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The Painted Turtle Camp

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
57 people
Connections
5
Water source
Groundwater
Based in
Lake Hughes, CA
County
Los Angeles
Owner
Private
Hardness
Very hard
The ZIP code it serves

93532

The short answer

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

What handles it

What was found

Nitrate, fluoride, arsenic, chromium (total) and total trihalomethanes (TTHM): California’s own results, samples taken from Oct. 21, 2020 to Oct. 15, 2025, with EPA’s 2012 to 2019 file for earlier years.

Uranium: EPA’s compliance monitoring file, samples taken from Nov. 15, 2016 to Nov. 15, 2016. Newer results are in the utility’s annual water quality report.

Above the health goal1

Uranium

Comes from the source

Above the health goal

7.5ppb

Highest yearly average, 2016

Averaged by year, the highest was 7.5 ppb, in 2016: below EPA’s legal limit of 30 ppb, but above its health goal of zero. That is the only year on file.

What handles it

Below EPA’s limits2

Nitrate

Comes from the source

Below EPA’s limits

1.7ppm

Highest sample; found in 6 of 6

2025, one sample: 0.5 ppm

The highest sample, in 2022, was 1.7 ppm, below EPA’s legal limit of 10 ppm. In 2025, the latest year on file, its one sample was 0.5 ppm. Earlier, from 2012 to 2019, EPA’s file shows a highest sample of 0.8 ppm, in 2018.

What handles it

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

Fluoride

Forms or is added in treatment

Below EPA’s limits

0.6ppm

Highest yearly average, 2021

Averaged by year, the highest was 0.6 ppm, in 2021, below EPA’s legal limit of 4.0 ppm. That is the only year on file. Earlier, from 2012 to 2019, EPA’s file shows a highest yearly average of 0.7 ppm, in 2018.

What handles it

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

These come with the water itself, so a whole-house system certified for the same claims treats every tap and shower. A filter at the tap treats drinking water for much less. How whole-house systems compare.

Filters with those claims on a certifier’s listing

None of the filters TapBuff has checked so far carry these claims. Search the certifier listings for the claim above.

Compare five-year costs

Hardness

Very hard, 378 mg/L (22.1 grains per gallon), at its one sampling point, in 2021.

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 22.1 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. 5 monitoring or reporting violations not shown.

What this report can’t tell you

  • Everything else. Nitrate, fluoride, arsenic, chromium (total) and total trihalomethanes (TTHM) results here are California’s own from 2020 on, with EPA’s national file for 2012 to 2019. Uranium comes from EPA’s file alone, which ends in 2019. The Painted Turtle Camp’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 Oct. 21, 2020 to Oct. 15, 2025; EPA’s compliance samples are from Nov. 15, 2016 to Nov. 15, 2016.

Testing your own tap

The Painted Turtle Camp’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 The Painted Turtle Camp serves, in a straight line. Call first: certification is test by test, and not every lab takes samples from homeowners.

  • Pat-Chem Laboratories

    San Fernando, CA · about 28 miles

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

    (800) 400-5227

  • Fruit Growers Laboratory, Inc.

    Santa Paula, CA · about 40 miles

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

    (805) 392-2000

  • EMSL Analytical, Inc. (LA Testing)

    South Pasadena, CA · about 45 miles

    Certified for bacteria, asbestos

    (323) 254-9960

All 145 certified labs for California

Sources

PWSID CA1900074. Rebuilt from EPA data on Oct. 18, 2026.

Towns it serves

Also in Los Angeles County

All California utilities

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