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Pg&E Helms Support Facility

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
40 people
Connections
22
Water source
Groundwater
Based in
Auberry, CA
County
Fresno
Owner
Private
Hardness
Soft
The ZIP code it serves

93664

The short answer

1 result is above the limit’s level with no violation recorded, and 2 more are above the health goal. The worst: Arsenic, above the limit’s level, no violation. No health-based violations on file since 2016.

What handles it

What was found

Lead and copper: EPA SDWIS monitoring periods ending 1994 to 2024.

Arsenic, uranium, fluoride, total trihalomethanes (TTHM), haloacetic acids (HAA5), chromium (total) and nitrate: California’s own results, samples taken from Feb. 18, 2020 to June 17, 2026, with EPA’s 2012 to 2019 file for earlier years.

Above the limit’s level, no violation recorded1

Arsenic

Comes from the source

Above the limit’s level, no violation

23ppb

Highest yearly average, 2020 to 2026

2026 average: 21 ppb

Averaged by year, the highest was 23 ppb, in 2023, about 2.3 times EPA’s legal limit of 10 ppb. Its highest single sample was 87 ppb. In 2026, the latest year on file, its 10 samples averaged 21 ppb, above the limit. EPA judges this limit on running averages at each sampling point, and recorded no violation for arsenic at this utility since 2020. Results like these with no violation often include water sampled before treatment or blending; the utility’s annual report says what reaches the tap. Earlier, from 2012 to 2019, EPA’s file shows a highest yearly average of 37.5 ppb, in 2012, and EPA recorded violations in 2012, 2013 and 2014.

What handles it

  • NSF/ANSI 58 look for “Arsenic (Pentavalent)<=50 ppb Reduction”
  • NSF/ANSI 53 look for “Arsenic (Pentavalent)<=50 ppb Reduction”

Above the health goal2

Uranium

Comes from the source

Above the health goal

15.4ppb

Highest yearly average, 2025 to 2026

2026, one sample: 14.8 ppb

Averaged by year, the highest was 15.4 ppb, in 2025: below EPA’s legal limit of 30 ppb, but above its health goal of zero. Its highest single sample was 16.4 ppb. In 2026, the latest year on file, its one sample was 14.8 ppb. Earlier, from 2012 to 2019, EPA’s file shows a highest yearly average of 15.5 ppb, in 2018.

What handles it

Lead

Comes from pipes, often your own

Above the health goal

0.7ppb

90th percentile, 2022 to 2024

In the latest period, 9 in 10 homes sampled were at or below 0.7 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 limits4

Fluoride

Forms or is added in treatment

Below EPA’s limits

1.0ppm

Highest yearly average, 2021 to 2024

2024, one sample: 0.98 ppm

Averaged by year, the highest was 1.0 ppm, in 2021, below EPA’s legal limit of 4.0 ppm. In 2024, the latest year on file, its one sample was 0.98 ppm. Earlier, from 2012 to 2019, EPA’s file shows a highest yearly average of 1.1 ppm, in 2019.

What handles it

Total trihalomethanes (TTHM)

Forms or is added in treatment

Below EPA’s limits

6.5ppb

Highest yearly average, 2021 to 2025

2025 average: 3.0 ppb

Averaged by year, the highest was 6.5 ppb, in 2021, below EPA’s legal limit of 80 ppb. Its highest single sample was 13 ppb. In 2025, the latest year on file, its two samples averaged 3.0 ppb. Earlier, from 2012 to 2019, EPA’s file shows a highest yearly average of 26.7 ppb, in 2014.

What handles it

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

Haloacetic acids (HAA5)

Forms or is added in treatment

Below EPA’s limits

2.0ppb

Highest yearly average, 2021 to 2025

2025: not found

Averaged by year, the highest was 2.0 ppb, in 2021, below EPA’s legal limit of 60 ppb. 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 13 ppb, in 2014.

What handles it

No certification claim covers this compound yet.

Chromium (total)

Comes from the source

Below EPA’s limits

1.6ppb

Highest yearly average, 2021 to 2024

Averaged by year, the highest was 1.6 ppb, in 2024, below EPA’s legal limit of 100 ppb. That was also the latest year on file.

What handles it

One compound tested and not foundBelow the reporting level in every sample. Not found is not the same as zero.
  • Nitrate

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.”

  • NSF/ANSI 53

    Claims: Arsenic (Pentavalent)<=50 ppb Reduction, Lead Reduction

    For: Arsenic, Lead

    Other certifiers’ wording: Arsenic (III) (50 ppb influent level)

  • NSF/ANSI 58

    Claims: Arsenic (Pentavalent)<=50 ppb Reduction, Uranium, Lead Reduction

    For: Arsenic, Uranium, Lead

    Other certifiers’ wording: Arsenic (Pentavalent)<=300 ppb Reduction; Arsenic (V) (300 ppb influent level)

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 reverse osmosis systems, ranked

The best water filters for lead, ranked

Hardness

Soft, 14 mg/L (0.8 grains per gallon), at its one sampling point, 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 0.8 grains per gallon, salt includedSoftener or salt-free conditioner?California water hardness, utility by utility

Violations since 2016

No health-based violations on file with EPA since 2016.

What this report can’t tell you

  • Everything else. Arsenic, uranium, fluoride, total trihalomethanes (TTHM), haloacetic acids (HAA5), chromium (total) and nitrate results here are California’s own from 2020 on, with EPA’s national file for 2012 to 2019. Pg&E Helms Support Facility’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 Feb. 18, 2020 to June 17, 2026.

Testing your own tap

Pg&E Helms Support Facility’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 Pg&E Helms Support Facility serves, in a straight line. Call first: certification is test by test, and not every lab takes samples from homeowners.

  • SGS North America, Inc.

    Clovis, CA · about 30 miles

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

    (559) 862-2118

  • BSK Associates

    Fresno, CA · about 35 miles

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

    (559) 497-2888

  • Moore Twining Associates, Inc.

    Fresno, CA · about 40 miles

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

    (559) 268-7021

All 145 certified labs for California

Sources

PWSID CA1000472. Rebuilt from EPA data on Oct. 18, 2026.

Also in Fresno County

All California utilities

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