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City of Lakin

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
2,166 people
Connections
984
Water source
Groundwater
Based in
Lakin, KS
County
Kearny
Owner
Local government
Hardness
Varies by source
The ZIP code it serves

67860

The short answer

1 result is above EPA’s legal limit. The worst: Uranium, above the legal limit. No health-based violations on file since 2016.

What handles it

What was found

Nitrate, total trihalomethanes (TTHM), haloacetic acids (HAA5), arsenic, chromium (total) and fluoride: Kansas’s own results, samples taken from March 9, 2020 to Sept. 1, 2026, with EPA’s 2012 to 2019 file for earlier years.

Uranium: EPA’s compliance monitoring file, samples taken from Jan. 23, 2012 to April 5, 2016. Newer results are in the utility’s annual water quality report.

Above the legal limit1

Uranium

Comes from the source

Above the legal limit

37.5ppb

Highest yearly average, 2012 to 2016

2016 average: 6.5 ppb

Averaged by year, the highest was 37.5 ppb, in 2013, above EPA’s legal limit of 30 ppb. Its highest single sample was 48 ppb. In 2016, the latest year on file, its two samples averaged 6.5 ppb. EPA recorded violations for uranium at this utility in 2012, 2013 and 2014.

What handles it

Below EPA’s limits3

Nitrate

Comes from the source

Below EPA’s limits

2.5ppm

Highest sample; found in 9 of 9

2026, one sample: 1.5 ppm

The highest sample, in 2024, was 2.5 ppm, below EPA’s legal limit of 10 ppm. In 2026, the latest year on file, its one sample was 1.5 ppm. Earlier, from 2012 to 2019, EPA’s file shows a highest sample of 7.0 ppm, in 2012.

What handles it

  • NSF/ANSI 58 look for “Nitrate/Nitrite Reduction”
  • NSF/ANSI 53 look for “Nitrate/Nitrite (30 ppm challenge)”

Total trihalomethanes (TTHM)

Forms or is added in treatment

Below EPA’s limits

10ppb

Highest yearly average, 2021 to 2026

2026, one sample: 5.0 ppb

Averaged by year, the highest was 10 ppb, in 2024, below EPA’s legal limit of 80 ppb. In 2026, the latest year on file, its one sample was 5.0 ppb. Earlier, from 2012 to 2019, EPA’s file shows a highest yearly average of 68 ppb, in 2014.

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

4.6ppb

Highest yearly average, 2021 to 2026

2026, one sample: 3.4 ppb

Averaged by year, the highest was 4.6 ppb, in 2024, below EPA’s legal limit of 60 ppb. In 2026, the latest year on file, its one sample was 3.4 ppb. Earlier, from 2012 to 2019, EPA’s file shows a highest yearly average of 26 ppb, in 2014.

What handles it

No certification claim covers this compound yet.

4 compounds tested and not foundBelow the reporting level in every sample. Not found is not the same as zero.
  • Arsenic
  • Chromium (total)
  • Fluoride
  • Lead

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?

These come with the water itself, so a whole-house system certified for the same claims treats every tap and shower. A filter at the tap treats drinking water for much less. How whole-house systems compare.

Filters with those claims on a certifier’s listing

None of the filters TapBuff has checked so far carry these claims. Search the certifier listings for the claim above.

Compare five-year costs

Hardness

Moderately hard to very hard depending on the source, 91 to 270 mg/L (5.3 to 15.8 grains per gallon), across 2 sampling points, 2016 to 2025.

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.

Softeners compared, salt includedSoftener or salt-free conditioner?Kansas water hardness, utility by utility

Violations since 2016

No health-based violations on file with EPA since 2016. There are 6 monitoring or reporting violations: a sample missed, late or not reported.

What this report can’t tell you

  • Everything else. Nitrate, total trihalomethanes (TTHM), haloacetic acids (HAA5), arsenic, chromium (total) and fluoride results here are Kansas’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. City of Lakin’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; Kansas’s results run from March 9, 2020 to Sept. 1, 2026; EPA’s compliance samples are from Jan. 23, 2012 to April 5, 2016.

Testing your own tap

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

  • Servi-Tech, Inc

    Dodge City, KS · about 71 miles

    Certified for bacteria

    (620) 227-7123

All 47 certified labs for Kansas

Sources

PWSID KS2009301. Rebuilt from EPA data on Oct. 18, 2026.

Nearby

All Kansas utilities

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