City of Columbus

What EPA’s and Kansas’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: 2,882 people
Connections: 1,519
Water source: Surface water bought from another system
Based in: Columbus, KS
County: Cherokee
Owner: Local government

The ZIP code it serves

66725

The short answer

Nothing in EPA’s and Kansas’s records for this utility is above a health goal. That covers nitrate, arsenic and other regulated chemicals, plus lead and copper, not everything. No health-based violations on file since 2016.

What was found

Haloacetic acids (HAA5) and total trihalomethanes (TTHM): Kansas’s own results, samples taken from Jan. 6, 2020 to July 7, 2026, with EPA’s 2012 to 2019 file for earlier years.

Below EPA’s limits2

Haloacetic acids (HAA5)

Forms or is added in treatment

Below EPA’s limits

36.3ppb

Highest yearly average, 2020 to 2026

Averaged by year, the highest was 36.3 ppb, in 2026, below EPA’s legal limit of 60 ppb. Its highest single sample was 53 ppb. That was also the latest year on file. Earlier, from 2012 to 2019, EPA’s file shows a highest yearly average of 34.8 ppb, in 2019.

What handles it

No certification claim covers this compound yet.

Total trihalomethanes (TTHM)

Forms or is added in treatment

Below EPA’s limits

33.8ppb

Highest yearly average, 2020 to 2026

2026 average: 31 ppb

Averaged by year, the highest was 33.8 ppb, in 2021, below EPA’s legal limit of 80 ppb. Its highest single sample was 52 ppb. In 2026, the latest year on file, its three samples averaged 31 ppb. Earlier, from 2012 to 2019, EPA’s file shows a highest yearly average of 32.5 ppb, in 2018.

What handles it

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

One compound tested and not foundBelow the reporting level in every sample. Not found is not the same as zero.

Lead

Violations since 2016

No health-based violations on file with EPA since 2016. There are 3 monitoring or reporting violations: a sample missed, late or not reported.

What this report can’t tell you

Everything else. Haloacetic acids (HAA5) and total trihalomethanes (TTHM) results here are Kansas’s own from 2020 on, with EPA’s national file for 2012 to 2019. City of Columbus’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; Kansas’s results run from Jan. 6, 2020 to July 7, 2026.

Testing your own tap

City of Columbus’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 Kansas certifies.

The lab Kansas certifies closest to the area City of Columbus serves, in a straight line. Call first: certification is test by test, and not every lab takes samples from homeowners.