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Is Lake Charles, LA tap water safe?

14 utilities serve Lake Charles, by EPA’s records. Here is what EPA’s and CDC’s records show for each, against the legal limits and the stricter health goals.

Matched to your utility using EPA records.

The short answer

2 of the 14 utilities serving Lake Charles have a result above a legal limit or action level, or a health-based violation since 2016, in EPA’s and CDC’s records: Gulf Stream Manor Water System and C K B Trailer Park Water System.

City of Lake Charles Water System, which serves the most people here, has 1 result above the health goal and 1 result above EPA’s health benchmark. The worst: Lithium at 29.1 ppb, above EPA’s health benchmark. Health goals are stricter than legal limits and are not enforced.

A town can be served by more than one utility, and some homes are on private wells. The name on your water bill tells you which is yours, and your ZIP code narrows it down. They are listed by how many people each serves in Lake Charles’s ZIP codes, from EPA’s estimates.

4 more utilities in Lake Charles

By EPA’s estimate, each serves fewer people in Lake Charles than those above.

What handles it

Each of these is certified, on a certifier’s listing, for a result above a line in City of Lake Charles Water System’s water, which serves the most people here. Another utility’s report names what handles its own results.

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Every claim, and more filters, in the full report

Water testing near Lake Charles

A utility tests the water it sends out. A test of your own tap shows what your pipes add, and on a private well it is the only test there is. It takes a lab Louisiana certifies.

The 3 labs Louisiana certifies closest to Lake Charles, in a straight line. Call first: certification is test by test, and not every lab takes samples from homeowners.

  • LDH Lake Charles Regional Laboratory

    Lake Charles, LA · about 5 miles

    Certified for bacteria

    (337) 475-3236

  • JRTC & Fort Johnson Environmental Laboratory

    Fort Polk, LA · about 61 miles

    Certified for bacteria

    (337) 531-9128

  • SGS North America, Inc. - Scott

    Scott, LA · about 65 miles

    Certified for nitrate, lead and copper, metals, minerals and other inorganics, organic chemicals, disinfection byproducts

All 48 certified labs for Louisiana

ZIP codes in Lake Charles

Which ZIP codes are in Lake Charles: Census 2020 relationship files. Which utilities serve them, and how many people: EPA SDWIS and EPA’s service area map. Each utility’s results: EPA UCMR 5, EPA SDWIS, and EPA’s and the state’s compliance monitoring, as its report lists them. How they are measured: methodology. Certified labs: LDH, laboratories certified by Louisiana for drinking water analysis; distances from the Census 2020 ZIP code tabulation area gazetteer.

Near Lake Charles

Towns nearby with a page of their own.

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