Well Water Testing in Cherokee County, KS

Cherokee County's Tri-State Mining District legacy means groundwater and soil in a large swath of the county have been tested and, in many cases, remediated for lead, zinc, and cadmium contamination -- and EPA still offers free testing today for properties inside the Superfund site boundary. If a parcel you're considering sits within that boundary, there's a specific, no-cost way to check its well water and soil before you rely on either.

This page covers what's specific to Cherokee County. For the general explanation, see the national guide.

Free EPA testing for private wells, yards, and agricultural areas

As part of its ongoing sitewide assessment of the Cherokee County Superfund Site, EPA offers free residential testing to any property located within the site's boundary in southeastern Kansas -- and that testing explicitly covers private drinking water wells (groundwater), not just surface soil. EPA also tests residential yards, playgrounds, and agricultural areas for the same contamination on request. This is testing for the same heavy metals tied to over a century of historic lead and zinc mining and smelting in the Tri-State Mining District: lead, zinc, and cadmium.

To request no-cost testing of a property's well water or soil, a landowner fills out a permission form, obtained by calling EPA toll-free at 1-800-223-0425, or by calling EPA's site contractor, TetraTech, at 620-284-1357. For a buyer evaluating a specific Cherokee County parcel, particularly one relying on a private well rather than rural water-district service, this is a genuinely actionable step worth taking before closing: confirm whether the parcel falls inside the Superfund site boundary using EPA's own site profile page, and if so, use the same free program to get the well tested rather than assuming water quality based on a neighboring property's status or an old test result.

A stricter screening level, and what "cleaned up" does and doesn't mean

Past EPA response actions at the site have already addressed nearly 800 lead-contaminated residential yards, and the broader site-wide totals are larger still: roughly 12.9 million cubic yards of mine waste and contaminated soil excavated and 2,747 acres of mined land restored to beneficial use, per recent EPA reporting. But "remediated" is not the same as "clean by today's standard" everywhere in the site -- EPA lowered its residential soil lead screening level from 400 parts per million to 200 ppm in January 2024, a stricter bar that can newly flag a property that passed under the old standard. A parcel remediated years ago under the 400 ppm threshold has not necessarily been re-tested against the current 200 ppm level.

Two operable units entered new active remediation phases starting in 2024 and were still underway as of the most recent reporting found: OU7 (Galena Residential Soils), covering ongoing sampling and cleanup of individual residential yards, and OU8 (Railroads), addressing contaminated segments of abandoned rail corridors throughout the site. Before relying on well water on any Cherokee County parcel within or near the historic mining footprint (concentrated around Galena, Treece, and Baxter Springs), check EPA's current site profile and operable-unit status for that specific parcel, and use the free testing program above rather than assuming either "already fixed" or "definitely contaminated."

Well Water Testing in Cherokee County, Kansas

Free EPA testing for private wells, yards, and agricultural areas

A stricter screening level, and what "cleaned up" does and doesn't mean

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