Is Poplar-Cotton Center, CA tap water safe?
The short answer
2 of the 3 utilities serving Poplar-Cotton Center have a result above a legal limit or action level, or a health-based violation since 2016, in EPA’s and California’s records: City of Porterville and Williams Mutual Water Company.
Poplar Comm Service Dist, which serves the most people here, has 1 result above the health goal. The worst: Uranium at 12.2 ppb, above the health goal. Health goals are stricter than legal limits and are not enforced.
The water from Poplar Comm Service Dist is hard to very hard depending on the source, 170 to 200 mg/L (9.9 to 11.7 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 Poplar-Cotton Center’s ZIP codes, from EPA’s estimates.
- Open report
Poplar Comm Service Dist
California · serves 2,200 people · about 1,800 in Poplar-Cotton Center
1 result above the health goal. The worst: Uranium at 12.2 ppb, above the health goal. Hardness: hard to very hard depending on the source, 170 to 200 mg/L (9.9 to 11.7 grains per gallon).
No health-based violations since 2016
- Open report
City of Porterville
California · serves 63,487 people · about 210 in Poplar-Cotton Center
2 results above EPA’s new limit, which takes effect in 2029 and 2 results above the health goal. The worst: PFOS at 23 ppt, above EPA’s new limit, which takes effect in 2029. Hardness: moderately hard to very hard depending on the source, 70 to 190 mg/L (4.1 to 11.1 grains per gallon).
1 health-based violation since 2016
- Open report
Williams Mutual Water Company
California · serves 165 people · about 110 in Poplar-Cotton Center
1 result above the health goal. The worst: Uranium at 3.1 ppb, above the health goal. Hardness: hard, 140 mg/L (8.2 grains per gallon).
1 health-based violation since 2016
Water testing near Poplar-Cotton Center
The 3 labs California certifies closest to Poplar-Cotton Center, in a straight line. Call first: certification is test by test, and not every lab takes samples from homeowners.
Sierra Dairy Laboratory
Tulare, CA · about 23 miles
Certified for bacteria
Fruit Growers Laboratory, Inc.
Visalia, CA · about 31 miles
Certified for bacteria
Pace Analytical Services, LLC dba BC Laboratories, Inc.
Bakersfield, CA · about 43 miles
Certified for bacteria, nitrate, lead and copper, metals, minerals and other inorganics, organic chemicals, disinfection byproducts, radioactivity
Which ZIP codes are in Poplar-Cotton Center: 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 Poplar-Cotton Center
Other towns in Tulare County with a page of their own.
What to do next
- Read Poplar Comm Service Dist’s full reportEvery result with its dates, the violations, and the certification claim that handles each finding.Open the report
- About UraniumWhat it does to health, where it comes from, and the certification claim that addresses it.About Uranium
- On a private well?No utility tests a well. A certified lab test is the first step.How to test well water