Drinking water quality · 2026
· Verified
· PWSID CA1510031
What's in Bakersfield, City of, CA tap water
Only 1 of 27 core regulated contaminants were reported for Bakersfield, City of, CA. What was measured is not clean — but most of the picture is missing.
- !1 contaminant at or above a federal limit — worst is PFOS (Perfluorooctane sulfonic acid) at 1.9x
- !1 of 27 core regulated contaminants reported — 26 never appear in this report
- ✓No open federal violations
+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.
- −23 contaminants at or above a federal limit
- −0 contaminants within 20% of a limit
- −0 open health-based violations
- −0 open monitoring / reporting violations
- −0 health-based violations resolved in the last 5 years
- −28 core regulated contaminants never reported (1/27)
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 →What to worry about
- PFOS (Perfluorooctane sulfonic acid)1.9× the federal limit7.6 ng/L · limit 4 ng/L
Linked to cancer, thyroid disease, and immune effects; the EPA set an enforceable limit of 4 parts per trillion.
Higher than 70% of CA systems that report it · higher than 70% of U.S. systems
+2 contaminants were measured and came in below the limitShow all
| Contaminant | Measured | Federal limit |
|---|---|---|
| PFNA (Perfluorononanoic acid) | 4.7 ng/L | 10 ng/L |
| PFHxS (Perfluorohexane sulfonic acid) | 4.2 ng/L | 10 ng/L |
What this report doesn't tell you
26 of the 27 contaminants a community water system normally reports do not appear anywhere in Bakersfield, City of, CA'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)
1 PFAS compound above EPA limits in Bakersfield, City of, CA
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.
PFOS (Perfluorooctane sulfonic acid)
● Over EPA limit (1.9×)PFNA (Perfluorononanoic acid)
● Below limitPFHxS (Perfluorohexane sulfonic acid)
● Below limitWhere your water comes from · EPA SDWIS
Bakersfield, City of, CA's drinking water comes from ground water, drawn from 63 sources.
Source
- WELL CBK 36-01 - BEFORE_GAC-TCP
- WELL CBK 31-01 - BEFORE GAC
- WELL CBK 20-01 - RAW
- WELL CBK 21-01 - BEFORE_GAC-TCP
- + 59 more
Treatment
- WELL CBK 18-01 - CL2
- WELL CBK 19-01 - AFTER_GAC-TCP
- WELL CBK 20-01 - CL2
- + 65 more
Distribution
Also buys water from CWS - NORTH GARDEN, KERN COUNTY WATER AGENCY.
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.
- Maximum contaminant level exceededHealth-based2 violations on record · most recent Nov 1992resolved
Source: EPA SDWIS / ECHO. View the full federal record on EPA ECHO ↗