Skip to content
TapBuff
ZIP

Paw Golden Oaks

What EPA’s and Pennsylvania’s records show in this utility’s water: PFAS; nitrate, arsenic and other regulated chemicals; lead and copper; and violations since 2016, with the certification that handles each result.

Serves
100 people
Connections
55
Water source
Groundwater
Based in
Birdsboro, PA
County
Berks
Owner
Private
The ZIP code it serves

19522

The short answer

2 results are above the health goal. The worst: PFOS, above the health goal. No health-based violations on file since 2016.

What handles it

What was found

PFAS: Pennsylvania’s own results under its PFAS rule, entry point samples taken from Jan. 11, 2024 to July 13, 2026.

Copper: EPA’s file records a utility’s copper only when it exceeds the action level. The last here was 2.1 ppm, for the period ending June 30, 2005. None since is on file, so it is not counted as a current finding.

Total trihalomethanes (TTHM), haloacetic acids (HAA5), nitrate, arsenic, chromium (total), fluoride and uranium: Pennsylvania’s own results, samples taken from May 4, 2020 to May 14, 2026, with EPA’s 2012 to 2019 file for earlier years.

PFAS: PFOS, PFOA and PFBS were found, of the six PFAS in EPA’s 2024 drinking water rule; their results are below.

EPA’s 2024 PFAS rule, compound by compound

PFASEPA’s limitResult
PFOA4.0 pptAbove the health goal2.0 ppt highest, found in 1 of 12 samples. Details
PFOS4.0 pptAbove the health goal2.5 ppt highest, found in 3 of 13 samples. Details
PFHxS10 pptNot foundNot found in any of 7 samples
PFNA10 pptNot foundNot found in any of 7 samples
HFPO-DA (GenX)10 pptNot foundNot found in any of 7 samples
PFBSIndex onlyBelow EPA’s limits2.2 ppt highest, found in 1 of 8 samples. Details
Results from Pennsylvania’s own PFAS monitoring, samples where water enters the pipes; each compound’s card has its four-quarter averages, the way limits are judged. The limits are EPA’s 2024 rule, with compliance due from 2029; EPA has since proposed changes to some of them, explained on each compound’s page. Pennsylvania’s own limits for PFOA and PFOS are in force now. PFBS has no limit of its own and counts only toward EPA’s Hazard Index, which TapBuff works out only from UCMR 5’s averages, so it isn’t given here.

About PFAS certifications

NSF’s PFAS claims are tested to below 20 ppt. EPA’s limit is 4.0 ppt, and EPA says no certification yet shows a filter reaching its levels.

Above the health goal2

PFOS

Comes from the source

Above the health goal

2.5ppt

Highest sample, July 2, 2025; found in 3 of 13

2026 average: 0.57 ppt

The highest sample was 2.5 ppt: below EPA’s new limit of 4.0 ppt, which takes effect in 2029, but above its health goal of zero. Averaged over four quarters at one entry point, the way both Pennsylvania’s limit and EPA’s are judged, the highest was 0.91 ppt, for the year to Dec. 31, 2025: below Pennsylvania’s limit of 18 ppt and below EPA’s new limit of 4.0 ppt. In 2026, the latest year on file, its four samples averaged 0.57 ppt.

What handles it

PFOA

Comes from the source

Above the health goal

2.0ppt

Highest sample, July 2, 2025; found in 1 of 12

2026: not found

The highest sample was 2.0 ppt: below EPA’s new limit of 4.0 ppt, which takes effect in 2029, but above its health goal of zero. Averaged over four quarters at one entry point, the way both Pennsylvania’s limit and EPA’s are judged, the highest was 0.25 ppt, for the year to Sept. 30, 2025: below Pennsylvania’s limit of 14 ppt and below EPA’s new limit of 4.0 ppt. In 2026, the latest year on file, it wasn’t found in any of its three samples.

What handles it

Below EPA’s limits4

Total trihalomethanes (TTHM)

Forms or is added in treatment

Below EPA’s limits

55.3ppb

Highest yearly average, 2022 to 2025

Averaged by year, the highest was 55.3 ppb, in 2025, below EPA’s legal limit of 80 ppb. That was also the latest year on file. Earlier, from 2012 to 2019, EPA’s file shows a highest yearly average of 51.1 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

14.3ppb

Highest yearly average, 2022 to 2025

Averaged by year, the highest was 14.3 ppb, in 2025, below EPA’s legal limit of 60 ppb. That was also the latest year on file. Earlier, from 2012 to 2019, EPA’s file shows a highest yearly average of 13 ppb, in 2019.

What handles it

No certification claim covers this compound yet.

Nitrate

Comes from the source

Below EPA’s limits

2.3ppm

Highest sample; found in 9 of 9

2026 average: 2.3 ppm

The highest sample, in 2026, was 2.3 ppm, below EPA’s legal limit of 10 ppm. That was also the latest year on file, and its two samples averaged 2.3 ppm. Earlier, from 2012 to 2019, EPA’s file shows a highest sample of 2.6 ppm, in 2017.

What handles it

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

PFBS

Comes from the source

Below EPA’s limits

2.2ppt

Highest sample, July 13, 2026; found in 1 of 8

2026 average: 0.55 ppt

The highest sample was 2.2 ppt, below EPA’s hazard index benchmark of 2,000 ppt. PFBS has no legal limit or health goal of its own. In 2026, the latest year on file, its four samples averaged 0.55 ppt.

What handles it

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

From routine monitoring

  • Arsenic
  • Chromium (total)
  • Fluoride
  • Uranium

PFAS, from Pennsylvania’s own monitoring

  • HFPO-DA (GenX)
  • PFHxS
  • PFNA

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.”

  • NSF/ANSI 53

    Claims: PFOS Reduction, PFOA Reduction

    For: PFOS, PFOA

    Other certifiers’ wording: Total PFAS Reduction; Perfluorooctane Sulfonate (PFOS); Perfluorooctanoic Acid (PFOA)

  • NSF/ANSI 58

    Claims: Perfluorooctane Sulfonate (PFOS), Perfluorooctanoic Acid (PFOA)

    For: PFOS, PFOA

At the tap, or for the whole house?

These come with the water itself, so a whole-house system certified for the same claims treats every tap and shower. A filter at the tap treats drinking water for much less. 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 PFAS, ranked

Violations since 2016

No health-based violations on file with EPA since 2016.

What this report can’t tell you

  • Everything else. Total trihalomethanes (TTHM), haloacetic acids (HAA5), nitrate, arsenic, chromium (total), fluoride and uranium results here are Pennsylvania’s own from 2020 on, with EPA’s national file for 2012 to 2019. Paw Golden Oaks’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; Pennsylvania’s results run from May 4, 2020 to May 14, 2026; Pennsylvania’s PFAS results run from Jan. 11, 2024 to July 13, 2026.

Testing your own tap

Paw Golden Oaks’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 Pennsylvania certifies.

The 3 labs Pennsylvania certifies closest to the area Paw Golden Oaks serves, in a straight line. Call first: certification is test by test, and not every lab takes samples from homeowners.

  • SPL - Reading

    Reading, PA · about 7 miles

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

    (610) 375-8378

  • M. J. Reider Associates Inc

    Reading, PA · about 11 miles

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

    (610) 374-5129

  • Analytical Laboratories, Inc

    Telford, PA · about 25 miles

    Certified for bacteria, nitrate

    (215) 723-6466

Penn State Agricultural Analytical Services Laboratory: Drinking water test kits from many county Extension offices, mailed back to the lab overnight with payment. Packages cover bacteria and basic chemistry, with add-ons for nitrate, metals, lead, and mining or gas drilling concerns. The standard package of bacteria, pH and total dissolved solids is $60, or $70 with nitrate; bacteria alone is $40, nitrate $15 and lead $25. Drinking Water Testing, Penn State Agricultural Analytical Services Lab.

All 108 certified labs for Pennsylvania

Sources

PWSID PA3060126. Rebuilt from EPA data on Oct. 18, 2026.

Also in Berks County

All Pennsylvania utilities

What to do next