Drinking water quality · 2025
· Verified
· PWSID VA3700500
What's in City of Newport News, VA tap water
2 contaminants in City of Newport News, VA's water sat at or above a federal limit, led by PFOS (Perfluorooctane sulfonic acid) at 1.5x the limit.
- !2 contaminants at or above a federal limit — worst is PFOS (Perfluorooctane sulfonic acid) at 1.5x
- !1 contaminant within 20% of a limit
- !22 of 27 core regulated contaminants reported — 5 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.
- −37 contaminants at or above a federal limit
- −4 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
- −0 core regulated contaminants never reported (22/27)
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)1.5× the federal limit6.1000000000000005 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 U.S. systems
- Chlorine1.4× the federal limit0–5.4 mg/L · limit 4 mg/L
Effective and necessary, but high residual levels can cause taste and odor issues; the EPA caps the residual disinfectant level.
higher than 95% of U.S. systems
- PFOA83% of the federal limit3.3 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 35% of U.S. systems
+43 contaminants were measured and came in below the limitShow all
| Contaminant | Measured | Federal limit |
|---|---|---|
| HAA5 | 5–32 ug/L | 60 ug/L |
| TTHM | 40 ug/L | 80 ug/L |
| PFHxS (Perfluorohexane sulfonic acid) | 5 ng/L | 10 ng/L |
| Fluoride | 0.77 mg/L | 4 mg/L |
| Combined Radium | 0.6 pCi/L | 5 pCi/L |
| Turbidity | 0.017–0.105 NTU | 1 NTU |
| Gross Alpha | 0.6 pCi/L | 15 pCi/L |
| Chromium | 1.5 ug/L | 100 ug/L |
| Barium | 0.026 mg/L | 2 mg/L |
| Nitrate | 0.065 mg/L | 10 mg/L |
| Nitrite | 0.003 mg/L | 1 mg/L |
| Bromate | Not detected ug/L | 10 ug/L |
| Bromoform | Not detected ug/L | — |
| Chloroform | 3 ug/L | — |
| Dibromochloromethane | Not detected ug/L | — |
| Cyanide | Not detected mg/L | 0.2 mg/L |
| Antimony | Not detected ug/L | 6 ug/L |
| Arsenic | Not detected ug/L | 10 ug/L |
| Beryllium | Not detected ug/L | 4 ug/L |
| Cadmium | Not detected ug/L | 5 ug/L |
| Copper | 0.053 % | 1.3 % |
| Lead | 0.0 mg/L | 0.015 mg/L |
| Mercury | Not detected ug/L | 2 ug/L |
| Selenium | Not detected ug/L | 50 ug/L |
| Thallium | Not detected ug/L | 2 ug/L |
| Escherichia coli (E. coli) | 0 % | 0 % |
| Total Coliform | 0 % | 0 % |
| Carbon Tetrachloride | Not detected ug/L | 5 ug/L |
| Chlorobenzene | Not detected ug/L | 100 ug/L |
| O Dichlorobenzene | Not detected ug/L | 600 ug/L |
| P Dichlorobenzene | Not detected ug/L | 75 ug/L |
| Pce | Not detected ug/L | 5 ug/L |
| Styrene | Not detected ug/L | 100 ug/L |
| Tce | Not detected ug/L | 5 ug/L |
| Vinyl Chloride | Not detected ug/L | 2 ug/L |
| TOC | 0.53–1.82 | — |
| Benzene | Not detected ug/L | 5 ug/L |
| Dichloromethane | Not detected ug/L | 5 ug/L |
| Ethylbenzene | Not detected ug/L | 700 ug/L |
| Toluene | Not detected ug/L | 1000 ug/L |
| PFBA | 6.2 ng/L | — |
| PFPeA | 5 ng/L | — |
| PFHxA | 4.8999999999999995 ng/L | — |
What this report doesn't tell you
5 of the 27 contaminants a community water system normally reports do not appear anywhere in City of Newport News, VA'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 City of Newport News, VA
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 (1.5×)PFHxS (Perfluorohexane sulfonic acid)
● Below limitPFBA
● Detected (no federal limit)PFPeA
● Detected (no federal limit)PFHxA
● Detected (no federal limit)Where your water comes from · EPA SDWIS
City of Newport News, VA's drinking water comes from surface water, drawn from 6 sources.
Source
- CHICKAHOMINY R
- DIASCUND CREEK
- HARWOOD MILL
- LEE HALL
- + 2 more
Treatment
- HARWOOD MILL
- LEE HALL - PLANT 5
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.