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New Meadows

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
70 people
Connections
24
Water source
Groundwater
Based in
Palos Verdes Estates, CA
County
Tehama
Owner
Private
The ZIP code it serves

96080

The short answer

1 result is above the health goal. The worst: Lead, above the health goal. 1 health-based violation since 2016.

What handles it

What was found

Lead and copper: EPA SDWIS monitoring periods ending 2017 to 2027.

Nitrate, arsenic, chromium (total), fluoride and total trihalomethanes (TTHM): California’s own results, samples taken from April 22, 2020 to May 21, 2026, with EPA’s 2012 to 2019 file for earlier years.

Haloacetic acids (HAA5): EPA’s compliance monitoring file, samples taken from Aug. 1, 2018 to Aug. 1, 2018. Newer results are in the utility’s annual water quality report.

Above the health goal1

Lead

Comes from pipes, often your own

Above the health goal

0.44ppb

90th percentile, 2025 to 2027

In the latest period, 9 in 10 homes sampled were at or below 0.44 ppb, below EPA’s action level of 15 ppb. The action level drops to 10 ppb on Nov. 1, 2027. EPA’s health goal for lead is zero.

What handles it

Below EPA’s limits1

Nitrate

Comes from the source

Below EPA’s limits

5.3ppm

Highest sample; found in 5 of 5

2026, one sample: 3.2 ppm

The highest sample, in 2020, was 5.3 ppm, below EPA’s legal limit of 10 ppm. In 2026, the latest year on file, its one sample was 3.2 ppm. Earlier, from 2012 to 2019, EPA’s file shows a highest sample of 11.4 ppm, in 2015.

What handles it

  • NSF/ANSI 58 look for “Nitrate/Nitrite Reduction”
  • NSF/ANSI 53 look for “Nitrate/Nitrite (30 ppm challenge)”
5 compounds tested and not foundBelow the reporting level in every sample. Not found is not the same as zero.
  • Arsenic
  • Chromium (total)
  • Fluoride
  • Haloacetic acids (HAA5)
  • Total trihalomethanes (TTHM)

What handles it

A certification covers specific claims, not a whole standard. Look for these claims on the certifier’s listing, not the box. Wording varies a little: NSF writes “Lead Reduction,” WQA just “Lead.”

At the tap, or for the whole house?

Lead and copper usually come from pipes and fixtures inside or near your home. A whole-house system sits where water enters, so it cannot catch what your own plumbing adds after it. For those, the filter that counts is the one at the tap. How whole-house systems compare.

Filters with those claims on a certifier’s listing

Disclosure: TapBuff earns a commission if you buy through some links on this page. It does not change which standard or filter we name. As an Amazon Associate, TapBuff earns from qualifying purchases. How TapBuff makes money

Compare five-year costs

The best water filters for lead, ranked

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. 8 monitoring or reporting violations not shown.

What this report can’t tell you

  • Everything else. Nitrate, arsenic, chromium (total), fluoride and total trihalomethanes (TTHM) results here are California’s own from 2020 on, with EPA’s national file for 2012 to 2019. Haloacetic acids (HAA5) comes from EPA’s file alone, which ends in 2019. New Meadows’s own annual report, which it must send you every year, has newer results for those and 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 April 22, 2020 to May 21, 2026; EPA’s compliance samples are from Aug. 1, 2018 to Aug. 1, 2018.

Testing your own tap

New Meadows’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 New Meadows 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 27 miles

    Certified for bacteria

    (530) 999-4051

  • Fruit Growers Laboratory, Inc.

    Chico, CA · about 41 miles

    Certified for bacteria

    (530) 343-5818

All 145 certified labs for California

Sources

PWSID CA5200546. Rebuilt from EPA data on Oct. 18, 2026.

Also in Tehama County

All California utilities

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