Drinking water quality · 2024

· Verified

· PWSID GA0590000

What's in Athens, GA tap water

F
Water quality score
58/ 100Limited data

Only 7 of 27 core regulated contaminants were reported for Athens, GA. What was measured is not clean — but most of the picture is missing.

  • !1 contaminant at or above a federal limit — worst is TTHM at 1.0x
  • !1 contaminant within 20% of a limit
  • !7 of 27 core regulated contaminants reported — 20 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.

  • 13  contaminants at or above a federal limit
  • 4  contaminants within 20% of a limit
  • 0  open health-based violations
  • 0  open monitoring / reporting violations
  • 6  health-based violations resolved in the last 5 years
  • 19  core regulated contaminants never reported (7/27)

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

  • TTHM1.0× the federal limit
    0–83.6 ug/L · limit 80 ug/L

    Long-term exposure above the federal limit is linked to liver, kidney, and central-nervous-system effects and increased cancer risk.

    higher than 95% of U.S. systems

  • HAA584% of the federal limit
    0–50.5 ug/L · limit 60 ug/L

    Long-term exposure above the federal limit is associated with an increased cancer risk.

    higher than 90% of U.S. systems

+6 contaminants were measured and came in below the limitShow all
ContaminantMeasured
Chlorine1.99 mg/L
Fluoride0.47–1.28 mg/L
Lead0.0035 mg/L
Copper0.086 mg/L
Nitrate0.37 mg/L
TOC1.16 mg/L

What this report doesn't tell you

20 of the 27 contaminants a community water system normally reports do not appear anywhere in Athens, GA's data. Absent is not the same as absent-from-the-water — it means nobody published a number.

ArsenicColiform bacteriaTurbidityBariumChromiumSeleniumAntimonyCadmiumMercuryThalliumBerylliumCyanideRadiumGross alpha radiationUraniumAtrazine / simazineTetrachloroethylene (PCE)Trichloroethylene (TCE)BenzenePFAS
Browse the mapFull source report ↗
+Full detail: PFAS testing, water source, historical monitoring, and the federal violation record

Where your water comes from · EPA SDWIS

Athens, GA's drinking water comes from surface water, drawn from 3 sources.

Source

3surface water
  • BEAR CREEK RESERVOIR
  • MIDDLE OCONEE RIVER
  • NORTH OCONEE RIVER

Treatment

1treatment plant
  • ATHENS WATER PLANT

Distribution

0storage units

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-based
    3 violations on record · most recent Jul 2022
    resolved

Source: EPA SDWIS / ECHO. View the full federal record on EPA ECHO ↗

Source: Athens, GA's 2024 Consumer Confidence Report — the annual drinking-water report every U.S. utility is required to publish. The numbers on this page are the utility's own. A water-quality report covers an entire service area, not a single address.
The grade at the top of this page is computed, not editorial. See exactly how we grade water systems — every deduction, every ceiling, every threshold.

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