Free Nebraska water report: PFAS & lead levels for every water system, worst-affected cities, and EPA violations. Check your ZIP.
Nebraska's roughly 2 million residents rely on a mix of groundwater and surface water for their drinking supply, with groundwater accounting for the overwhelming majority. The state sits atop the Ogallala Aquifer, one of the largest freshwater reserves on the planet, stretching beneath eight states from South Dakota to Texas. Municipal systems in Omaha draw from the Missouri River and the Platte River, while most of the rest of the state pulls directly from the Ogallala or from shallower alluvial aquifers. The Nebraska Department of Environment and Energy (NDEE) oversees public water system compliance, and the state has historically benefited from relatively clean source water compared to more industrialized states. That picture has gotten more complicated as PFAS testing expands and agricultural contamination pressures intensify.
The most significant PFAS contamination in Nebraska centers on Offutt Air Force Base, located just south of Omaha in Bellevue. Decades of AFFF use during firefighting training exercises left measurable PFAS in groundwater beneath and around the base. The Department of Defense has confirmed PFOS and PFOA in monitoring wells near Offutt at levels exceeding the EPA's 2024 enforceable MCLs of 4 parts per trillion each. Remediation investigations are ongoing, but cleanup timelines remain uncertain.
Beyond military sources, Nebraska faces a broader groundwater challenge from agricultural nitrates. The state has some of the highest nitrate concentrations in groundwater in the country, driven by decades of fertilizer application and livestock operations across the heavily agricultural central and western regions. While nitrate is a separate contaminant from PFAS, the two issues compound each other – communities already dealing with nitrate treatment costs now face the additional burden of PFAS monitoring and potential filtration upgrades.
The EPA's UCMR5 testing program has flagged detections at several Nebraska public water systems beyond the Offutt area. Our data incorporates UCMR5 results alongside state monitoring and utility consumer confidence reports to give residents address-level visibility into what has been detected.
Nebraska's PFAS profile is narrower than states with heavy industrial histories. It lacks the chemical manufacturing legacy of New Jersey or North Carolina, and its contamination sources are more concentrated around military installations. However, the Ogallala Aquifer's importance raises the stakes considerably. Any contamination that reaches the Ogallala affects not just Nebraska but the agricultural water supply for a significant portion of the Great Plains.
Compared to neighboring states like Iowa and Kansas, Nebraska has been slower to establish state-specific PFAS standards, relying primarily on the federal EPA MCLs that took effect in 2024. The state's agricultural nitrate problem is among the worst in the region, and the overlap between nitrate-impacted areas and rural communities with limited treatment infrastructure creates a compounding vulnerability that is distinct to Nebraska.
Water quality in Nebraska varies significantly depending on whether you are on a municipal system drawing from the Missouri or Platte rivers, a smaller town tapping the Ogallala, or a private well in an agricultural area.
1. Check your water quality using our free lookup tool. We map federal and state monitoring data to your ZIP code so you can see what has been detected near your home. 2. If PFAS or nitrate levels are elevated, a reverse osmosis system handles both contaminants effectively – over 90% removal for most PFAS compounds and reliable nitrate reduction. Our water filter guide compares systems by independent lab data. 3. Private well owners should test annually. Nebraska's public water systems are monitored, but private wells are not covered by federal testing requirements. Request a detailed water report for your address to see what data is available.
For more on PFAS science and health effects, see our PFAS guide.
Nebraska's water story is inseparable from agriculture. The Ogallala Aquifer enabled the transformation of the Great Plains into one of the most productive agricultural regions in the world, but that productivity has come at a cost. Groundwater levels in parts of western Nebraska have declined measurably since large-scale irrigation began in the 1950s, and nitrate contamination from fertilizer runoff has been documented in Nebraska wells since at least the 1970s.
The state established Natural Resources Districts (NRDs) in 1972 to manage groundwater at the local level – a governance structure unique to Nebraska. Some NRDs have implemented nitrogen management plans and irrigation restrictions to slow aquifer depletion and reduce nitrate loading, with mixed results depending on the district.
Offutt AFB's PFAS contamination came to broader public attention in the late 2010s when Department of Defense testing confirmed elevated PFOS and PFOA in groundwater and surface water near the base. The base has been operational since 1948 and served as headquarters for the Strategic Air Command during the Cold War, meaning decades of firefighting foam use. In 2019, flooding along the Missouri River inundated parts of the base and complicated remediation efforts by potentially spreading contaminated sediment.
The 2024 federal PFAS MCLs have triggered new compliance requirements for Nebraska utilities, and several systems are now evaluating treatment upgrades. For a state that has long dealt with nitrate as its primary groundwater threat, PFAS represents a second front in an ongoing effort to protect the water supply. Check your specific address to see what the latest monitoring data shows for your area.