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City of Saluda

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
1,814 people
Connections
714
Water source
Surface water bought from another system
Based in
Saluda, NC
County
Polk
Owner
Local government
The ZIP code it serves

28773

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 1995 to 2025.

Haloacetic acids (HAA5) and total trihalomethanes (TTHM): North Carolina’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.

Above the health goal1

Lead

Comes from pipes, often your own

Above the health goal

11ppb

90th percentile, 2023 to 2025

In the latest period, 9 in 10 homes sampled were at or below 11 ppb, below EPA’s action level of 15 ppb. The action level drops to 10 ppb on Nov. 1, 2027, and this result is at or above that. EPA’s health goal for lead is zero.

What handles it

Below EPA’s limits2

Haloacetic acids (HAA5)

Forms or is added in treatment

Below EPA’s limits

29.9ppb

Highest yearly average, 2020 to 2023

2023 average: 14.9 ppb

Averaged by year, the highest was 29.9 ppb, in 2020, below EPA’s legal limit of 60 ppb. In 2023, the latest year on file, it averaged 14.9 ppb. Earlier, from 2012 to 2019, EPA’s file shows a highest yearly average of 39.9 ppb, in 2012.

What handles it

No certification claim covers this compound yet.

Total trihalomethanes (TTHM)

Forms or is added in treatment

Below EPA’s limits

35.8ppb

Highest yearly average, 2020 to 2023

2023 average: 30.5 ppb

Averaged by year, the highest was 35.8 ppb, in 2022, below EPA’s legal limit of 80 ppb. In 2023, the latest year on file, it averaged 30.5 ppb. Earlier, from 2012 to 2019, EPA’s file shows a highest yearly average of 39.6 ppb, in 2012.

What handles it

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

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 are 3 monitoring or reporting violations: a sample missed, late or not reported.

What this report can’t tell you

  • Everything else. Haloacetic acids (HAA5) and total trihalomethanes (TTHM) results here are North Carolina’s yearly averages as CDC publishes them, from 2020 on, with EPA’s national file for 2012 to 2019. City of Saluda’s own annual report, which it must send you every year, has 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 North Carolina cover 2020 to 2023.

Testing your own tap

City of Saluda’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 North Carolina certifies.

The 3 labs North Carolina certifies closest to the area City of Saluda serves, in a straight line. Call first: certification is test by test, and not every lab takes samples from homeowners.

  • Henderson County Health Department

    Hendersonville, NC · about 9 miles

    Certified for bacteria

    (828) 694-6109

  • James & James Environmental Management, Inc.

    Hendersonville, NC · about 13 miles

    Certified for bacteria, nitrate, minerals and other inorganics

    (828) 697-0063

  • Clean Water Labs

    Columbus, NC · about 15 miles

    Certified for bacteria, nitrate

    (828) 393-4136

All 112 certified labs for North Carolina

Sources

PWSID NC0175020. Rebuilt from EPA data on Oct. 18, 2026.

Towns it serves

Also in Polk County

All North Carolina utilities

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