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Clarks Branch Water Assoc

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
140 people
Connections
85
Water source
Surface water
Based in
Myrtle Creek, OR
County
Douglas
Owner
Private
The ZIP code it serves

97457

The short answer

1 result is above EPA’s legal limit. The worst: Lead, above the action level. No health-based violations on file since 2016.

What handles it

What was found

Lead and copper: EPA SDWIS monitoring periods ending 2018 to 2027.

Haloacetic acids (HAA5), total trihalomethanes (TTHM) 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 May 9, 2012 to Aug. 31, 2016. Newer results are in the utility’s annual water quality report.

Above the legal limit1

Lead

Comes from pipes, often your own

Above the action level

25ppb

90th percentile, 2025 to 2027

In the latest period, 9 in 10 homes sampled were at or below 25 ppb, above 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 limits3

Haloacetic acids (HAA5)

Forms or is added in treatment

Below EPA’s limits

41ppb

Highest yearly average, 2020 to 2023

2023 average: 26.7 ppb

Averaged by year, the highest was 41 ppb, in 2021, below EPA’s legal limit of 60 ppb. In 2023, the latest year on file, it averaged 26.7 ppb. Earlier, from 2012 to 2019, EPA’s file shows a highest yearly average of 42 ppb, in 2016.

What handles it

No certification claim covers this compound yet.

Total trihalomethanes (TTHM)

Forms or is added in treatment

Below EPA’s limits

47.9ppb

Highest yearly average, 2020 to 2023

2023 average: 33.5 ppb

Averaged by year, the highest was 47.9 ppb, in 2021, below EPA’s legal limit of 80 ppb. In 2023, the latest year on file, it averaged 33.5 ppb. Earlier, from 2012 to 2019, EPA’s file shows a highest yearly average of 74.2 ppb, in 2014.

What handles it

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

Nitrate

Comes from the source

Below EPA’s limits

0.1ppm

Highest yearly average, 2020 to 2023

Averaged by year, the highest was 0.1 ppm, in 2023, below EPA’s legal limit of 10 ppm. That was also the latest year on file. Earlier, from 2012 to 2019, EPA’s file shows a highest sample of 0.31 ppm, in 2015.

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

What this report can’t tell you

  • Everything else. Haloacetic acids (HAA5), total trihalomethanes (TTHM) 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. Clarks Branch Water Assoc’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 May 9, 2012 to Aug. 31, 2016.

Testing your own tap

Clarks Branch Water Assoc’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 Clarks Branch Water Assoc serves, in a straight line. Call first: certification is test by test, and not every lab takes samples from homeowners.

  • Umpqua Research Company

    Myrtle Creek, OR · under a mile

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

    (541) 863-5201

  • Grants Pass Water Laboratory, Inc./The Water Lab

    Grants Pass, OR · about 37 miles

    Certified for bacteria, nitrate, lead and copper, metals, minerals and other inorganics

    (541) 476-0733

  • McCowan Clinical Laboratory Inc.

    Coos Bay, OR · about 50 miles

    Certified for bacteria

    (541) 267-7853

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 OR4100548. Rebuilt from EPA data on Oct. 18, 2026.

Towns it serves

Also in Douglas County

All Oregon utilities

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