Drinking water quality · 2024
· Verified
· PWSID KS2017701
What's in Topeka, KS tap water
1 contaminant in Topeka, KS's water sat at or above a federal limit, led by HAA5 at 1.1x the limit.
- !1 contaminant at or above a federal limit — worst is HAA5 at 1.1x
- !2 contaminants within 20% of a limit
- !12 of 27 core regulated contaminants reported — 15 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
- −8 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
- −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
- HAA51.1× the federal limit10–64.2 ug/L · limit 60 ug/L
Long-term exposure above the federal limit is associated with an increased cancer risk.
higher than 95% of U.S. systems
- TTHM86% of the federal limit32.6–69.1 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 90% of U.S. systems
- Chloramine83% of the federal limit3.3 mg/L · limit 4 mg/L
Holds disinfection further into the pipe network, but is regulated under the same residual-disinfectant cap as chlorine.
higher than 75% of U.S. systems
+24 contaminants were measured and came in below the limitShow all
| Contaminant | Measured | Federal limit |
|---|---|---|
| Atrazine | 0.14–1.8 ug/L | 3 ug/L |
| Lead | 0–6 ug/L | 15 ug/L |
| Turbidity | 0.021–0.29 NTU | 1 NTU |
| Fluoride | 0.35–0.6 mg/L | 4 mg/L |
| Nitrate | 0.62–1.3 mg/L | 10 mg/L |
| Copper | 0.0025–0.045 mg/L | 1.3 mg/L |
| Barium | 48 ug/L | 2000 ug/L |
| Selenium | 1.2 ug/L | 50 ug/L |
| Chloride | 44 mg/L | — |
| Sulfate | 67 mg/L | — |
| Aluminum | 0.051 mg/L | — |
| Calcium | 42 mg/L | — |
| Magnesium | 5 mg/L | — |
| Potassium | 6.9 mg/L | — |
| Silica | 3.6 mg/L | — |
| Sodium | 39 mg/L | — |
| Total Coliform | 0–0.97 % | 0 % |
| Alkalinity | 62–125 mg/L | — |
| Hardness | 116–208 mg/L | — |
| pH | 9.2–9.8 | — |
| Specific Conductance | 330–842 uS/cm | — |
| TOC | 0.99–2.22 | — |
| Total Dissolved Solids | 250 mg/L | — |
| PFBA | 5.1000000000000005 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 Topeka, KS'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 detected in Topeka, KS
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.
PFBA
● Detected (no federal limit)Where your water comes from · EPA SDWIS
Topeka, KS's drinking water comes from surface water, drawn from 2 sources.
Source
- INTAKE · 2
Treatment
- TP001
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.
- Maximum contaminant level exceededHealth-based1 violation on record · most recent Jan 2018resolved
Source: EPA SDWIS / ECHO. View the full federal record on EPA ECHO ↗