Is Roswell, NM tap water safe?
The short answer
1 of the 2 utilities serving Roswell has a result above a legal limit or action level, or a health-based violation since 2016, in EPA’s and New Mexico’s records: Roswell Municipal Water System.
Roswell Municipal 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 18.5 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 Roswell’s ZIP codes, from EPA’s estimates.
- Open report
Roswell Municipal Water System
New Mexico · serves 54,025 people · about 540 in Roswell
1 result above the health goal and 1 result above EPA’s health benchmark. The worst: Lithium at 18.5 ppb, above EPA’s health benchmark.
2 health-based violations since 2016
- Open report
Berrendo Cooperative WUA
New Mexico · serves 4,304 people · under 100 in Roswell
2 results above the health goal and 1 result above EPA’s health benchmark. The worst: Lithium at 30.9 ppb, above EPA’s health benchmark.
No health-based violations since 2016
Water testing near Roswell
The lab New Mexico certifies closest to Roswell, in a straight line. Call first: certification is test by test, and not every lab takes samples from homeowners.
Cardinal Laboratories
Hobbs, NM · about 73 miles
Certified for bacteria, nitrate, lead and copper, metals, minerals and other inorganics, organic chemicals, disinfection byproducts, PFAS, radioactivity, asbestos
New Mexico Environment Department: Water fairs in New Mexico communities, where well owners bring in a quart of well water to be tested for arsenic, nitrate, fluoride, iron, sulfate, pH and conductivity, with results mailed in two to four weeks. Dates are on the department's calendar. Water Fairs, New Mexico Environment Department.
All 44 certified labs for New MexicoWhich ZIP codes are in Roswell: 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: New Mexico Environment Department, Drinking Water Bureau, laboratories certified to analyze drinking water samples; distances from the Census 2020 ZIP code tabulation area gazetteer.
What to do next
- Read Roswell Municipal Water System’s full reportEvery result with its dates, the violations, and the certification claim that handles each finding.Open the report
- About LithiumWhat it does to health, where it comes from, and the certification claim that addresses it.About Lithium
- On a private well?No utility tests a well. A certified lab test is the first step.How to test well water