Well Water Nerd

Well water in Stark township, Minnesota

In Stark township, none of 32 private wells tested between 2019 and 2019 had nitrate above the EPA limit (10 mg/L), according to the Minnesota Department of Agriculture.

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.

32 private wells tested 2019 to 2019 in state summaries; 69 test results across 9 contaminants from at least 9 wells, 1993 to 2017; arsenic has the most at 9. Data refreshed September 15, 2026.

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

What homeowner tests found

MDA Township Testing Program nitrate: private wells tested and reported to the state, 2019 to 2019. Shares are against the level the state applies to each contaminant, named in the last column; several are stricter than EPA.

ContaminantAbove state levelWells testedMedian95th pctHighestState level
Nitrate3210 mg/L

Closer than the town

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

Among homeowners in Stark township who sent a sample to the state lab, no health-based limit was exceeded often enough to publish a share. That is good news, but a single well can still be the exception.

What to test for in Stark township

  1. 1
    Coliform bacteria
    Recommended for every private well, every year.
  2. 2
    Nitrate
    Recommended for every private well, especially near farms or septic systems.
  3. 3
    Arsenic
    Above the limit in 3 of 9 local samples; too few to quote a rate.
  4. 4
    Fluoride
    Detected in 100% of local samples.
  5. 5
    Iron
    Detected in 100% of local samples.
  6. 6
    Chloride
    Detected in 100% of local samples.
  7. 7
    Manganese
    Detected in 100% of local samples.
  8. 8
    Volatile organic compounds (VOCs)
    7 leaking underground storage tank sites on record locally.

Test your Stark township well for coliform bacteria, nitrate and arsenic

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 Minnesota: certified labs, state programs and prices.

Already have results back? Get your lab report read against the Stark township numbers, $29. Every line explained, ranked by what matters, with the fix for each.

Wells in Stark township

92 domestic wells in Stark township are on record with the state since 1963. 38% are drilled into bedrock, and the typical well is 142 feet deep (one in ten goes past 190 feet).

In a typical Stark township well, bedrock starts about 117 feet down.

13
1970s
21
1980s
15
1990s
20
2000s
12
2010s
6
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.

  1. Open Minnesota Well Index and choose Water Well.
  2. The record shows depth, casing, depth to bedrock, aquifer, static water level and the driller; new wells since 2008 also show the arsenic test result.

Wells drilled since 1974 have records; older wells appear only if a later owner reported them.

The rock under Stark township

Lower Cretaceous 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 town centroid. A single well can sit in a different unit, especially near a boundary.

Official help in Minnesota

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.

Contamination sources on record in Stark township

MPCA records 7 leaking underground storage tank sites in Stark township, among 28 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.

7
leaking underground storage tank sitesGasoline and heating oil that leaked from tanks move through groundwater as benzene, MTBE and other volatile organic compounds.
12
registered underground storage tank sitesRegistered tanks are regulated and inspected; they matter most when they are old or near a shallow well.
8
lined landfills and transfer facilities
1
other remediation project

Treatment that fits the local profile

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 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 Stark township

No water treatment company serves Stark township 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 Stark township, and you get an email naming it first.

What are you worried about?

The test is free and there is no obligation. No company is named yet; your details stay with us until one joins for your area, and we log the time and address of this request.

Common questions

How deep are wells in Stark township?

The typical domestic well in Stark township is 142 feet deep, based on 92 wells reported to the state since 1963. One in ten is deeper than 190 feet. 38% are drilled into bedrock.

How often should I test a private well in Stark township?

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 near Stark township

Closest first. Groundwater does not stop at a line on a map, so the next town over is a fair second opinion.

Want the numbers themselves? Download the Minnesota dataset as CSV, every county and town, with the sources named.

Sources

  • USGS Water Quality Portal: 69 samples in Stark township. Data from the Water Quality Portal, a service of USGS, EPA and USDA; groundwater samples collected by USGS and cooperators. Retrieved September 3, 2026.
  • MDA Township Testing Program nitrate: summaries for 1 contaminants in Stark township, up to 32 wells each. Nitrate results from the Minnesota Department of Agriculture Township Testing Program, 2013 to 2019, which offered a free test to every well in 344 townships with vulnerable groundwater. Townships were selected for vulnerable geology and row-crop land use, so their shares run above the state as a whole; county and state figures are not derived from them. Share is the final (follow-up) result above 10 mg/L as N. Retrieved September 15, 2026.
  • Minnesota Well Index: 199 well records in Stark township, 92 domestic. Well construction records from the Minnesota Well Index (Minnesota Department of Health), non-public-supply wells. Only aggregates are shown; owner names and addresses are never stored. Retrieved September 15, 2026.
  • MPCA regulated sites: 28 regulated sites located in Stark township. Tank, leak, remediation, Superfund and landfill sites from the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency What's In My Neighborhood database. Retrieved September 15, 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.