Typical wells on record here are shallower than in 45 of the 71 other Wisconsin counties with enough drilling records.
How does Waupaca County compare with the counties around it?
For nitrate, the share of tested wells over the limit: 3 of the 6 neighboring counties with data had a higher share than Waupaca County, at 30%. Waushara had the most, at 50%. Groundwater doesn't stop at county lines, so Waushara's 50% is worth knowing about if you live near it.
How often should I test my well in Waupaca County?
In Waupaca County, 1 of 2 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 Waupaca County numbers come from
- People on wells: 30,457 in Waupaca County, from EPA estimates built on the 2020 Census (Murray et al.).
- Lab tests: 354 well water samples from 64 wells in the Water Quality Portal, run by the USGS and EPA, 2000 to 2025.
- Well depths: 8,106 Wisconsin drilling records for Waupaca County, gathered in the US Groundwater Well Database (Lin and others, 2024).
- Neighboring counties: the 6 counties that share a border with Waupaca County, from the Census Bureau's county adjacency file.
- Nitrate for comparison: Wisconsin DATCP, Agricultural Chemicals in Wisconsin Groundwater (2017).
- PFAS: EPA tests of 3 town water systems in Waupaca County under the Fifth Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Rule, 2023 to 2025.
- Radon: Waupaca County is zone 1 on the EPA Map of Radon Zones.
- State programs and links: Department of Natural Resources (DNR), checked November 1, 2026.