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Is Bessemer, AL tap water safe?

5 utilities serve Bessemer, by EPA’s records. Here is what EPA’s and Alabama’s records show for each, against the legal limits and the stricter health goals.

Matched to your utility using EPA records.

The short answer

1 of the 5 utilities serving Bessemer has a result above a legal limit or action level, or a health-based violation since 2016, in EPA’s and Alabama’s records: Warrior River Water Authority.

Bessemer Water Service, which serves the most people here, has 1 result above EPA’s new limit, which takes effect in 2029 and 1 result above the health goal. The worst: PFOS at 5.9 ppt, above EPA’s new limit, which takes effect in 2029.

A town can be served by more than one utility, and some homes are on private wells. The name on your water bill tells you which is yours, and your ZIP code narrows it down. They are listed by how many people each serves in Bessemer’s ZIP codes, from EPA’s estimates.

What handles it

Each of these is certified, on a certifier’s listing, for a result above a line in Bessemer Water Service’s water, which serves the most people here. Another utility’s report names what handles its own results.

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Every claim, and more filters, in the full report

Water testing near Bessemer

A utility tests the water it sends out. A test of your own tap shows what your pipes add, and on a private well it is the only test there is. It takes a lab Alabama certifies.

The 3 labs Alabama certifies closest to Bessemer, in a straight line. Call first: certification is test by test, and not every lab takes samples from homeowners.

  • Safety Environmental Services

    Pelham, AL · about 10 miles

    Certified for bacteria

    (205) 823-6200

  • Sutherland Environmental Testing Laboratory

    Birmingham, AL · about 16 miles

    (205) 581-9500

  • Living Water Services

    Alabaster, AL · about 17 miles

    Certified for bacteria

    (205) 985-2113

Alabama Department of Public Health: Bacteria testing for private wells. Call your county health department to have an environmentalist collect the sample, or collect it yourself in a container from the county health department; there may be a collection fee and a testing fee. Well Water, Alabama Department of Public Health.

All 64 certified labs for Alabama

ZIP codes in Bessemer

Which ZIP codes are in Bessemer: Census 2020 relationship files. Which utilities serve them, and how many people: EPA SDWIS and EPA’s service area map. Each utility’s results: EPA UCMR 5, EPA SDWIS, and EPA’s and the state’s compliance monitoring, as its report lists them. How they are measured: methodology. Certified labs: ADEM, certified bacteriological, chemical and PFAS drinking water laboratories; distances from the Census 2020 ZIP code tabulation area gazetteer.

Near Bessemer

Other towns in Jefferson County with a page of their own.

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