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Is La Crosse, WI tap water safe?

12 utilities serve La Crosse, by EPA’s records. Here is what EPA’s and Wisconsin’s records show for each, against the legal limits and the stricter health goals.

Matched to your utility using EPA records.

The short answer

2 of the 12 utilities serving La Crosse have a result above a legal limit or action level, or a health-based violation since 2016, in EPA’s and Wisconsin’s records: Island Estates and Shelby TN of SD 2 Skyline.

La Crosse Waterworks, which serves the most people here, has 2 results above EPA’s new limit, which takes effect in 2029, 1 result above the limit’s level with no violation recorded and 3 results above the health goal. The worst: Haloacetic acids (HAA5) at 136 ppb, above the limit’s level, no violation.

The water from La Crosse Waterworks is moderately hard to very hard depending on the source, 64 to 390 mg/L (3.7 to 22.8 grains per gallon). How Wisconsin’s water compares.

A town can be served by more than one utility, and some homes are on private wells. The name on your water bill tells you which is yours, and your ZIP code narrows it down. They are listed by how many people each serves in La Crosse’s ZIP codes, from EPA’s estimates.

2 more utilities in La Crosse

By EPA’s estimate, each serves fewer people in La Crosse than those above.

What handles it

Each of these is certified, on a certifier’s listing, for a result above a line in La Crosse Waterworks’s water, which serves the most people here. Another utility’s report names what handles its own results.

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Every claim, and more filters, in the full report

Water testing near La Crosse

A utility tests the water it sends out. A test of your own tap shows what your pipes add, and on a private well it is the only test there is. It takes a lab Wisconsin certifies.

The 3 labs Wisconsin certifies closest to La Crosse, in a straight line. Call first: certification is test by test, and not every lab takes samples from homeowners.

  • Davy Laboratories

    La Crosse, WI · about 3 miles

    Certified for bacteria, nitrate, lead and copper, metals, minerals and other inorganics, organic chemicals, disinfection byproducts

    (608) 782-3130

  • La Crosse County HD Public Health Laboratory

    La Crosse, WI · about 3 miles

    Certified for bacteria, nitrate, lead and copper, metals

    (608) 785-9733

  • A1 Advanced Pumping Service, Inc.

    West Salem, WI · about 8 miles

    Certified for bacteria, nitrate

    (608) 784-1888

Wisconsin State Laboratory of Hygiene: Well water test kits ordered by phone and shipped free; you pay to mail the sample back, and the lab bills you after testing. Tests run from bacteria alone to a homeowner package covering bacteria, nitrate, fluoride, metals, hardness, volatile organic compounds and atrazine. Bacteria is $35, nitrate $35, lead $38, and the homeowner package $450, as of July 1, 2026. Public Environmental and Water Testing Prices, Wisconsin State Laboratory of Hygiene.

All 156 certified labs for Wisconsin

ZIP codes in La Crosse

Which ZIP codes are in La Crosse: Census 2020 relationship files. Which utilities serve them, and how many people: EPA SDWIS and EPA’s service area map. Each utility’s results: EPA UCMR 5, EPA SDWIS, and EPA’s and the state’s compliance monitoring, as its report lists them. How they are measured: methodology. Certified labs: Wisconsin DNR and DATCP, certified and approved drinking water laboratories; distances from the Census 2020 ZIP code tabulation area gazetteer.

Near La Crosse

Towns nearby with a page of their own.

What to do next