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Mid America Teen Challenge

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
135 people
Connections
8
Water source
Groundwater
Based in
Cape Girardeau, MO
County
Cape Girardeau
Owner
Private

The short answer

Nothing in EPA’s and CDC’s records for this utility is above a health goal. That covers nitrate, arsenic and other regulated chemicals, plus lead and copper, not everything. No health-based violations on file since 2016.

What was found

Total trihalomethanes (TTHM), nitrate, haloacetic acids (HAA5) and arsenic: Missouri’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 and chromium (total): EPA’s compliance monitoring file, samples taken from Dec. 4, 2012 to June 18, 2018. Newer results are in the utility’s annual water quality report.

Below EPA’s limits5

Total trihalomethanes (TTHM)

Forms or is added in treatment

Below EPA’s limits

27.9ppb

Highest yearly average, 2020 to 2023

2023 average: 12.2 ppb

Averaged by year, the highest was 27.9 ppb, in 2022, below EPA’s legal limit of 80 ppb. In 2023, the latest year on file, it averaged 12.2 ppb. Earlier, from 2012 to 2019, EPA’s file shows a highest yearly average of 12.9 ppb, in 2018.

What handles it

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

Nitrate

Comes from the source

Below EPA’s limits

0.37ppm

Highest yearly average, 2020 to 2023

2023 average: 0.36 ppm

Averaged by year, the highest was 0.37 ppm, in 2020, below EPA’s legal limit of 10 ppm. In 2023, the latest year on file, it averaged 0.36 ppm. Earlier, from 2012 to 2019, EPA’s file shows a highest sample of 0.57 ppm, in 2015.

What handles it

  • NSF/ANSI 58 look for “Nitrate/Nitrite Reduction”
  • NSF/ANSI 53 look for “Nitrate/Nitrite (30 ppm challenge)”

Fluoride

Forms or is added in treatment

Below EPA’s limits

0.14ppm

Highest yearly average, 2012 to 2018

2018, one sample: 0.12 ppm

Averaged by year, the highest was 0.14 ppm, in 2015, below EPA’s legal limit of 4.0 ppm. In 2018, the latest year on file, its one sample was 0.12 ppm.

What handles it

Haloacetic acids (HAA5)

Forms or is added in treatment

Below EPA’s limits

1.8ppb

Highest yearly average, 2020 to 2023

2023: not found

Averaged by year, the highest was 1.8 ppb, in 2022, below EPA’s legal limit of 60 ppb. In 2023, the latest year on file, it wasn’t found.

What handles it

No certification claim covers this compound yet.

Chromium (total)

Comes from the source

Below EPA’s limits

1.6ppb

Highest yearly average, 2012 to 2018

2018: not found

Averaged by year, the highest was 1.6 ppb, in 2015, below EPA’s legal limit of 100 ppb. In 2018, the latest year on file, it wasn’t found in its one sample.

What handles it

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

Violations since 2016

No health-based violations on file with EPA since 2016. There are 5 monitoring or reporting violations: a sample missed, late or not reported.

What this report can’t tell you

  • Everything else. Total trihalomethanes (TTHM), nitrate, haloacetic acids (HAA5) and arsenic results here are Missouri’s yearly averages as CDC publishes them, from 2020 on, with EPA’s national file for 2012 to 2019. Fluoride and chromium (total) come from EPA’s file alone, which ends in 2019. Mid America Teen Challenge’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 Missouri cover 2020 to 2023; EPA’s compliance samples are from Dec. 4, 2012 to June 18, 2018.

Testing your own tap

Mid America Teen Challenge’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 Missouri certifies.

No lab Missouri certifies is within 75 miles of the area Mid America Teen Challenge serves on the state’s list. Some take samples by mail; the state’s page lists them all.

Missouri State Public Health Laboratory: Coliform and E. coli testing for private wells and other private drinking water sources, in kits from your local public health agency. A free state courier can carry the sample to the lab overnight. The handling fee is $10, by check or money order. Private Drinking Water Bacteriological Testing, Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services.

All 64 certified labs for Missouri

Sources

PWSID MO4079503. Rebuilt from EPA data on Oct. 18, 2026.

Also in Cape Girardeau County

All Missouri utilities

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