Drinking water quality · 2023
· Verified
· PWSID TX1010013
What's in Houston, TX tap water
Every one of the 14 core regulated contaminants reported for Houston, TX came in below its federal limit.
- !14 of 27 core regulated contaminants reported — 13 never appear in this report
- ✓Nothing over a federal limit
- ✓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.
- −0 contaminants at or above a federal limit
- −0 contaminants within 20% of a limit
- −0 open health-based violations
- −0 open monitoring / reporting violations
- −2 health-based violations resolved in the last 5 years
- −8 core regulated contaminants never reported (14/27)
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 →+26 contaminants were measured and came in below the limitShow all
| Contaminant | Measured | Federal limit |
|---|---|---|
| Chloramine | 3 mg/L | 4 mg/L |
| Gross Alpha | 7 pCi/L | 15 pCi/L |
| Chlorine | 1.7 mg/L | 4 mg/L |
| Combined Radium | 1.77 pCi/L | 5 pCi/L |
| Cyanide | 52.5 ug/L | 200 ug/L |
| Arsenic | 2.2 ug/L | 10 ug/L |
| Lead | 0.003 mg/L | 0.015 mg/L |
| Barium | 0.3 mg/L | 2 mg/L |
| Uranium | 3.4 ug/L | 30 ug/L |
| Copper | 90 ug/L | 1300 ug/L |
| Fluoride | 0.21 mg/L | 4 mg/L |
| Dehp | 0.3 ug/L | 6 ug/L |
| Nitrate | 0.39 mg/L | 10 mg/L |
| Selenium | 1.8 ug/L | 50 ug/L |
| Atrazine | 0.1 ug/L | 3 ug/L |
| Nitrite | 0.03 mg/L | 1 mg/L |
| Simazine | 0.03 ug/L | 4 ug/L |
| Chlorite | 0.002 mg/L | 1 mg/L |
| Xylenes Total | 0.4 ug/L | 10000 ug/L |
| Lithium | 23.8 ug/L | — |
| Total Coliform | 0 % | — |
| Gross Beta Particle Activity | 5.6 pCi/L | — |
| PFBA | 10.6 ng/L | — |
| 6:2 FTS | 0.0426 µg/L | — |
| PFPeA | 6.7 ng/L | — |
| PFHxA | 5.1000000000000005 ng/L | — |
What this report doesn't tell you
13 of the 27 contaminants a community water system normally reports do not appear anywhere in Houston, TX'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)
4 PFAS compounds detected in Houston, TX
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)6:2 FTS
● Detected (no federal limit)PFPeA
● Detected (no federal limit)PFHxA
● Detected (no federal limit)Where your water comes from · EPA SDWIS
Houston, TX's drinking water comes from ground water, drawn from 111 sources.
Source
- SIMS BAYOU 5A - 12434 SETTEMONT
- SIMS BAYOU 1A - 13812 1/2 CROQUET
- ENCLAVE 2 WL 2 - 13135 FORKLAND
- ACRES HOMES 2SB - 1810 DOLLY WRIGHT
- + 107 more
Treatment
- HIA-1 - 3102 MCKAUGHAN
- ELLINGTON NORTH - 1139 KIRK
- ENCLAVE 2 - 13135 FORKLAND
- + 48 more
Distribution
Also buys water from PINE TRAILS UTILITY.
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-based3 violations on record · most recent May 2015resolved
- Treatment technique violationHealth-based1 violation on record · most recent May 2025resolved
Source: EPA SDWIS / ECHO. View the full federal record on EPA ECHO ↗