Is St. Helena, NC tap water safe?
The short answer
2 of the 2 utilities serving St. Helena have a result above a legal limit or action level, or a health-based violation since 2016, in EPA’s and CDC’s records: Town of Burgaw and Pender County Utilities.
Town of Burgaw, which serves the most people here, has 1 result above EPA’s health benchmark. The worst: Lithium at 16.7 ppb, above EPA’s health benchmark. A health benchmark is a level EPA screens with, not a 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 St. Helena’s ZIP codes, from EPA’s estimates.
- Open report
Town of Burgaw
North Carolina · serves 4,250 people · about 130 in St. Helena
1 result above EPA’s health benchmark. The worst: Lithium at 16.7 ppb, above EPA’s health benchmark.
1 health-based violation since 2016
- Open report
Pender County Utilities
North Carolina · serves 32,302 people · under 100 in St. Helena
2 results above the legal limit and 1 result above the health goal. The worst: Total trihalomethanes (TTHM) at 64.1 ppb, above the legal limit.
16 health-based violations since 2016
Water testing near St. Helena
The 3 labs North Carolina certifies closest to St. Helena, in a straight line. Call first: certification is test by test, and not every lab takes samples from homeowners.
New Hanover County Health Dept.
Wilmington, NC · about 20 miles
Certified for bacteria
Cape Fear Analytical, LLC
Wilmington, NC · about 21 miles
Certified for organic chemicals
Environmental Chemists, Inc.
Wilmington, NC · about 21 miles
Certified for bacteria, nitrate, lead and copper, metals, minerals and other inorganics, organic chemicals, disinfection byproducts, radioactivity
ZIP codes in St. Helena
Which ZIP codes are in St. Helena: 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: North Carolina State Laboratory of Public Health, certified drinking water laboratories; distances from the Census 2020 ZIP code tabulation area gazetteer.
Near St. Helena
Other towns in Pender County with a page of their own.
What to do next
- Read Town of Burgaw’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