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Town & Country Water Company

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
73 people
Connections
22
Water source
Groundwater
Based in
Bakersfield, CA
County
Kern
Owner
Private
Hardness
Varies by source
The ZIP code it serves

93314

The short answer

1 result is above the health goal. The worst: Nitrate, above the health goal. No health-based violations on file since 2016.

What handles it

What was found

Copper: EPA’s file records a utility’s copper only when it exceeds the action level. The last here was 1.5 ppm, for the period ending Dec. 31, 1996. None since is on file, so it is not counted as a current finding.

Nitrate, fluoride, arsenic, chromium (total), haloacetic acids (HAA5) and total trihalomethanes (TTHM): California’s own results, samples taken from Dec. 3, 2020 to Sept. 17, 2025, with EPA’s 2012 to 2019 file for earlier years.

Above the health goal1

Nitrate

Comes from the source

Above the health goal

17ppm

Highest sample; found in 5 of 13

2025 average: 5.0 ppm

From 2023 to 2025, four samples were above EPA’s legal limit of 10 ppm, the highest 17 ppm in 2024. The next sample at the same point, within 30 days, kept the average above the limit for one; three have no follow-up sample on file within 30 days. 10 ppm is also EPA’s health goal. In 2025, the latest year on file, its three samples averaged 5.0 ppm. EPA recorded no violation for nitrate at this utility since 2020.

What handles it

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

Below EPA’s limits1

Fluoride

Forms or is added in treatment

Below EPA’s limits

0.22ppm

Highest yearly average, 2021 to 2024

2024 average: 0.2 ppm

Averaged by year, the highest was 0.22 ppm, in 2021, below EPA’s legal limit of 4.0 ppm. Its highest single sample was 0.24 ppm. In 2024, the latest year on file, its two samples averaged 0.2 ppm. Earlier, from 2012 to 2019, EPA’s file shows a highest yearly average of 0.25 ppm, in 2015.

What handles it

5 compounds tested and not foundBelow the reporting level in every sample. Not found is not the same as zero.
  • Arsenic
  • Chromium (total)
  • Haloacetic acids (HAA5)
  • 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.”

  • NSF/ANSI 53

    Claim: Nitrate/Nitrite (30 ppm challenge)

    For: Nitrate

  • NSF/ANSI 58

    Claim: Nitrate/Nitrite Reduction

    For: Nitrate

    Other certifiers’ wording: Nitrate

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

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

Hardness

Soft to very hard depending on the source, 9.4 to 760 mg/L (0.5 to 44.4 grains per gallon), across 2 sampling points, 2021 to 2024.

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, 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. There is 1 monitoring or reporting violation: a sample missed, late or not reported.

What this report can’t tell you

  • Everything else. Nitrate, fluoride, arsenic, chromium (total), haloacetic acids (HAA5) and total trihalomethanes (TTHM) results here are California’s own from 2020 on, with EPA’s national file for 2012 to 2019. Town & Country Water Company’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 Dec. 3, 2020 to Sept. 17, 2025.

Testing your own tap

Town & Country Water Company’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 Town & Country Water Company serves, in a straight line. Call first: certification is test by test, and not every lab takes samples from homeowners.

  • BSK Associates - Bakersfield Analytical Laboratory

    Bakersfield, CA · about 5 miles

    Certified for bacteria

    (661) 327-0671

  • Zalco Laboratories, Inc.

    Bakersfield, CA · about 11 miles

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

    (661) 395-0539

  • Pace Analytical Services, LLC dba BC Laboratories, Inc.

    Bakersfield, CA · about 11 miles

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

    (661) 327-4911

All 145 certified labs for California

Sources

PWSID CA1502663. Rebuilt from EPA data on Oct. 18, 2026.

Also in Kern County

All California utilities

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