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Is Memphis, MO tap water safe?

2 utilities serve Memphis, 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

1 of the 2 utilities serving Memphis has a result above a legal limit or action level, or a health-based violation since 2016, in EPA’s and CDC’s records: Memphis PWS.

Memphis PWS, which serves the most people here, has 1 result above the legal limit and 2 results above the health goal. The worst: Total trihalomethanes (TTHM) at 63.1 ppb, above the legal limit.

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 Memphis’s ZIP codes, from EPA’s estimates.

What handles it

Each of these is certified, on a certifier’s listing, for a result above a line in Memphis PWS’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 Memphis

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 Missouri certifies.

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

  • Microbac Laboratories Inc.-Centerville

    Centerville, IA · about 41 miles

    Certified for bacteria

    (641) 792-8451

  • Rathbun Regional Water Association

    Centerville, IA · about 41 miles

    Certified for bacteria

    (641) 647-2416

  • North Central Missouri Regional Water Commission

    Milan, MO · about 53 miles

    Certified for bacteria

    (660) 256-3807

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

ZIP codes in Memphis

Which ZIP codes are in Memphis: 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: Missouri DNR, certified microbiological and chemical laboratories; distances from the Census 2020 ZIP code tabulation area gazetteer.

Near Memphis

Towns nearby with a page of their own.

What to do next