Well water in Mayes County, Oklahoma

No public well test results have been compiled for Mayes County yet. The USGS national arsenic model estimates that 0% of the 839 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.

45 test results across 4 contaminants from at least 21 wells, 1977 to 2001; chloride 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 839 people in Mayes County get their drinking water from a private well, per USGS 2015 county water use. That is about 2% of residents.

Separately, the USGS national arsenic model estimates that 0% of the 839 people on private wells in Mayes County draw water above 10 ug/L, from geology and well depth rather than local tests.

What individual samples found

Each row summarizes every public sample for that contaminant inside Mayes 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
Chloride 1977 to 1980	no limit	21	100%	49	1,700	250 mg/L nuisance level
Iron 1977 to 1980	no limit	21	95%	40	13,000	300 ug/L nuisance level

Sampled fewer than 10 times, too few to summarize: Nitrate (1), Manganese (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

Among contaminants with a federal limit, no tested sample in Mayes County came back above it. That is reassuring, but sampling is uneven: wells that were never tested are not in this data.

Chloride, 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 Mayes County

1
Coliform bacteria
Recommended for every private well, every year.
2
Nitrate
Recommended for every private well, especially near farms or septic systems.
3
Chloride
Detected in 100% of local samples.
4
Manganese
Detected in 100% of local samples.
5
Iron
Detected in 95% of local samples.

Test your Mayes County well for coliform bacteria, nitrate and chloride

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 Oklahoma: certified labs, state programs and prices.

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

Wells in Mayes County

1,189 domestic wells in Mayes County are on record with the state since 1978. the typical well is 173 feet deep (one in ten goes past 375 feet).

In a typical Mayes County well, the median yield is 5 gallons per minute, 32% of wells yield under 3 gallons per minute and usually need a storage tank.

179

1980s

336

1990s

353

2000s

204

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 OWRB well log search and choose Water Well.
It lists depth, first water, yield and the driller.

Oklahoma has required well logs since 1972.

The rock under Mayes 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 Oklahoma

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.

Technical Assistance (private citizen well water testing), Oklahoma DEQ
Laboratory Accreditation, Oklahoma DEQ

Contamination sources on record in Mayes County

Oklahoma DEQ land sites records 6 regulated sites in Mayes County, among 6 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.

1: other remediation project
5: other solid waste facilities

Treatment that fits the local profile

Manganese

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

Iron

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

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 Mayes County

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

Common questions

How deep are wells in Mayes County?

The typical domestic well in Mayes County is 173 feet deep, based on 1,189 wells reported to the state since 1978. One in ten is deeper than 375 feet.

How often should I test a private well in Mayes 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.

Counties near Mayes 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 Oklahoma dataset as CSV, every county and town, with the sources named.

Sources

USGS Water Quality Portal: 45 samples in Mayes 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 839 people on private wells in Mayes 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.
Oklahoma OWRB reported well logs: 1,257 well records in Mayes County, 1,189 domestic. Well completion reports filed with the Oklahoma Water Resources Board, located by public land survey. Only aggregates are shown; owner names and addresses are never stored. Retrieved .
Oklahoma DEQ land sites: 6 regulated sites located in Mayes County. Superfund sites, voluntary cleanup sites and solid waste facilities from the Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality. Retrieved September 18, 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.