Well water in Charlevoix County, Michigan
No public well test results have been compiled for Charlevoix County yet. The USGS national arsenic model estimates that 13% of the 10,932 people on private wells there draw water with arsenic above 10 ug/L, the EPA limit, based on geology, well depth and land use rather than local tests.
The strongest signal is coliform bacteria: Recommended for every private well, every year, too few samples to carry the headline but first on the test list below.
Data refreshed September 15, 2026.
Compiled by Nick at Well Water Nerd from public records. How these pages are built
Data confidence: estimate. No state program or federal monitoring data for Charlevoix County has been compiled here yet, so the arsenic figure is the USGS national model, not a measurement. Treat a high estimate as a reason to test, not as your well's number. Measured results are added as states publish them.
An estimated 10,932 people in Charlevoix County get their drinking water from a private well, per USGS 2015 county water use. That is about 42% of residents.
Closer than the county
See the sampled wells near your address
The same records, drawn around one point: which wells within a few miles were sampled and what they found, how deep the wells next to you were drilled, and any leaking tank or cleanup site within a mile.
Check my addressWhat this means
Among contaminants with a federal limit, no tested sample in Charlevoix County came back above it. That is reassuring, but sampling is uneven: wells that were never tested are not in this data.
What to test for in Charlevoix County
- 1Coliform bacteriaRecommended for every private well, every year.
- 2NitrateRecommended for every private well, especially near farms or septic systems.
- 3Volatile organic compounds (VOCs)20 leaking underground storage tank sites on record locally.
- 4Metals panel71 hazardous waste sites on record locally.
Test your Charlevoix County well for coliform bacteria and nitrate
Certified lab analysis of your own tap water, bottles and prepaid return shipping included. The Essential well panel covers arsenic, uranium, nitrate, lead, copper, manganese, iron, sodium and bacteria; radon and PFAS are add-ons.
Order the Tap Score well water test kit, from $209Already tested? Upload the report
Just want bacteria checked first? Tap Score coliform and E. coli test, $99. Coliform and E. coli are the tests every well needs every year.
Want a quick look before paying for a lab? Home well water test strips on Amazon check hardness, iron, pH and nitrate in minutes. They are a screen, not a result: arsenic, bacteria, uranium and PFAS need a certified lab.
Affiliate links: the merchant pays us a commission and the price is the same for you. It does not change what the data above says. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.
Where to get a well tested in Michigan: certified labs, state programs and prices.
Already have results back? Get your lab report read against the Charlevoix County numbers, $29. Every line explained, ranked by what matters, with the fix for each.
Wells in Charlevoix County
7,426 domestic wells in Charlevoix County are on record with the state since 1953. 24% are drilled into bedrock, and the typical well is 100 feet deep (one in ten goes past 228 feet).
In a typical Charlevoix County well, bedrock starts about 92 feet down, the median yield is 20 gallons per minute, <1% of wells yield under 3 gallons per minute and usually need a storage tank.
Find your own well's report
The state keeps the driller's report for most wells drilled since 1984. It tells you how deep your well is, where bedrock starts, and how much water it makes, which decides what treatment can work.
- Open Wellogic (EGLE) and choose Water Well.
- The record lists depth, casing, static water level, the pump test and the geologic log.
Michigan has required well records since 1966, so most drilled wells are on file.
Official help in Michigan
Two places to start that are not selling anything: the state program that answers private well questions, and its list of labs certified to run drinking water tests. A certified lab is the difference between a result you can act on and a number.
- Private Residential Water Well Testing, Michigan EGLE
- Laboratory certification program, Michigan EGLE
Contamination sources on record in Charlevoix County
Michigan EGLE records 20 leaking underground storage tank sites and 71 hazardous waste sites in Charlevoix County, among 242 regulated sites in total. Groundwater does not follow property lines, so a well within a few hundred feet of one of these is worth testing for what that site could release.
- 20
- leaking underground storage tank sitesGasoline and heating oil that leaked from tanks move through groundwater as benzene, MTBE and other volatile organic compounds.
- 71
- hazardous waste sitesSolvents, degreasers and metals from industrial sites can travel far in fractured bedrock.
- 150
- registered underground storage tank sitesRegistered tanks are regulated and inspected; they matter most when they are old or near a shallow well.
- 1
- lined landfill or transfer facility
Free, no obligation
Get on the list for a free in-home water test in Charlevoix County
No water treatment company serves Charlevoix County through Well Water Nerd yet. We are signing licensed companies on county by county: they test at your tap for free, walk you through the numbers, and quote treatment only if something needs fixing. Leave your details and you are first in line. Nothing is shared until a company joins for Charlevoix County, and you get an email naming it first.
Common questions
How deep are wells in Charlevoix County?
The typical domestic well in Charlevoix County is 100 feet deep, based on 7,426 wells reported to the state since 1953. One in ten is deeper than 228 feet. 24% are drilled into bedrock.
How often should I test a private well in Charlevoix County?
Test for bacteria and nitrate every year. Test once for arsenic, uranium, radon, fluoride, manganese and PFAS, then again every three to five years or after any change in taste, color, or plumbing.
Towns in Charlevoix County
18 towns have fewer than 30 public samples and are included in the Charlevoix County totals above rather than shown separately: Bay township, Boyne City, Boyne Valley township, Chandler township, Charlevoix, Charlevoix township, East Jordan, Evangeline township, Eveline township, Hayes township, Hudson township, Marion township, Melrose township, Norwood township, Peaine township, South Arm township, St. James township, Wilson township.
Counties near Charlevoix County
Closest first. Groundwater does not stop at a line on a map, so the next county over is a fair second opinion.
Want the numbers themselves? Download the Michigan dataset as CSV, every county and town, with the sources named.
Sources
- USGS national arsenic model (Ayotte 2017): estimated share of 10,932 people on private wells in Charlevoix County above 10 ug/L of arsenic, from geology, well depth and land use. County estimates of domestic well users with arsenic above 10 ug/L from the USGS national logistic regression model (Ayotte, Medalie and Qi, 2017), with private well population from the USGS 2015 county water-use compilation (Dieter and others, 2018). Retrieved September 15, 2026.
- Michigan Wellogic well records: 7,426 well records in Charlevoix County, 7,426 domestic. Water well records from Wellogic, the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy statewide well database. Only aggregates are shown; owner names and addresses are never stored. Retrieved September 16, 2026.
- Michigan EGLE regulated sites: 242 regulated sites located in Charlevoix County. Part 201 environmental contamination sites, underground storage tank facilities and Part 115 landfills from the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy. Retrieved September 16, 2026.
Non-detects count as samples and are treated as zero when computing medians. Exactly at the limit counts as not above it. A sample belongs to the town containing the well's reported coordinates.