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Arch Cape Water District

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
200 people
Connections
295
Water source
Surface water
Based in
Arch Cape, OR
County
Clatsop
Owner
Local government
The ZIP code it serves

97102

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 2004 to 2025.

Total trihalomethanes (TTHM), haloacetic acids (HAA5) and nitrate: Oregon’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.

Arsenic, chromium (total), fluoride and uranium: EPA’s compliance monitoring file, samples taken from Oct. 20, 2016 to Nov. 6, 2019. Newer results are in the utility’s annual water quality report.

Above the health goal1

Lead

Comes from pipes, often your own

Above the health goal

1.9ppb

90th percentile, 2023 to 2025

In the latest period, 9 in 10 homes sampled were at or below 1.9 ppb, below EPA’s action level of 15 ppb. The action level drops to 10 ppb on Nov. 1, 2027. EPA’s health goal for lead is zero.

What handles it

Below EPA’s limits3

Total trihalomethanes (TTHM)

Forms or is added in treatment

Below EPA’s limits

58ppb

Highest yearly average, 2020 to 2023

2023 average: 45.2 ppb

Averaged by year, the highest was 58 ppb, in 2021, below EPA’s legal limit of 80 ppb. In 2023, the latest year on file, it averaged 45.2 ppb. Earlier, from 2012 to 2019, EPA’s file shows a highest yearly average of 57.3 ppb, in 2019.

What handles it

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

Haloacetic acids (HAA5)

Forms or is added in treatment

Below EPA’s limits

35.9ppb

Highest yearly average, 2020 to 2023

2023 average: 32 ppb

Averaged by year, the highest was 35.9 ppb, in 2021, below EPA’s legal limit of 60 ppb. In 2023, the latest year on file, it averaged 32 ppb. Earlier, from 2012 to 2019, EPA’s file shows a highest yearly average of 33 ppb, in 2016.

What handles it

No certification claim covers this compound yet.

Nitrate

Comes from the source

Below EPA’s limits

0.38ppm

Highest yearly average, 2020 to 2023

2023: not found

Averaged by year, the highest was 0.38 ppm, in 2021, below EPA’s legal limit of 10 ppm. In 2023, the latest year on file, it wasn’t found. Earlier, from 2012 to 2019, EPA’s file shows a highest sample of 0.9 ppm, in 2012.

What handles it

  • NSF/ANSI 58 look for “Nitrate/Nitrite Reduction”
  • NSF/ANSI 53 look for “Nitrate/Nitrite (30 ppm challenge)”
4 compounds tested and not foundBelow the reporting level in every sample. Not found is not the same as zero.
  • Arsenic
  • Chromium (total)
  • Fluoride
  • Uranium

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

What this report can’t tell you

  • Everything else. Total trihalomethanes (TTHM), haloacetic acids (HAA5) and nitrate results here are Oregon’s yearly averages as CDC publishes them, from 2020 on, with EPA’s national file for 2012 to 2019. Arsenic, chromium (total), fluoride and uranium come from EPA’s file alone, which ends in 2019. Arch Cape Water District’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 Oregon cover 2020 to 2023; EPA’s compliance samples are from Oct. 20, 2016 to Nov. 6, 2019.

Testing your own tap

Arch Cape Water District’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 Oregon certifies.

The 3 labs Oregon certifies closest to the area Arch Cape Water District serves, in a straight line. Call first: certification is test by test, and not every lab takes samples from homeowners.

  • Camp Rilea Laboratory

    Warrenton, OR · about 23 miles

    Certified for bacteria, nitrate

    (971) 355-4657

  • OMIC USA Inc.

    Portland, OR · about 62 miles

    (503) 223-1497

  • Alexin Analytical Laboratories, Inc.

    Tigard, OR · about 62 miles

    Certified for bacteria, nitrate, lead and copper, metals, minerals and other inorganics, organic chemicals, disinfection byproducts

    (503) 639-9311

Oregon State University Extension Well Water Program: Nitrate screening of well water at many of its groundwater education events. The screening is free. Water Testing Guidance for Private Wells, OSU Well Water Program.

All 91 certified labs for Oregon

Sources

PWSID OR4100802. Rebuilt from EPA data on Oct. 18, 2026.

Also in Clatsop County

All Oregon utilities

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