Well water in Ross County, Ohio

No public well test results have been compiled for Ross County yet. The USGS national arsenic model estimates that 6% of the 19,394 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 lead: 6% of 18 local samples were above the limit, too few samples to carry the headline but first on the test list below.

166 test results across 9 contaminants from at least 8 wells, 1978 to 2014; fluoride has the most at 21. Data refreshed September 15, 2026.

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

An estimated 19,394 people in Ross County get their drinking water from a private well, per USGS 2015 county water use. That is about 25% of residents.

Separately, the USGS national arsenic model estimates that 6% of the 19,394 people on private wells in Ross County draw water above 10 ug/L (the model's range is 3% to 12%), from geology and well depth rather than local tests.

What individual samples found

Each row summarizes every public sample for that contaminant inside Ross 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
Lead 2012 to 2014	6%	18	11%	0	35.8	15 ug/L EPA limit
Fluoride 1978 to 2014	0%	21	57%	0.2	0.61	4 mg/L EPA limit
Arsenic 2012 to 2014	0%	18	17%	0	7.5	10 ug/L EPA limit
Copper 2012 to 2014	0%	18	39%	0	0.088	1.3 mg/L EPA limit
Iron 1978 to 2014	no limit	21	48%	0	8,320	300 ug/L nuisance level
Chloride 1978 to 2014	no limit	21	100%	27.6	75	250 mg/L nuisance level
Sodium 1978 to 2014	no limit	21	100%	13	47	20 mg/L health guideline
Manganese 1978 to 2014	no limit	21	48%	0	266	300 ug/L health guideline

Sampled fewer than 10 times, too few to summarize: Nitrate (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 address

What this means

The contaminants most often above their limit here are lead (6% of 18 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.

Chloride is widespread in local groundwater. It is mainly a staining and taste problem, but high manganese also carries a health advisory for infants.

What to test for in Ross County

1
Lead
6% of 18 local samples were above the limit.
2
Coliform bacteria
Recommended for every private well, every year.
3
Nitrate
Above the limit in 1 of 7 local samples; too few to quote a rate.
4
Chloride
Detected in 100% of local samples.
5
Fluoride
Detected in 57% of local samples.
6
Volatile organic compounds (VOCs)
299 leaking underground storage tank sites on record locally.
7
Metals panel
3 hazardous waste sites on record locally.

Test your Ross County well for lead, 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 Ohio: certified labs, state programs and prices.

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

Wells in Ross County

3,118 domestic wells in Ross County are on record with the state since 1970. 58% are drilled into bedrock, and the typical well is 75 feet deep (one in ten goes past 150 feet).

In a typical Ross County well, bedrock starts about 32 feet down, the median yield is 10 gallons per minute, 15% of wells yield under 3 gallons per minute and usually need a storage tank.

414

1970s

208

1980s

401

1990s

288

2000s

2010s

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 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.

The rock under Ross County

Not a principal aquifer

The USGS map places this area outside any principal aquifer, which usually means wells here draw from fractured bedrock or thin local deposits rather than a large regional aquifer. Bedrock wells of that kind are where arsenic, radon and uranium turn up, and yields vary from well to well.

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 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 Ross County

Ohio EPA records 299 leaking underground storage tank sites and 3 hazardous waste sites in Ross County, among 313 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.

299: leaking underground storage tank sitesGasoline and heating oil that leaked from tanks move through groundwater as benzene, MTBE and other volatile organic compounds.
3: hazardous waste sitesSolvents, degreasers and metals from industrial sites can travel far in fractured bedrock.
7: lined landfills and transfer facilities
4: other remediation projects

Treatment that fits the local profile

Lead

Point-of-use reverse osmosis; Certified lead-removal carbon filter; Neutralizing filter to raise pH and stop leaching

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 lead

Under-sink reverse osmosis system

under-sink or countertop, about $300

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

For lead

Acid neutralizing filter

whole-house, at the point of entry, about $1,200

Raises pH so plumbing stops leaching lead and copper.

For lead

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 Ross County

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

Common questions

How deep are wells in Ross County?

The typical domestic well in Ross County is 75 feet deep, based on 3,118 wells reported to the state since 1970. One in ten is deeper than 150 feet. 58% are drilled into bedrock.

Is there arsenic in well water in Ross County?

Arsenic was detected in 17% of 18 public well samples in Ross County, and 0% 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 Ross 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 Ross County

16 towns have fewer than 30 public samples and are included in the Ross County totals above rather than shown separately: Buckskin township, Colerain township, Concord township, Deerfield township, Franklin township, Green township, Harrison township, Huntington township, Jefferson township, Liberty township, Paint township, Paxton township, Scioto township, Springfield township, Twin township, Union township.

Counties near Ross 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: 166 samples in Ross 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 19,394 people on private wells in Ross 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: 3,891 well records in Ross County, 3,118 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: 313 regulated sites located in Ross 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.