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Is Live Oak, CA tap water safe?

3 utilities serve Live Oak, by EPA’s records. Here is what EPA’s and California’s records show for each, against the legal limits and the stricter health goals.

Matched to your utility using EPA records.

The short answer

None of the 3 utilities serving Live Oak has a result above a legal limit or action level, or a health-based violation since 2016, in EPA’s and California’s records.

Santa Cruz Water Department, which serves the most people here, has 2 results above the health goal and 1 result above EPA’s health benchmark. The worst: Lithium at 54 ppb, above EPA’s health benchmark. Health goals are stricter than legal limits and are not enforced.

The water from Santa Cruz Water Department is hard to very hard depending on the source, 121 to 327 mg/L (7.1 to 19.1 grains per gallon). How California’s water compares.

A town can be served by more than one utility, and some homes are on private wells. The name on your water bill tells you which is yours, and your ZIP code narrows it down. They are listed by how many people each serves in Live Oak’s ZIP codes, from EPA’s estimates.

What handles it

Each of these is certified, on a certifier’s listing, for a result above a line in Santa Cruz Water Department’s water, which serves the most people here. Another utility’s report names what handles its own results.

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Every claim, and more filters, in the full report

Water testing near Live Oak

A utility tests the water it sends out. A test of your own tap shows what your pipes add, and on a private well it is the only test there is. It takes a lab California certifies.

The 3 labs California certifies closest to Live Oak, in a straight line. Call first: certification is test by test, and not every lab takes samples from homeowners.

  • Alpha Analytical Laboratories, Inc.

    Livermore, CA · about 3 miles

    Certified for bacteria

    (707) 769-3128

  • SGS North America

    Hayward, CA · about 14 miles

    Certified for bacteria

    (510) 266-8183

  • EMSL Analytical Inc.

    San Leandro, CA · about 15 miles

    Certified for asbestos

    (510) 895-3675

All 145 certified labs for California

ZIP codes in Live Oak

Which ZIP codes are in Live Oak: Census 2020 relationship files. Which utilities serve them, and how many people: EPA SDWIS and EPA’s service area map. Each utility’s results: EPA UCMR 5, EPA SDWIS, and EPA’s and the state’s compliance monitoring, as its report lists them. How they are measured: methodology. Certified labs: California State Water Resources Control Board, ELAP accredited laboratories and their fields of accreditation; distances from the Census 2020 ZIP code tabulation area gazetteer.

Near Live Oak

Other towns in Santa Cruz County with a page of their own.

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