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Mediapolis Water Supply

What EPA’s and Iowa’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
1,688 people
Connections
620
Water source
Surface water bought from another system
Based in
Mediapolis, IA
County
Des Moines
Owner
Local government
The ZIP code it serves

52637

The short answer

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

What handles it

What was found

Lead and copper: EPA SDWIS monitoring periods ending 2007 to 2025.

Total trihalomethanes (TTHM) and haloacetic acids (HAA5): Iowa’s own results, samples taken from Jan. 8, 2020 to July 14, 2026, with EPA’s 2012 to 2019 file for earlier years.

Above the health goal1

Lead

Comes from pipes, often your own

Above the health goal

0.8ppb

90th percentile, 2023 to 2025

In the latest period, 9 in 10 homes sampled were at or below 0.8 ppb, below EPA’s action level of 15 ppb. The action level drops to 10 ppb on Nov. 1, 2027. EPA’s health goal for lead is zero.

What handles it

Below EPA’s limits2

Total trihalomethanes (TTHM)

Forms or is added in treatment

Below EPA’s limits

67.8ppb

Highest yearly average, 2020 to 2026

2026 average: 39.8 ppb

Averaged by year, the highest was 67.8 ppb, in 2020, below EPA’s legal limit of 80 ppb. Its highest single sample was 127 ppb. In 2026, the latest year on file, its three samples averaged 39.8 ppb. EPA recorded no violation for total trihalomethanes (TTHM) at this utility since 2020. Earlier, from 2012 to 2019, EPA’s file shows a highest yearly average of 85.1 ppb, in 2012, and EPA recorded violations in 2012 and 2013.

What handles it

  • NSF/ANSI 53 look for “Trihalomethanes (TTHM) Reduction”
  • NSF/ANSI 58 look for “Trihalomethanes (TTHM) Reduction”

Haloacetic acids (HAA5)

Forms or is added in treatment

Below EPA’s limits

27.6ppb

Highest yearly average, 2020 to 2026

2026 average: 27.1 ppb

Averaged by year, the highest was 27.6 ppb, in 2024, below EPA’s legal limit of 60 ppb. Its highest single sample was 53.5 ppb. In 2026, the latest year on file, its three samples averaged 27.1 ppb. Earlier, from 2012 to 2019, EPA’s file shows a highest yearly average of 33.1 ppb, in 2012.

What handles it

No certification claim covers this compound yet.

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

The best water filters for lead, ranked

Violations since 2016

No health-based violations on file with EPA since 2016.

What this report can’t tell you

  • Everything else. Total trihalomethanes (TTHM) and haloacetic acids (HAA5) results here are Iowa’s own from 2020 on, with EPA’s national file for 2012 to 2019. Mediapolis Water Supply’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; Iowa’s results run from Jan. 8, 2020 to July 14, 2026.

Testing your own tap

Mediapolis Water Supply’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 Iowa certifies.

The 3 labs Iowa certifies closest to the area Mediapolis Water Supply serves, in a straight line. Call first: certification is test by test, and not every lab takes samples from homeowners.

  • Ion Environmental Solutions

    Muscatine, IA · about 29 miles

    Certified for bacteria, nitrate

    (563) 299-2214

  • Quad Cities Metallurgical Laboratory

    Davenport, IA · about 48 miles

    Certified for bacteria, nitrate

    (563) 386-7827

  • State Hygienic Laboratory - Coralville

    Coralville, IA · about 52 miles

    Certified for bacteria, nitrate, organic chemicals, disinfection byproducts, PFAS, radioactivity

    (319) 335-4500

State Hygienic Laboratory at the University of Iowa: Through the Grants-to-Counties program, private well owners in participating counties can have their water tested for total coliform bacteria and nitrate. Start with the county sanitarian at your county health department. No cost in a participating county. The Grants-to-Counties Program, State Hygienic Lab at the University of Iowa.

All 36 certified labs for Iowa

Sources

PWSID IA2948062. Rebuilt from EPA data on Oct. 18, 2026.

Towns it serves

Also in Des Moines County

All Iowa utilities

What to do next