Skip to content
TapBuff

Village Apartments

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
33 people
Connections
2
Water source
Groundwater
Based in
Three Rivers, CA
County
Tulare
Owner
Private
Hardness
Very hard
The ZIP code it serves

93271

The short answer

1 result is above EPA’s legal limit, and 1 more is above the health goal. The worst: Copper, above the action level. 1 health-based violation since 2016.

What handles it

What was found

Lead and copper: EPA SDWIS monitoring periods ending 2020. Lead at 0.7 mg/L (2020) is left out of this report: more than 20 times the action level, it looks like µg/L entered as mg/L.

Fluoride, arsenic, chromium (total), nitrate and total trihalomethanes (TTHM): California’s own results, samples taken from Feb. 14, 2020 to Nov. 5, 2025, with EPA’s 2012 to 2019 file for earlier years.

Uranium: EPA’s compliance monitoring file, samples taken from June 28, 2017 to June 28, 2017. Newer results are in the utility’s annual water quality report.

Above the legal limit1

Copper

Comes from pipes, often your own

Above the action level

2.4ppm

90th percentile, 2020

In the latest period, 9 in 10 homes sampled were at or below 2.4 ppm, above EPA’s action level of 1.3 ppm.

What handles it

Above the health goal1

Uranium

Comes from the source

Above the health goal

3.5ppb

Highest yearly average, 2017

Averaged by year, the highest was 3.5 ppb, in 2017: 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 limits1

Fluoride

Forms or is added in treatment

Below EPA’s limits

0.3ppm

Highest yearly average, 2021 to 2024

2024, one sample: 0.3 ppm

Averaged by year, the highest was 0.3 ppm, in 2021, below EPA’s legal limit of 4.0 ppm. In 2024, the latest year on file, its one sample was 0.3 ppm. Earlier, from 2012 to 2019, EPA’s file shows a highest yearly average of 0.5 ppm, in 2018.

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)
  • Lead
  • Nitrate
  • 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?

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

Hardness

Very hard, 321 mg/L (18.7 grains per gallon), at its one sampling point, 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.

Violations since 2016

Contaminant or ruleTypePeriodMeasuredStatus
Revised Total Coliform RuleE. coli was confirmed in the water system.EPA: Maximum Contaminant Level Violation, E. coli (RTCR)Jan. 1, 2017 to Jan. 31, 2017—Resolved
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. Fluoride, arsenic, chromium (total), nitrate 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. Village Apartments’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 Feb. 14, 2020 to Nov. 5, 2025; EPA’s compliance samples are from June 28, 2017 to June 28, 2017.

Testing your own tap

Village Apartments’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 Village Apartments serves, in a straight line. Call first: certification is test by test, and not every lab takes samples from homeowners.

  • Fruit Growers Laboratory, Inc.

    Visalia, CA · about 34 miles

    Certified for bacteria

    (559) 734-9473

  • Sierra Dairy Laboratory

    Tulare, CA · about 35 miles

    Certified for bacteria

    (559) 686-2070

  • Inyo County Water Lab

    Independence, CA · about 41 miles

    Certified for bacteria

    (760) 878-8476

All 145 certified labs for California

Sources

PWSID CA5400875. Rebuilt from EPA data on Oct. 18, 2026.