Is Northport, AL tap water safe?
The short answer
2 of the 3 utilities serving Northport have a result above a legal limit or action level, or a health-based violation since 2016, in EPA’s and Alabama’s records: Tuscaloosa Water & Sewer and Carrolls Creek, Water Authority.
City of Northport Water Works, which serves the most people here, has nothing above a health goal in EPA’s and Alabama’s records. That data covers what its report lists, not everything.
The water from City of Northport Water Works is soft, 41 mg/L (2.4 grains per gallon). How Alabama’s water compares.
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 Northport’s ZIP codes, from EPA’s estimates.
- Open report
City of Northport Water Works
Alabama · serves 40,551 people · about 10,300 in Northport
Nothing in its records is above a health goal. Hardness: soft, 41 mg/L (2.4 grains per gallon).
No health-based violations since 2016
- Open report
Tuscaloosa Water & Sewer
Alabama · serves 166,524 people · about 430 in Northport
1 result above the legal limit. The worst: Haloacetic acids (HAA5) at 38.1 ppb, above the legal limit. Hardness: soft, 36 mg/L (2.1 grains per gallon).
2 health-based violations since 2016
- Open report
Carrolls Creek, Water Authority
Alabama · serves 16,248 people · lists Northport among the places it serves
1 result above the legal limit. The worst: Total trihalomethanes (TTHM) at 83.3 ppb, above the legal limit.
3 health-based violations since 2016
Water testing near Northport
The 3 labs Alabama certifies closest to Northport, in a straight line. Call first: certification is test by test, and not every lab takes samples from homeowners.
Pace Analytical Services
Tuscaloosa, AL · about 9 miles
Certified for bacteria
Safety Environmental Services
Pelham, AL · about 40 miles
Certified for bacteria
Living Water Services
Alabaster, AL · about 47 miles
Certified for bacteria
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 AlabamaWhich ZIP codes are in Northport: 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 Northport
Other towns in Tuscaloosa County with a page of their own.
What to do next
- Read City of Northport Water Works’s full reportEvery result with its dates, the violations, and the certification claim that handles each finding.Open the report
- Decide if you want a filter at allA filter for taste or chlorine is a preference, not a need. The standards say what each kind can do.NSF/ANSI standards, decoded
- On a private well?No utility tests a well. A certified lab test is the first step.How to test well water