Well water in Ottawa County, Ohio
No public well test results have been compiled for Ottawa County yet. The USGS national arsenic model estimates that 4% of the 9,768 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.
110 test results across 9 contaminants from at least 6 wells, 1979 to 2014; sodium has the most at 15. Data refreshed September 15, 2026.
Compiled by Nick at Well Water Nerd from public records. How these pages are built
An estimated 9,768 people in Ottawa County get their drinking water from a private well, per USGS 2015 county water use. That is about 24% of residents.
Separately, the USGS national arsenic model estimates that 4% of the 9,768 people on private wells in Ottawa County draw water above 10 ug/L (the model's range is 3% to 7%), from geology and well depth rather than local tests.
What individual samples found
Each row summarizes every public sample for that contaminant inside Ottawa 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nitrate 1979 to 1997 | 14 | 57% | 0.015 | 0.6 | 10 mg/L EPA limit | |
| Fluoride 1979 to 2014 | 14 | 100% | 1.49 | 1.91 | 4 mg/L EPA limit | |
| Sodium 1979 to 2014 | no limit | 15 | 100% | 12 | 770 | 20 mg/L health guideline |
| Manganese 1979 to 2014 | no limit | 15 | 47% | 0 | 210 | 300 ug/L health guideline |
| Iron 1979 to 2014 | no limit | 15 | 100% | 84 | 1,000 | 300 ug/L nuisance level |
| Chloride 1979 to 2014 | no limit | 14 | 100% | 17.7 | 1,100 | 250 mg/L nuisance level |
Sampled fewer than 10 times, too few to summarize: Copper (8), Lead (8), Arsenic (7).
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 Ottawa County came back above it. That is reassuring, but sampling is uneven: wells that were never tested are not in this data.
Iron and Chloride 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 Ottawa County
- 1Coliform bacteriaRecommended for every private well, every year.
- 2NitrateRecommended for every private well, especially near farms or septic systems.
- 3FluorideDetected in 100% of local samples.
- 4IronDetected in 100% of local samples.
- 5ChlorideDetected in 100% of local samples.
- 6Volatile organic compounds (VOCs)302 leaking underground storage tank sites on record locally.
- 7Metals panel9 hazardous waste sites on record locally.
Test your Ottawa County well for coliform bacteria, nitrate and fluoride
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 Ohio: certified labs, state programs and prices.
Already have results back? Get your lab report read against the Ottawa County numbers, $29. Every line explained, ranked by what matters, with the fix for each.
Wells in Ottawa County
4,668 domestic wells in Ottawa County are on record with the state since 1970. 99% are drilled into bedrock, and the typical well is 75 feet deep (one in ten goes past 120 feet).
In a typical Ottawa County well, bedrock starts about 30 feet down, the median yield is 16 gallons per minute, 4% 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.
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 ODNR water well log search and choose Water Well.
- The log lists depth, depth to bedrock, casing, static water level, the pump test and the driller.
Ohio has required well logs since 1948, so most drilled wells have one.
Official help in Ohio
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 Water Systems Program, Ohio Department of Health
- Laboratory Certification, Ohio EPA
Contamination sources on record in Ottawa County
Ohio EPA records 302 leaking underground storage tank sites and 9 hazardous waste sites in Ottawa County, among 325 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.
- 302
- leaking underground storage tank sitesGasoline and heating oil that leaked from tanks move through groundwater as benzene, MTBE and other volatile organic compounds.
- 9
- hazardous waste sitesSolvents, degreasers and metals from industrial sites can travel far in fractured bedrock.
- 12
- lined landfills and transfer facilities
- 2
- other remediation projects
Treatment that fits the local profile
Chloride
Point-of-use reverse osmosis; Distillation
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 manganese
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.
For chloride
Under-sink reverse osmosis system
under-sink or countertop, about $300
Look for NSF/ANSI 58 certification listing the contaminant you need removed.
Free, no obligation
Get on the list for a free in-home water test in Ottawa County
No water treatment company serves Ottawa 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 Ottawa County, and you get an email naming it first.
Common questions
How deep are wells in Ottawa County?
The typical domestic well in Ottawa County is 75 feet deep, based on 4,668 wells reported to the state since 1970. One in ten is deeper than 120 feet. 99% are drilled into bedrock.
How often should I test a private well in Ottawa 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 Ottawa County
13 towns have fewer than 30 public samples and are included in the Ottawa County totals above rather than shown separately: Allen township, Bay township, Benton township, Carroll township, Catawba Island township, Clay township, Danbury township, Erie township, Harris township, Portage township, Port Clinton, Put-in-Bay township, Salem township.
Counties near Ottawa 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 Ohio dataset as CSV, every county and town, with the sources named.
Sources
- USGS Water Quality Portal: 110 samples in Ottawa 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 9,768 people on private wells in Ottawa 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.
- Ohio DNR water well logs: 5,523 well records in Ottawa County, 4,668 domestic. Water well logs filed with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources Division of Water Resources since 1948. Only aggregates are shown; owner names and addresses are never stored. Retrieved September 17, 2026.
- Ohio EPA regulated sites: 325 regulated sites located in Ottawa County. Remediation sites, leaking underground storage tank releases (BUSTR) and landfills from the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency and the Division of State Fire Marshal. Retrieved September 17, 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.