PlainEnviro

EPA Contaminants in Health-Based Drinking Water Records

Populated EPA SDWIS contaminant codes joined to active community water systems, with names from EPA ECHO SDWA_REF_CODE_VALUES (VALUE_TYPE=CONTAMINANT_CODE). Codes missing from that dictionary stay code-only. Select a code to see its state and system distribution.

Summary: EPA records show 205,819 health-based violations with a populated contaminant code across 90 distinct codes among the active community water systems in this portal. Names are joined from EPA ECHO SDWA_REF_CODE_VALUES; unmatched codes stay code-only. The national active-system total is 205,941; 122 additional health-based records lack a contaminant code and therefore are not assigned to a row below.

Populated EPA Codes
90
Coded Health-Based Records
205,819
Systems with Health-Based Records
18,247

All Populated Contaminant Codes

Ranked by number of joined health-based records. Select a code to see its state-by-state distribution and the active community water systems carrying it.

# Contaminant (EPA code) Health-Based Records Systems
1 TTHM 2950 55,690 2,746
2 Total Haloacetic Acids (HAA5) 2456 22,504 1,591
3 Arsenic 1005 20,964 793
4 Groundwater Rule 0700 15,552 3,196
5 Nitrate 1040 9,021 620
6 Combined Radium (-226 and -228) 4010 8,419 398
7 Surface Water Treatment Rule 0200 6,883 1,161
8 Interim Enhanced Surface Water Treatment Rule 0300 6,636 718
9 Lead and Copper Rule 5000 6,511 2,960
10 LEAD AND COPPER RULE REVISIONS 5200 6,082 4,922
11 Gross Alpha, Excl. Radon and U 4000 6,005 313
12 Coliform (TCR) 3100 5,791 1,941
13 Revised Total Coliform Rule 8000 5,771 2,340
14 Fluoride 1025 5,412 132
15 Combined Uranium 4006 4,637 193
16 CARBON, TOTAL 2920 3,918 316
17 Stage 1 Disinfectants and Disinfection Byproducts Rule 0400 3,521 1,116
18 Long Term 2 Enhanced Surface Water Treatment Rule 0800 2,890 397
19 Nitrate-Nitrite 1038 2,375 142
20 Coliform (Pre-TCR) 3000 1,857 616
21 Chloride 1017 660 56
22 Selenium 1045 600 67
23 Iron 1028 520 84
24 PERFLUOROCTANE SULFONIC ACID (PFOS) 2805 411 39
25 PERFLUOROCTANOIC ACID (PFOA) 2806 295 41
26 Manganese 1032 248 63
27 Gross Alpha Particle Activity 4109 230 22
28 Radium-228 4030 168 6
29 Di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate 2039 154 28
30 Asbestos 1094 143 10
31 Chlorite 1009 140 38
32 Turbidity 0100 137 45
33 Nitrite 1041 124 30
34 1,1-Dichloroethylene 2977 123 3
35 Carbon tetrachloride 2982 112 11
36 Chlorine dioxide 1008 110 21
37 Chlorine 0999 110 22
38 Lead 1030 87 53
39 Tetrachloroethylene 2987 76 16
40 Antimony, Total 1074 74 12
41 COPPER, FREE 1022 70 25
42 Benzene 2990 64 4
43 Beryllium, Total 1075 50 6
44 Chloramine 1006 49 14
45 Barium 1010 44 13
46 Thallium, Total 1085 40 7
47 ETHYLENE DIBROMIDE 2946 39 13
48 Odor 1920 36 7
49 Vinyl chloride 2976 33 4
50 Cadmium 1015 32 6
51 1,2-DIBROMO-3-CHLOROPROPANE 2931 30 6
52 Chromium 1020 30 2
53 Bromate 1011 30 9
54 1,2,3-Trichloropropane 2414 26 6
55 cis-1,2-Dichloroethylene 2380 26 3
56 Trichloroethylene 2984 23 6
57 DICHLOROMETHANE 2964 23 3
58 pH 1925 23 12
59 Bromomethane 2214 20 4
60 Chloroethane 2216 18 1
61 Radium-226 4020 12 3
62 Gross Alpha, Incl. Radon and U 4002 12 5
63 1,2-Dichloropropane 2983 12 1
64 Epichlorohydrin 2257 12 5
65 Color 1905 12 6
66 Benzo(a)pyrene 2306 11 2
67 Pentachlorophenol 2326 8 1
68 TDS 1930 8 3
69 Sulfate 1055 8 3
70 Chloromethane 2210 6 3
71 Aluminum 1002 6 3
72 Perchlorate 1039 5 4
73 CYANIDE 1024 5 1
74 Gross Beta Particle Activity 4100 4 1
75 1,2-Dichloroethane 2980 4 1
76 DICHLOROETHYLENE, TOTAL 2650 4 1
77 E. COLI 3014 3 3
78 MOCAP 2590 3 2
79 METHYL TERT-BUTYL ETHER 2251 2 1
80 Atrazine 2050 2 1
81 1,4-Dioxane 2049 2 2
82 Zinc 1095 2 1
83 Mercury 1035 2 1
84 Heterotrophic Bacteria (HPC or SPC) 3001 1 1
85 Toluene 2991 1 1
86 Hexanal 2476 1 1
87 1,3,5-Trimethylbenzene 2424 1 1
88 Tetrahydrofuran 2263 1 1
89 Free Residual Chlorine 1013 1 1
90 Total Chlorine 1000 1 1

Source and Scope

According to the EPA's SDWIS Federal Reporting Services data dictionary, the health-based flag identifies the scope of a violation record. PlainEnviro's current extract requests that flag upstream, including Maximum Contaminant Level (MCL), Maximum Residual Disinfectant Level (MRDL), and Treatment Technique (TT) records, and then joins by PWSID to the active community-water-system inventory. Monitoring and reporting records are not in this extract. Contaminant names come from EPA ECHO SDWA_REF_CODE_VALUES.csv (VALUE_TYPE=CONTAMINANT_CODE); codes missing from that dictionary stay code-only.

Source: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, SDWIS Federal Reporting Services