What changed in Delafield's shallow city well, 2008 to 2026
The DNR's records for the City of Delafield's 220-foot well span nearly two decades. They are not a record of your well, but they show plainly that well water here does not stand still.
Call (262) 829-5961Mon to Fri, 7am to 5pmThe well in question
The city runs two wells. This one reaches 220 feet into the shallow aquifer; the other goes 1,215 feet into deep sandstone. On one sampling day the shallow well read 400 milligrams per liter of hardness against the deep well's 240, about 23.4 grains against 14.0.
Both wells feed the same small system, which by the city's own account reaches a minority of Delafield residents. Everyone else in Delafield draws from a well of their own, and nobody publishes those.
Chloride: from 6.4 to 89
Chloride in the shallow well measured 6.4 milligrams per liter in 2008 and 89 in 2026, and sodium climbed over the same years. Neither one is hardness, and a softener is not sized from them, but a rise like that is a change anyone can read on paper.
Iron: just over the staining line, every time
Iron in the same well read 0.35 milligrams per liter in 2008 and 0.40 in both 2017 and 2026. The EPA's secondary standard for iron is 0.3, the point where staining becomes noticeable, so all three samples sat a little above it.
Unlike the chloride, the iron barely moved. Different lines on the same report can behave very differently over the years, which is one more reason to read the whole report rather than a single figure.
What it means if you own a well
None of these numbers is a reading of a private well. What they do show is that one well's water can shift a long way over time, and that a lab report from 2008 might describe different water than comes out of the tap now.
So date every test, keep the reports together and treat the newest one as the working figure. When a softener is set up, it is set from the reading at your tap that day, not from an old page.
What it means if you are on city water
City customers get their water from these two wells, so the shallow well's record is part of their supply's history. On the call, the DNR's same-day range of 14.0 to 23.4 grains is the starting point, and the tap reading on installation day settles it.
Common questions
Does chloride matter for a softener?
It is not part of how a softener is sized; hardness is. It appears on this page because its climb shows how far one well's water can move over the years.
Where do these figures come from?
From Wisconsin DNR compliance sampling of the City of Delafield waterworks, which is public. The city's utilities page covers the system itself.
More for Delafield homes
- Water softener installation in Delafield, WI
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- Well water softeners in Delafield, WI
- Delafield, WI water hardness
- Delafield water guides
- About Delafield Water Softener Co.
- Water softener quotes in Delafield, WI
- Delafield waterworks or a private well: which is yours?
- Your Delafield well's lab report, line by line
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