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Is Portland, ME tap water safe?

Portland Water District - Greater serves Portland, by EPA’s records. Here is what EPA’s and CDC’s records show for it, against the legal limits and the stricter health goals.

Matched to your utility using EPA records.

The short answer

Portland Water District - Greater serves Portland. In EPA’s and CDC’s records it has 1 result above the limit’s level with no violation recorded and 1 result above the health goal, and no health-based violation since 2016.

The worst: Uranium at 200 ppb, above the limit’s level, no violation. Health goals are stricter than legal limits and are not enforced.

Some homes in a town are on private wells or a small system of their own. The name on your water bill tells you which is yours.

What handles it

Each of these is certified, on a certifier’s listing, for a result above a line in Portland Water District - Greater’s water.

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Every claim, and more filters, in the full report

Water testing near Portland

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 Maine certifies.

The 3 labs Maine certifies closest to Portland, 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

ZIP codes in Portland

Which ZIP codes are in Portland: 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: Maine CDC Drinking Water Program, all accredited laboratories and in-state commercial drinking water labs; distances from the Census 2020 ZIP code tabulation area gazetteer.

Near Portland

Other towns in Cumberland County with a page of their own.

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