Deer Island Waterworks

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: 90 people
Connections: 33
Water source: Groundwater
Based in: St Helens, OR
County: Columbia
Owner: Private

The ZIP code it serves

97051

The short answer

Nothing in EPA’s and CDC’s records for this utility is above a health goal. That covers nitrate, arsenic and other regulated chemicals, plus lead and copper, not everything. 3 health-based violations since 2016.

What was found

Copper: EPA’s file records a utility’s copper only when it exceeds the action level. The last here was 2.5 ppm, for the period ending Dec. 31, 1993. None since is on file, so it is not counted as a current finding.

Nitrate, haloacetic acids (HAA5) and total trihalomethanes (TTHM): 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.

Fluoride, arsenic, chromium (total) and uranium: EPA’s compliance monitoring file, samples taken from Aug. 30, 2016 to Oct. 7, 2019. Newer results are in the utility’s annual water quality report.

Below EPA’s limits2

Nitrate

Comes from the source

Below EPA’s limits

4.1ppm

Highest yearly average, 2020 to 2023

2023 average: 2.8 ppm

Averaged by year, the highest was 4.1 ppm, in 2020, below EPA’s legal limit of 10 ppm. In 2023, the latest year on file, it averaged 2.8 ppm. Earlier, from 2012 to 2019, EPA’s file shows a highest sample of 6.4 ppm, in 2012.

What handles it

NSF/ANSI 58 look for “Nitrate/Nitrite Reduction”
NSF/ANSI 53 look for “Nitrate/Nitrite (30 ppm challenge)”

Fluoride

Forms or is added in treatment

Below EPA’s limits

0.13ppm

Highest yearly average, 2019

Averaged by year, the highest was 0.13 ppm, in 2019, below EPA’s legal limit of 4.0 ppm. That is the only year on file.

What handles it

NSF/ANSI 58 look for “Fluoride Reduction”
NSF/ANSI 53 look for “Fluoride”

6 compounds tested and not foundBelow the reporting level in every sample. Not found is not the same as zero.

Arsenic
Chromium (total)
Haloacetic acids (HAA5)
Lead
Total trihalomethanes (TTHM)
Uranium

Violations since 2016

Contaminant or rule	Type	Period	Measured	Status
Lead and Copper Rule Revisions	The required inventory of lead service lines was not completed or submitted on time.EPA: LSL Inventory	Oct. 17, 2024	—	Resolved
Lead and Copper Rule	Water chemistry used to keep pipes from corroding was outside the required range.EPA: WQP Entry Point/Tap Treatment Technique Non-Compliance	July 1, 2024 to Dec. 31, 2024	—	Resolved
Lead and Copper Rule	Water chemistry used to keep pipes from corroding was outside the required range.EPA: WQP Entry Point/Tap Treatment Technique Non-Compliance	Jan. 1, 2024 to June 30, 2024	—	Resolved
Health-based violations only. Resolved and archived mean the utility returned to compliance or the state closed the record. 70 monitoring or reporting violations not shown.

What this report can’t tell you

Everything else. Nitrate, haloacetic acids (HAA5) and total trihalomethanes (TTHM) results here are Oregon’s yearly averages as CDC publishes them, from 2020 on, with EPA’s national file for 2012 to 2019. Fluoride, arsenic, chromium (total) and uranium come from EPA’s file alone, which ends in 2019. Deer Island Waterworks’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 Aug. 30, 2016 to Oct. 7, 2019.

Testing your own tap

Deer Island Waterworks’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 Deer Island Waterworks serves, in a straight line. Call first: certification is test by test, and not every lab takes samples from homeowners.

ALS Environmental, Kelso
Kelso, WA · about 22 miles
Certified for bacteria, nitrate, lead and copper, metals, minerals and other inorganics, organic chemicals, disinfection byproducts, PFAS
(360) 501-3362
BSK Associates ?Vancouver
Vancouver, WA · about 23 miles
Certified for bacteria, nitrate, minerals and other inorganics
(360) 869-6344
OMIC USA Inc.
Portland, OR · about 25 miles
(503) 223-1497

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

EPA UCMR 5 occurrence data, file of Oct. 15, 2026
EPA SDWA bulk download (SDWIS federal data), 2026 Q3
CDC Environmental Public Health Tracking Network, yearly averages Oregon supplied to CDC, 2020 to 2023, read Oct. 8, 2026. TapBuff’s comparisons with EPA’s limits are its own, not CDC’s or Oregon’s.
EPA Six-Year Review 4 compliance monitoring data, 2012 to 2019, file of Feb. 5, 2024
Certified labs: Oregon Environmental Laboratory Accreditation Program, drinking water labs, as listed in TNI LAMS, read Oct. 13, 2026; distances from the Census 2020 ZIP code tabulation area gazetteer
Limits and goals: each contaminant’s page, with its EPA source.
How this page is built: methodology.

PWSID OR4101233. Rebuilt from EPA data on Oct. 18, 2026.

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