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Dexter Utility District

What EPA’s and CDC’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
2,338 people
Connections
935
Water source
Surface water
Based in
Dexter, ME
County
Penobscot
Owner
Local government
The ZIP code it serves

04930

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

Lead and copper: EPA SDWIS monitoring periods ending 2005 to 2026.

Copper: EPA’s file records a utility’s copper only when it exceeds the action level. The last here was 1.4 ppm, for the period ending June 30, 2000. None since is on file, so it is not counted as a current finding.

Total trihalomethanes (TTHM), haloacetic acids (HAA5), nitrate and arsenic: Maine’s yearly averages per water system, as CDC’s Environmental Public Health Tracking Network publishes them, 2020 to 2023, with EPA’s 2012 to 2019 file for earlier years.

Fluoride, chromium (total) and uranium: EPA’s compliance monitoring file, samples taken from Jan. 18, 2012 to Dec. 11, 2019. Newer results are in the utility’s annual water quality report.

Above the health goal1

Lead

Comes from pipes, often your own

Above the health goal

4.9ppb

90th percentile, 2024 to 2026

In the latest period, 9 in 10 homes sampled were at or below 4.9 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 limits5

Total trihalomethanes (TTHM)

Forms or is added in treatment

Below EPA’s limits

29.1ppb

Highest yearly average, 2020 to 2023

2023 average: 16.8 ppb

Averaged by year, the highest was 29.1 ppb, in 2021, below EPA’s legal limit of 80 ppb. In 2023, the latest year on file, it averaged 16.8 ppb. Earlier, from 2012 to 2019, EPA’s file shows a highest yearly average of 42.3 ppb, in 2013.

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

20.8ppb

Highest yearly average, 2020 to 2023

2023 average: 20.5 ppb

Averaged by year, the highest was 20.8 ppb, in 2021, below EPA’s legal limit of 60 ppb. In 2023, the latest year on file, it averaged 20.5 ppb. Earlier, from 2012 to 2019, EPA’s file shows a highest yearly average of 26.8 ppb, in 2014.

What handles it

No certification claim covers this compound yet.

Fluoride

Forms or is added in treatment

Below EPA’s limits

0.8ppm

Highest yearly average, 2012 to 2019

2019 average: 0.31 ppm

Averaged by year, the highest was 0.8 ppm, in 2014, below EPA’s legal limit of 4.0 ppm. Its highest single sample was 1.0 ppm. In 2019, the latest year on file, its 13 samples averaged 0.31 ppm.

What handles it

Chromium (total)

Comes from the source

Below EPA’s limits

0.75ppb

Highest yearly average, 2012 to 2019

2019: not found

Averaged by year, the highest was 0.75 ppb, in 2014, below EPA’s legal limit of 100 ppb. In 2019, the latest year on file, it wasn’t found in its one sample.

What handles it

Nitrate

Comes from the source

Below EPA’s limits

0.07ppm

Highest yearly average, 2020 to 2023

2023 average: 0.05 ppm

Averaged by year, the highest was 0.07 ppm, in 2021, below EPA’s legal limit of 10 ppm. In 2023, the latest year on file, it averaged 0.05 ppm. Earlier, from 2012 to 2019, EPA’s file shows a highest sample of 0.07 ppm, in 2014.

What handles it

  • NSF/ANSI 58 look for “Nitrate/Nitrite Reduction”
  • NSF/ANSI 53 look for “Nitrate/Nitrite (30 ppm challenge)”
2 compounds tested and not foundBelow the reporting level in every sample. Not found is not the same as zero.
  • Arsenic
  • Uranium

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

Violations since 2016

No health-based violations on file with EPA since 2016. There is 1 monitoring or reporting violation: a sample missed, late or not reported.

What this report can’t tell you

  • Everything else. Total trihalomethanes (TTHM), haloacetic acids (HAA5), nitrate and arsenic results here are Maine’s yearly averages as CDC publishes them, from 2020 on, with EPA’s national file for 2012 to 2019. Fluoride, chromium (total) and uranium come from EPA’s file alone, which ends in 2019. Dexter Utility District’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; CDC’s yearly averages for Maine cover 2020 to 2023; EPA’s compliance samples are from Jan. 18, 2012 to Dec. 11, 2019.

Testing your own tap

Dexter Utility District’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 Maine certifies.

The 3 labs Maine certifies closest to the area Dexter Utility District serves, in a straight line. Call first: certification is test by test, and not every lab takes samples from homeowners.

Maine Health and Environmental Testing Laboratory: Well water test kits ordered online, from a bacteria-only test to full panels for new wells and home sales. The lab must receive the sample within 30 hours of collection. The basic safety test is $42, bacteria alone $27, first-draw lead $32, and the fuller well tests $127 to $147. Maine Private Well and Radiological Water and Air Test.

All 53 certified labs for Maine

Sources

PWSID ME0090440. Rebuilt from EPA data on Oct. 18, 2026.

Also in Penobscot County

All Maine utilities

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