Public Wholesale WSD 19

What EPA’s and Kansas’s records show in this utility’s water: nitrate, arsenic and other regulated chemicals, plus violations since 2016, with the certification that handles each result.

Serves: 1 people
Connections: 4
Water source: Surface water
Based in: Columbus, KS
County: Cherokee
Owner: Local government
Hardness: Hard

The ZIP code it serves

66743

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, not everything. 5 health-based violations since 2016.

What was found

Haloacetic acids (HAA5), nitrate, total trihalomethanes (TTHM), fluoride, arsenic and chromium (total): Kansas’s own results, samples taken from Jan. 13, 2020 to May 12, 2026, with EPA’s 2012 to 2019 file for earlier years.

Below EPA’s limits4

Haloacetic acids (HAA5)

Forms or is added in treatment

Below EPA’s limits

23ppb

Highest yearly average, 2020 to 2025

2025, one sample: 17 ppb

Averaged by year, the highest was 23 ppb, in 2021, below EPA’s legal limit of 60 ppb. In 2025, the latest year on file, its one sample was 17 ppb. Earlier, from 2012 to 2019, EPA’s file shows a highest yearly average of 32 ppb, in 2016.

What handles it

No certification claim covers this compound yet.

Nitrate

Comes from the source

Below EPA’s limits

3.8ppm

Highest sample; found in 14 of 14

2026 average: 2.6 ppm

The highest sample, in 2023, was 3.8 ppm, below EPA’s legal limit of 10 ppm. In 2026, the latest year on file, its two samples averaged 2.6 ppm. Earlier, from 2012 to 2019, EPA’s file shows a highest sample of 3.1 ppm, in 2015.

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

21ppb

Highest yearly average, 2020 to 2025

2025, one sample: 7.1 ppb

Averaged by year, the highest was 21 ppb, in 2021, below EPA’s legal limit of 80 ppb. In 2025, the latest year on file, its one sample was 7.1 ppb. Earlier, from 2012 to 2019, EPA’s file shows a highest yearly average of 44 ppb, in 2016.

What handles it

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

Fluoride

Forms or is added in treatment

Below EPA’s limits

0.1ppm

Highest yearly average, 2020 to 2026

2026: not found

Averaged by year, the highest was 0.1 ppm, in 2020, below EPA’s legal limit of 4.0 ppm. In 2026, the latest year on file, it wasn’t found in its one sample.

What handles it

NSF/ANSI 58 look for “Fluoride Reduction”
NSF/ANSI 53 look for “Fluoride”

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

Arsenic
Chromium (total)

Hardness

Hard, 130 mg/L (7.6 grains per gallon), at its one sampling point, 2015 to 2026.

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 at 7.6 grains per gallon, salt included Softener or salt-free conditioner?Kansas water hardness, utility by utility

Violations since 2016

Contaminant or rule	Type	Period	Measured	Status
Chlorite	The running average was above the legal limit.EPA: Maximum Contaminant Level Violation, Average	Oct. 1, 2021 to Oct. 31, 2021	1.2 MG/L	Resolved
Chlorite	The running average was above the legal limit.EPA: Maximum Contaminant Level Violation, Average	Aug. 1, 2016 to Aug. 31, 2016	1.5 MG/L	Resolved
Chlorite	The running average was above the legal limit.EPA: Maximum Contaminant Level Violation, Average	July 1, 2016 to July 31, 2016	1.8 MG/L	Resolved
Chlorite	The running average was above the legal limit.EPA: Maximum Contaminant Level Violation, Average	June 1, 2016 to June 30, 2016	1.3 MG/L	Resolved
Chlorite	The running average was above the legal limit.EPA: Maximum Contaminant Level Violation, Average	May 1, 2016 to May 31, 2016	1.8 MG/L	Resolved
Health-based violations only. Resolved and archived mean the utility returned to compliance or the state closed the record. 38 monitoring or reporting violations not shown.

What this report can’t tell you

Everything else. Haloacetic acids (HAA5), nitrate, total trihalomethanes (TTHM), fluoride, arsenic and chromium (total) results here are Kansas’s own from 2020 on, with EPA’s national file for 2012 to 2019. Public Wholesale WSD 19’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. 13, 2020 to May 12, 2026.

Testing your own tap

Public Wholesale WSD 19’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 Public Wholesale WSD 19 serves, in a straight line. Call first: certification is test by test, and not every lab takes samples from homeowners.