Mel Mar Mutual Water Co

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: 300 people
Connections: 91
Water source: Groundwater
Based in: Palo Cedro, CA
County: Shasta
Owner: Private

The ZIP code it serves

96073

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

Nitrate, arsenic, chromium (total) and fluoride: California’s own results, samples taken from Jan. 20, 2020 to April 16, 2026, with EPA’s 2012 to 2019 file for earlier years.

Below EPA’s limits1

Nitrate

Comes from the source

Below EPA’s limits

1.5ppm

Highest sample; found in 7 of 7

2026, one sample: 1.1 ppm

The highest sample, in 2025, was 1.5 ppm, below EPA’s legal limit of 10 ppm. In 2026, the latest year on file, its one sample was 1.1 ppm. Earlier, from 2012 to 2019, EPA’s file shows a highest sample of 1.3 ppm, in 2018.

What handles it

NSF/ANSI 58 look for “Nitrate/Nitrite Reduction”
NSF/ANSI 53 look for “Nitrate/Nitrite (30 ppm challenge)”

4 compounds tested and not foundBelow the reporting level in every sample. Not found is not the same as zero.

Arsenic
Chromium (total)
Fluoride
Lead

Violations since 2016

Contaminant or rule	Type	Period	Measured	Status
Lead and Copper Rule Revisions	The required inventory of lead service lines was not completed or submitted on time.EPA: LSL Inventory	Oct. 17, 2024	—	Unaddressed
Health-based violations only. Resolved and archived mean the utility returned to compliance or the state closed the record. 4 monitoring or reporting violations not shown.

What this report can’t tell you

Everything else. Nitrate, arsenic, chromium (total) and fluoride results here are California’s own from 2020 on, with EPA’s national file for 2012 to 2019. Mel Mar Mutual Water Co’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 Jan. 20, 2020 to April 16, 2026.

Testing your own tap

Mel Mar Mutual Water Co’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 2 labs California certifies closest to the area Mel Mar Mutual Water Co serves, in a straight line. Call first: certification is test by test, and not every lab takes samples from homeowners.

Pace Analytical Services, LLC - Redding
Redding, CA · about 10 miles
Certified for bacteria
(530) 999-4051
Fruit Growers Laboratory, Inc.
Chico, CA · about 61 miles
Certified for bacteria
(530) 343-5818

All 145 certified labs for California

Sources

EPA UCMR 5 occurrence data, file of Oct. 15, 2026
EPA SDWA bulk download (SDWIS federal data), 2026 Q3
California State Water Resources Control Board, Division of Drinking Water, results from Jan. 1, 2020 to July 17, 2026, read Oct. 8, 2026
EPA Six-Year Review 4 compliance monitoring data, 2012 to 2019, file of Feb. 5, 2024
Certified labs: California State Water Resources Control Board, ELAP accredited laboratories and their fields of accreditation, read Oct. 17, 2026; distances from the Census 2020 ZIP code tabulation area gazetteer
Limits and goals: each contaminant’s page, with its EPA source.
How this page is built: methodology.