Drinking water quality · 2024
· Verified
· PWSID FL4064326
What's in Fort Lauderdale, FL tap water
1 contaminant in Fort Lauderdale, FL's water sat at or above a federal limit, led by PFOA (Perfluorooctanoic acid) at 3.1x the limit.
- !1 contaminant at or above a federal limit — worst is PFOA (Perfluorooctanoic acid) at 3.1x
- !1 open monitoring or reporting violation
- !12 of 27 core regulated contaminants reported — 15 never appear in this report
+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.
- −31 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
- −11 core regulated contaminants never reported (12/27)
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
- PFOA (Perfluorooctanoic acid)3.1× the federal limit12.3 ng/L · limit 4 ng/L
Linked to cancer, liver damage, and immune effects; the EPA set an enforceable limit of 4 parts per trillion.
higher than 90% of U.S. systems
+18 contaminants were measured and came in below the limitShow all
| Contaminant | Measured | Federal limit |
|---|---|---|
| TTHM | 17.3–59.9 ug/L | 80 ug/L |
| Chloramine | 2.6 mg/L | 4 mg/L |
| HAA5 | 14.1–35.5 ug/L | 60 ug/L |
| Lead | 4.85 ug/L | 15 ug/L |
| Fluoride | 0.699 mg/L | 4 mg/L |
| Mercury | 0.31 ug/L | 2 ug/L |
| Combined Radium | 0.757 pCi/L | 5 pCi/L |
| Copper | 0.14 mg/L | 1.3 mg/L |
| Arsenic | 1 ug/L | 10 ug/L |
| Nitrite | 0.0166 mg/L | 1 mg/L |
| Nitrate | 0.0233–0.0368 mg/L | 10 mg/L |
| Barium | 0.0037 mg/L | 2 mg/L |
| Sodium | 28.2 mg/L | — |
| PFHpA | 8.200000000000001 ng/L | — |
| PFBS | 6.6 ng/L | — |
| PFHxA | 14 ng/L | — |
| PFPeA | 26.599999999999998 ng/L | — |
| PFBA | 8.5 ng/L | — |
What this report doesn't tell you
15 of the 27 contaminants a community water system normally reports do not appear anywhere in Fort Lauderdale, FL'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 Fort Lauderdale, FL
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.
PFOA (Perfluorooctanoic acid)
● Over EPA limit (3.1×)PFHpA
● Detected (no federal limit)PFBS
● Detected (no federal limit)PFHxA
● Detected (no federal limit)PFPeA
● Detected (no federal limit)PFBA
● Detected (no federal limit)Where your water comes from · EPA SDWIS
Fort Lauderdale, FL's drinking water comes from ground water, drawn from 3 sources.
Source
- NO. 1 (EAST)/BISCAYNE AQUIFER
- NO. 2 (NORTH)/BISCAYNE AQUIFER
- NO. 3 (SW)/BISCAYNE AQUIFER
Treatment
- SOUTH BROWARD UTILITY
Distribution
Also buys water from SUNRISE SPRINGTREE, SUNRISE SAWGRASS.
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 Feb 1994resolved
- Other1 violation on record · most recent Jul 20251 open
Source: EPA SDWIS / ECHO. View the full federal record on EPA ECHO ↗