Drinking water quality · 2024
· Verified
· PWSID AL0000738
What's in Birmingham, AL tap water
Every one of the 20 core regulated contaminants reported for Birmingham, AL came in below its federal limit.
- !1 open monitoring or reporting violation
- !20 of 27 core regulated contaminants reported — 7 never appear in this report
- ✓Nothing over a federal limit
+How this score is calculated
Every system starts at 100. Points come off for measured levels, for the federal violation record, and for how much of the core regulated set the utility actually reported. All three inputs are the utility's own published numbers and EPA's own records.
- −0 contaminants at or above a federal limit
- −0 contaminants within 20% of a limit
- −0 open health-based violations
- −3 open monitoring / reporting violations
- −0 health-based violations resolved in the last 5 years
- −0 core regulated contaminants never reported (20/27)
A 90–100 · B 80–89 · C 70–79 · D 60–69 · F below 60. A system reporting under a third of the core set is capped at C however clean its numbers look — a short report is not a clean bill of health.
Full grading methodology, constant for constant →+36 contaminants were measured and came in below the limitShow all
| Contaminant | Measured | Federal limit |
|---|---|---|
| Chlorine | 1.4–2.97 mg/L | 4 mg/L |
| HAA5 | 44.4 ug/L | 60 ug/L |
| TTHM | 50.7 ug/L | 80 ug/L |
| Turbidity | 0.19 NTU | 1 NTU |
| Fluoride | 0.65 mg/L | 4 mg/L |
| Combined Radium | 0.7 pCi/L | 5 pCi/L |
| Gross Alpha | 1.1 pCi/L | 15 pCi/L |
| Nitrate | 0.5 mg/L | 10 mg/L |
| Nitrate Nitrite | 0.5 mg/L | 10 mg/L |
| Barium | 0.032 mg/L | 2 mg/L |
| Copper | 0.01 mg/L | 1.3 mg/L |
| PFOS | 0.0036 ng/L | 4 ng/L |
| PFOA | 0.0025 ng/L | 4 ng/L |
| Bromodichloromethane | 8.17 | — |
| Chloroform | 19 | — |
| Dibromochloromethane | 2 | — |
| Cyanide | Not detected mg/L | 0.2 mg/L |
| Dichloroacetic acid | 18.2 | 0 |
| Nitrite | Not detected mg/L | 1 mg/L |
| Trichloroacetic acid | 9.2 | — |
| Antimony | Not detected mg/L | 0.006 mg/L |
| Arsenic | Not detected mg/L | 0.01 mg/L |
| Beryllium | Not detected mg/L | 0.004 mg/L |
| Cadmium | Not detected mg/L | 0.005 mg/L |
| Lead | Not detected mg/L | 0.015 mg/L |
| Mercury | Not detected mg/L | 0.002 mg/L |
| Selenium | Not detected mg/L | 0.05 mg/L |
| Thallium | Not detected mg/L | 0.002 mg/L |
| Chromium | Not detected mg/L | 0.1 mg/L |
| Mcaa | 0–4.35 | — |
| TOC | 2 | — |
| PFHxA | 8.5 ng/L | — |
| PFBS | 7.9 ng/L | — |
| PFPeA | 11.299999999999999 ng/L | — |
| 6:2 FTS | 0.0058 µg/L | — |
| PFBA | 6.1000000000000005 ng/L | — |
What this report doesn't tell you
7 of the 27 contaminants a community water system normally reports do not appear anywhere in Birmingham, AL's data. Absent is not the same as absent-from-the-water — it means nobody published a number.
+Full detail: PFAS testing, water source, historical monitoring, and the federal violation record
PFAS — EPA UCMR5 (2023–2025)
5 PFAS compounds detected in Birmingham, AL
The EPA finalized the first-ever federal drinking-water limits for six PFAS compounds in April 2024. These numbers come straight from EPA's UCMR5 lab dataset — every U.S. system serving more than 3,300 people tested every PFAS sample at an entry point to its distribution system. PFAS not listed below were either tested and not detected, or not yet sampled.
PFHxA
● Detected (no federal limit)PFBS
● Detected (no federal limit)PFPeA
● Detected (no federal limit)6:2 FTS
● Detected (no federal limit)PFBA
● Detected (no federal limit)Where your water comes from · EPA SDWIS
Birmingham, AL's drinking water comes from surface water, drawn from 4 sources.
Source
- INLAND LAKE
- SIPSEY FORK
- CAHABA RIVER & LAKE PURDY
- MULBERRY FORK
Treatment
- CARSON FILTER PLANT
- PUTNAM FILTER PLANT
- SHADES MOUNTAIN FILTER PLANT
- + 1 more
Distribution
Compliance history
Federal Safe Drinking Water Act violation & enforcement records (EPA SDWIS). A violation is a regulatory determination by the state or EPA — separate from the measured levels above.
- Monitoring & reporting1 violation on record · most recent Oct 20231 open
Source: EPA SDWIS / ECHO. View the full federal record on EPA ECHO ↗