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Kentucky American Water - Middlesboro

What EPA’s and Kentucky’s records show in this utility’s water: PFAS and lithium; nitrate, arsenic and other regulated chemicals; lead and copper; and violations since 2016, with the certification that handles each result.

Serves
12,022 people
Connections
5,231
Water source
Surface water
Based in
Lexington, KY
County
Bell
Owner
Private
The ZIP code it serves

40965

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

PFAS and lithium: EPA UCMR 5, samples taken from Feb. 22, 2023 to Nov. 8, 2023.

Lead and copper: EPA SDWIS monitoring periods ending 2002 to 2026.

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

Uranium: EPA’s compliance monitoring file, samples taken from June 6, 2017 to June 6, 2017. Newer results are in the utility’s annual water quality report.

PFAS: None of the six PFAS in EPA’s 2024 drinking water rule was found in this utility’s samples. None of the other 23 PFAS tested for was found either.

EPA’s 2024 PFAS rule, compound by compound

PFASEPA’s limitResult
PFOA4.0 pptNot foundNot found in any of 4 samples, below 4 ppt
PFOS4.0 pptNot foundNot found in any of 4 samples, below 4 ppt
PFHxS10 pptNot foundNot found in any of 4 samples, below 3 ppt
PFNA10 pptNot foundNot found in any of 4 samples, below 4 ppt
HFPO-DA (GenX)10 pptNot foundNot found in any of 4 samples, below 5 ppt
PFBSIndex onlyNot foundNot found in any of 4 samples, below 3 ppt
Hazard IndexPFHxS, PFNA, HFPO-DA and PFBS together1Doesn’t applyDoesn’t apply: no sampling location found two or more of the four
Results from EPA’s UCMR 5 sampling. “Below” is the lab’s reporting level: a result under it reads as not found, which is not the same as zero. The limits are EPA’s 2024 rule, with compliance due from 2029; EPA has since proposed changes to some of them, explained on each compound’s page. PFBS has no limit of its own and counts only toward the Hazard Index, which adds up the four, each against EPA’s health-based level, from each sampling location’s average, as EPA’s UCMR 5 summary does. It counts only where two or more of the four were found, and is above the limit from 1.5.

Above the health goal1

Lead

Comes from pipes, often your own

Above the health goal

2.7ppb

90th percentile, 2024 to 2026

In the latest period, 9 in 10 homes sampled were at or below 2.7 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 limits3

Haloacetic acids (HAA5)

Forms or is added in treatment

Below EPA’s limits

43.8ppb

Highest yearly average, 2020 to 2026

2026 average: 37.2 ppb

Averaged by year, the highest was 43.8 ppb, in 2024, below EPA’s legal limit of 60 ppb. Its highest single sample was 57 ppb. In 2026, the latest year on file, its 12 samples averaged 37.2 ppb. Earlier, from 2012 to 2019, EPA’s file shows a highest yearly average of 38.3 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

48.8ppb

Highest yearly average, 2020 to 2026

2026 average: 36.6 ppb

Averaged by year, the highest was 48.8 ppb, in 2021, below EPA’s legal limit of 80 ppb. Its highest single sample was 74 ppb. In 2026, the latest year on file, its 12 samples averaged 36.6 ppb. Earlier, from 2012 to 2019, EPA’s file shows a highest yearly average of 31.2 ppb, in 2019.

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

1.0ppm

Highest yearly average, 2020 to 2026

2026 average: 0.91 ppm

Averaged by year, the highest was 1.0 ppm, in 2022, below EPA’s legal limit of 4.0 ppm. Its highest single sample was 1.0 ppm. In 2026, the latest year on file, its two samples averaged 0.91 ppm. Earlier, from 2012 to 2019, EPA’s file shows a highest yearly average of 1.0 ppm, in 2012.

What handles it

Kentucky utilities above EPA’s PFAS limits
34 compounds tested and not foundIncluding all six PFAS in EPA’s 2024 rule. Below the reporting level in every sample. Not found is not the same as zero.

From routine monitoring

  • Arsenic
  • Chromium (total)
  • Nitrate
  • Uranium

PFAS and lithium, from EPA’s UCMR 5 sampling

  • 11Cl-PF3OUdS
  • 4:2 FTS
  • 6:2 FTS
  • 8:2 FTS
  • 9Cl-PF3ONS
  • ADONA
  • HFPO-DA (GenX)
  • Lithium
  • NEtFOSAA
  • NFDHA
  • NMeFOSAA
  • PFBA
  • PFBS
  • PFDA
  • PFDoA
  • PFEESA
  • PFHpA
  • PFHpS
  • PFHxA
  • PFHxS
  • PFMBA
  • PFMPA
  • PFNA
  • PFOA
  • PFOS
  • PFPeA
  • PFPeS
  • PFTA
  • PFTrDA
  • PFUnA

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

Disinfectant

Kentucky American Water - Middlesboro reported disinfecting with chlorine, not chloramine, at its one sampling point, in its 2023 sampling for EPA.

Chlorine leaves water that sits out for a few days, CDC says. A filter certified for it carries a chlorine claim under NSF/ANSI 42; a shower filter, a free chlorine claim under NSF/ANSI 177. This is what the utility reported for that sampling. Its annual water quality report says what it uses now.

Chlorine vs. chloramineShower filters, by what their listings cover

Violations since 2016

No health-based violations on file with EPA since 2016. There are 2 monitoring or reporting violations: a sample missed, late or not reported.

What this report can’t tell you

  • Everything else. Haloacetic acids (HAA5), total trihalomethanes (TTHM), fluoride, arsenic, chromium (total) and nitrate results here are Kentucky’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. Kentucky American Water - Middlesboro’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 samples are from Feb. 22, 2023 to Nov. 8, 2023; Kentucky’s results run from Jan. 6, 2020 to July 7, 2026; EPA’s compliance samples are from June 6, 2017 to June 6, 2017.

Testing your own tap

Kentucky American Water - Middlesboro’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 Kentucky certifies.

TapBuff hasn’t read Kentucky’s list of certified labs yet. The national page links every state’s own list.

Certified labs, state by state

Sources

PWSID KY0070282. Rebuilt from EPA data on Oct. 18, 2026.

Towns it serves

Nearby

All Kentucky utilities

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