Drinking Water Program

Is Your Well Water Safe to Drink? 

The Sauk County UW-Extension and Land Resources and Environment departments partner with local towns to sponsor the Sauk County Drinking Water Program.  This program is designed to raise awareness of the importance of private well testing and to make drinking water sampling easy and convenient. 

Public water systems are tested regularly, but private well owners are responsible for testing their own wells.  The nearly 900,000 rural, private well owners statewide, whose water does not receive the same testing or oversight as public water supplies, often know little about their drinking water.  A new interactive mapping resource, called the “Wisconsin Well Water Quality Viewer,” is helping to change that.

Private well owners should test their drinking water every one-two years and at different times of the year.  Sampling bottles for the “Homeowners Test Package,” which includes tests for nitrate, coliform bacteria, pH, alkalinity, hardness, conductivity, corrosivity, and chloride, can be purchased at the Sauk County UW-Extension Office located on the 3rd floor of the West Square Building, downtown Baraboo.  Contact 608-355-3250 for more information.