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Elk County Water District

What EPA’s and California’s records show in this utility’s water: nitrate, arsenic and other regulated chemicals; lead and copper; and violations since 2016, with the certification that handles each result.

Serves
207 people
Connections
101
Water source
Groundwater influenced by surface water
Based in
Elk, CA
County
Mendocino
Owner
Local government
Hardness
Moderately hard
The ZIP code it serves

95432

The short answer

Nothing in EPA’s and California’s records for this utility is above a health goal. That covers nitrate, arsenic and other regulated chemicals, plus lead and copper, not everything. 1 health-based violation since 2016.

What was found

Copper: EPA’s file records a utility’s copper only when it exceeds the action level. The last here was 1.9 ppm, for the period ending Dec. 31, 2009. None since is on file, so it is not counted as a current finding.

Total trihalomethanes (TTHM), fluoride, haloacetic acids (HAA5), arsenic, chromium (total) and nitrate: California’s own results, samples taken from June 28, 2020 to Nov. 17, 2025, with EPA’s 2012 to 2019 file for earlier years.

Below EPA’s limits3

Total trihalomethanes (TTHM)

Forms or is added in treatment

Below EPA’s limits

19ppb

Highest yearly average, 2020 to 2025

2025, one sample: 14 ppb

Averaged by year, the highest was 19 ppb, in 2023, below EPA’s legal limit of 80 ppb. In 2025, the latest year on file, its one sample was 14 ppb. Earlier, from 2012 to 2019, EPA’s file shows a highest yearly average of 24 ppb, in 2015.

What handles it

  • NSF/ANSI 53 look for “Trihalomethanes (TTHM) Reduction”
  • NSF/ANSI 58 look for “Trihalomethanes (TTHM) Reduction”

Fluoride

Forms or is added in treatment

Below EPA’s limits

0.66ppm

Highest yearly average, 2020 to 2025

2025: not found

Averaged by year, the highest was 0.66 ppm, in 2021, below EPA’s legal limit of 4.0 ppm. In 2025, the latest year on file, it wasn’t found in any of its two samples. Earlier, from 2012 to 2019, EPA’s file shows a highest yearly average of 0.21 ppm, in 2015.

What handles it

Haloacetic acids (HAA5)

Forms or is added in treatment

Below EPA’s limits

2.4ppb

Highest yearly average, 2020 to 2025

2025: not found

Averaged by year, the highest was 2.4 ppb, in 2020, below EPA’s legal limit of 60 ppb. In 2025, the latest year on file, it wasn’t found in its one sample. Earlier, from 2012 to 2019, EPA’s file shows a highest yearly average of 4.6 ppb, in 2014.

What handles it

No certification claim covers this compound yet.

4 compounds tested and not foundBelow the reporting level in every sample. Not found is not the same as zero.
  • Arsenic
  • Chromium (total)
  • Lead
  • Nitrate

Hardness

Moderately hard, typically 105 mg/L (6.1 grains per gallon), across 2 sampling points, 2019 to 2025.

Hardness is calcium and magnesium. EPA sets no limit for it: it shows up as scale on fixtures and in water heaters, and as soap that won’t lather. USGS calls water above 60 mg/L moderately hard, above 120 hard and above 180 very hard.

Softeners compared at 6.1 grains per gallon, salt includedSoftener or salt-free conditioner?California water hardness, utility by utility

Violations since 2016

Contaminant or ruleTypePeriodMeasuredStatus
Lead and Copper Rule RevisionsThe required inventory of lead service lines was not completed or submitted on time.EPA: LSL InventoryOct. 17, 2024—Unaddressed
Health-based violations only. Resolved and archived mean the utility returned to compliance or the state closed the record. 1 monitoring or reporting violation not shown.

What this report can’t tell you

  • Everything else. Total trihalomethanes (TTHM), fluoride, haloacetic acids (HAA5), arsenic, chromium (total) and nitrate results here are California’s own from 2020 on, with EPA’s national file for 2012 to 2019. Elk County Water District’s own annual report, which it must send you every year, has the contaminants this page does not show.

  • Your own plumbing. Lead results are the 90th percentile across homes the utility samples. Your home’s service line, solder and fixtures decide yours. A certified lab test is the only way to know.

  • What it means for your health. This page reports what the records show and EPA’s limits and goals; it is not medical advice. If you are worried about a health effect, talk to a doctor or your local health department.

  • Anything after the latest data. SDWIS data is from 2026 Q3; UCMR 5 didn’t sample this utility; California’s results run from June 28, 2020 to Nov. 17, 2025.

Testing your own tap

Elk County Water District’s results are for the water it sends out. What your own service line, solder and fixtures add shows up only in a test of your tap, by a lab California certifies.

The 3 labs California certifies closest to the area Elk County Water District serves, in a straight line. Call first: certification is test by test, and not every lab takes samples from homeowners.

  • Alpha Analytical Laboratories, Inc. - Ukiah

    Ukiah, CA · about 24 miles

    Certified for bacteria, nitrate, lead and copper, metals, minerals and other inorganics, organic chemicals, disinfection byproducts, radioactivity

    (707) 468-0401

  • K Prime, LLC.

    Santa Rosa, CA · about 62 miles

    Certified for bacteria, nitrate, lead and copper, metals, minerals and other inorganics, PFAS

    (707) 527-7574

  • Sonoma County Public Health Laboratory

    Santa Rosa, CA · about 67 miles

    Certified for bacteria

    (707) 565-4711

All 145 certified labs for California

Sources

PWSID CA2300514. Rebuilt from EPA data on Oct. 18, 2026.

Also in Mendocino County

All California utilities

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