Well water in Clinton County, Michigan

In Clinton County, none of 66 tested well samples exceeded the EPA limit for nitrate, based on public data from USGS Water Quality Portal.

The strongest signal is arsenic: 13% of 16 local samples were above the limit, too few samples to carry the headline but first on the test list below.

460 test results across 9 contaminants from at least 144 wells, 1943 to 1988; iron has the most at 156. Data refreshed September 15, 2026.

Compiled by Nick at Well Water Nerd from public records. How these pages are built

An estimated 63,405 people in Clinton County get their drinking water from a private well, per USGS 2015 county water use. That is about 82% of residents.

Separately, the USGS national arsenic model estimates that 13% of the 63,405 people on private wells in Clinton County draw water above 10 ug/L (the model's range is 11% to 15%), from geology and well depth rather than local tests.

What individual samples found

Each row summarizes every public sample for that contaminant inside Clinton County. Above limit means above the EPA maximum contaminant level; where EPA has no enforceable limit, the row shows a health guideline or nuisance level instead.

Contaminant	Above limit	Samples	Detected	Median	Highest	Limit
Arsenic 1976 to 1988	13%	16	56%	1	17	10 ug/L EPA limit
Nitrate 1949 to 1986	0%	66	89%	0	7.23	10 mg/L EPA limit
Fluoride 1949 to 1988	0%	43	100%	0.3	1.2	4 mg/L EPA limit
Iron 1943 to 1988	no limit	156	100%	770	13,000	300 ug/L nuisance level
Sodium 1945 to 1988	no limit	136	100%	14	295	20 mg/L health guideline
Manganese 1954 to 1988	no limit	37	97%	0	190	300 ug/L health guideline

Sampled fewer than 10 times, too few to summarize: Uranium (2), Lead (2), Copper (2).

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 address

What this means

The contaminants most often above their limit here are arsenic (13% of 16 samples). A well next door can differ sharply from yours because bedrock fractures, well depth and plumbing all matter, so these rates describe the area, not your tap.

Iron and Manganese are widespread in local groundwater. They are mainly a staining and taste problem, but high manganese also carries a health advisory for infants.

What to test for in Clinton County

1
Arsenic
13% of 16 local samples were above the limit.
2
Coliform bacteria
Recommended for every private well, every year.
3
Nitrate
Recommended for every private well, especially near farms or septic systems.
4
Fluoride
Detected in 100% of local samples.
5
Copper
Detected in 100% of local samples.
6
Iron
Detected in 100% of local samples.
7
Manganese
Detected in 97% of local samples.
8
Volatile organic compounds (VOCs)
47 leaking underground storage tank sites on record locally.
9
Metals panel
94 hazardous waste sites on record locally.

Test your Clinton County well for arsenic, 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 $209 Already 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 Clinton County numbers, $29. Every line explained, ranked by what matters, with the fix for each.

Wells in Clinton County

14,190 domestic wells in Clinton County are on record with the state since 1957. 90% are drilled into bedrock, and the typical well is 215 feet deep (one in ten goes past 280 feet).

In a typical Clinton County well, bedrock starts about 110 feet down, the median yield is 50 gallons per minute, <1% of wells yield under 3 gallons per minute and usually need a storage tank.

Bedrock wells are where arsenic, uranium and radon come from: the water sits in fractures in granite and metamorphic rock and picks up whatever the rock carries. That is why testing for those three matters more here than in a dug or gravel well.

817

1960s

2,843

1970s

2,524

1980s

3,472

1990s

2,755

2000s

1,058

2010s

662

2020s

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.

The rock under Clinton County

Pennsylvanian aquifers

Sandstone. Sandstone wells draw from pore space in the rock and tend to be dependable. Iron, manganese and hardness are common, and some sandstones carry arsenic or radium, so a first test should include both.

Classification from the USGS Principal Aquifers of the United States (national map, 2003 edition, GIS release 2015), read at the county centroid. A single well can sit in a different unit, especially near a boundary.

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 Clinton County

Michigan EGLE records 47 leaking underground storage tank sites and 94 hazardous waste sites in Clinton County, among 401 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.

47: leaking underground storage tank sitesGasoline and heating oil that leaked from tanks move through groundwater as benzene, MTBE and other volatile organic compounds.
94: hazardous waste sitesSolvents, degreasers and metals from industrial sites can travel far in fractured bedrock.
258: registered underground storage tank sitesRegistered tanks are regulated and inspected; they matter most when they are old or near a shallow well.
2: lined landfills and transfer facilities

Treatment that fits the local profile

Arsenic

Point-of-use reverse osmosis; Adsorptive media (iron-based) whole-house; Anion exchange

Iron

Oxidizing filter whole-house; Water softener (low levels); Aeration plus filtration

Manganese

Oxidizing filter (greensand, birm) whole-house; Water softener (low levels); Point-of-use reverse osmosis

Systems we would look at first

Some links below are affiliate links. If you buy through one, the merchant pays us a commission at no extra cost to you. It does not change which products we list or what the data says.

For arsenic

Under-sink reverse osmosis system

under-sink or countertop, about $300

Look for NSF/ANSI 58 certification listing the contaminant you need removed.

For arsenic

Whole-house arsenic and uranium filter

whole-house, at the point of entry, about $2,500

Adsorptive iron-based media; sized to your well yield.

For arsenic

Aquasana SmartFlow reverse osmosis

under-sink or countertop, about $225

Certified to NSF/ANSI 58 and 53 to reduce arsenic (96%, pentavalent), fluoride (90%), lead (99%), nitrate, nitrite and PFOA/PFOS at the kitchen tap, with a remineralizer.

For iron

Iron and manganese oxidizing filter

whole-house, at the point of entry, about $1,800

Air-injection or greensand media; fixes staining at the source.

Free, no obligation

Get on the list for a free in-home water test in Clinton County

No water treatment company serves Clinton 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 Clinton County, and you get an email naming it first.

Common questions

How deep are wells in Clinton County?

The typical domestic well in Clinton County is 215 feet deep, based on 14,190 wells reported to the state since 1957. One in ten is deeper than 280 feet. 90% are drilled into bedrock.

Is there arsenic in well water in Clinton County?

Arsenic was detected in 56% of 16 public well samples in Clinton County, and 13% were above the EPA limit of 10 ug/L. Arsenic has no taste or smell; a lab test is the only way to know your level.

How often should I test a private well in Clinton 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 Clinton County

22 towns have fewer than 30 public samples and are included in the Clinton County totals above rather than shown separately: Bath charter township, Bengal township, Bingham township, Dallas township, DeWitt, DeWitt charter township, Duplain township, Eagle township, East Lansing, Essex township, Grand Ledge, Greenbush township, Lansing, Lebanon township, Olive township, Ovid, Ovid township, Riley township, St. Johns, Victor township, Watertown charter township, Westphalia township.

Counties near Clinton 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 Water Quality Portal: 460 samples in Clinton County. Data from the Water Quality Portal, a service of USGS, EPA and USDA; groundwater samples collected by USGS and cooperators. Retrieved September 3, 2026.
USGS national arsenic model (Ayotte 2017): estimated share of 63,405 people on private wells in Clinton 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: 14,190 well records in Clinton County, 14,190 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: 401 regulated sites located in Clinton 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.