Skip to content
TapBuff
ZIP

Is Portage, WI tap water safe?

4 utilities serve Portage, 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

1 of the 4 utilities serving Portage has a result above a legal limit or action level, or a health-based violation since 2016, in EPA’s and Wisconsin’s records: Saddle Ridge Estates.

Portage Waterworks, which serves the most people here, has 2 results above the health goal. The worst: Lead at 6.2 ppb, above the health goal. Health goals are stricter than legal limits and are not enforced.

The water from Portage Waterworks is moderately hard to hard depending on the source, 109 to 144 mg/L (6.3 to 8.4 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 Portage’s ZIP codes, from EPA’s estimates.

What handles it

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

Disclosure: TapBuff earns a commission if you buy through some links on this page. It does not change which standard or filter we name. As an Amazon Associate, TapBuff earns from qualifying purchases. How TapBuff makes money

Every claim, and more filters, in the full report

Water testing near Portage

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 Portage, in a straight line. Call first: certification is test by test, and not every lab takes samples from homeowners.

  • CT Laboratories

    Baraboo, WI · about 13 miles

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

    (608) 356-2760

  • Marquette Co. Health Dept. dba Rural Env. Health Alliance

    Montello, WI · about 17 miles

    Certified for bacteria, nitrate

    (608) 297-3135

  • SWD Labs, LLC

    Randolph, WI · about 23 miles

    Certified for bacteria, nitrate

    (920) 326-5193

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 Portage

Which ZIP codes are in Portage: 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 Portage

Towns nearby with a page of their own.

What to do next