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Penny Park

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
51 people
Connections
20
Water source
Groundwater
Based in
Elizabethtown, PA
County
Lancaster
Owner
Private
The ZIP code it serves

17532

The short answer

2 results are above the health goal. The worst: Nitrate, above the health goal. 4 health-based violations since 2016.

What handles it

What was found

PFAS: Pennsylvania’s own results under its PFAS rule, entry point samples taken from Feb. 19, 2025 to Nov. 10, 2025.

Lead and copper: EPA SDWIS monitoring periods ending 1993 to 2001.

Nitrate, haloacetic acids (HAA5), total trihalomethanes (TTHM), arsenic, chromium (total), fluoride and uranium: Pennsylvania’s own results, samples taken from Jan. 14, 2020 to July 15, 2026, with EPA’s 2012 to 2019 file for earlier years.

PFAS: None of the six PFAS in EPA’s 2024 drinking water rule was found in this utility’s samples.

EPA’s 2024 PFAS rule, compound by compound

PFASEPA’s limitResult
PFOA4.0 pptNot foundNot found in any of 4 samples
PFOS4.0 pptNot foundNot found in any of 4 samples
PFHxS10 pptNot foundNot found in any of 4 samples
PFNA10 pptNot foundNot found in any of 4 samples
HFPO-DA (GenX)10 pptNot foundNot found in any of 4 samples
PFBSIndex onlyNot foundNot found in any of 4 samples
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.

Above the health goal2

Nitrate

Comes from the source

Above the health goal

15.8ppm

Highest sample; found in 29 of 29

2026 average: 5.1 ppm

One sample, in 2026, was above EPA’s legal limit of 10 ppm, at 15.8 ppm. The next sample at the same point, within 30 days, brought the average back under the limit. 10 ppm is also EPA’s health goal. That was also the latest year on file, and its five samples averaged 5.1 ppm. EPA recorded no violation for nitrate at this utility since 2020. Earlier, from 2012 to 2019, EPA’s file shows a highest sample of 15 ppm, in 2017, and EPA recorded a violation in 2017.

What handles it

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

Lead

Comes from pipes, often your own

Above the health goal

14ppb

90th percentile, 2001

In the latest period, 9 in 10 homes sampled were at or below 14 ppb, below 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 limits2

Haloacetic acids (HAA5)

Forms or is added in treatment

Below EPA’s limits

8.9ppb

Highest yearly average, 2022 to 2025

2025: not found

Averaged by year, the highest was 8.9 ppb, in 2022, below EPA’s legal limit of 60 ppb. In 2025, the latest year on file, it wasn’t found in its one sample. Earlier, from 2012 to 2019, EPA’s file shows a highest yearly average of 7.0 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

10.9ppb

Highest yearly average, 2022 to 2025

2025: not found

Averaged by year, the highest was 10.9 ppb, in 2022, below EPA’s legal limit of 80 ppb. In 2025, the latest year on file, it wasn’t found in its one sample. Earlier, from 2012 to 2019, EPA’s file shows a highest yearly average of 1.0 ppb, in 2016.

What handles it

  • NSF/ANSI 53 look for “Trihalomethanes (TTHM) Reduction”
  • NSF/ANSI 58 look for “Trihalomethanes (TTHM) Reduction”
10 compounds tested and not foundIncluding all six PFAS in EPA’s 2024 rule. Below 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)
  • PFBS
  • PFHxS
  • PFNA
  • PFOA
  • PFOS

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: Nitrate/Nitrite (30 ppm challenge), Lead Reduction

    For: Nitrate, Lead

  • NSF/ANSI 58

    Claims: Nitrate/Nitrite Reduction, Lead Reduction

    For: Nitrate, Lead

    Other certifiers’ wording: Nitrate

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 reverse osmosis systems, ranked

The best water filters for lead, ranked

Violations since 2016

Contaminant or ruleTypePeriodMeasuredStatus
Groundwater RuleRequired treatment for surface water or groundwater was not met.EPA: Treatment Technique (SWTR and GWR)July 1, 2022 to July 31, 2022—Resolved
Groundwater RuleRequired treatment for surface water or groundwater was not met.EPA: Treatment Technique (SWTR and GWR)July 1, 2018 to July 31, 2018—Resolved
NitrateThe running average was above the legal limit.EPA: Maximum Contaminant Level Violation, AverageOct. 1, 2017 to Dec. 31, 201713.4 MG/LResolved
Groundwater RuleRequired treatment for surface water or groundwater was not met.EPA: Treatment Technique (SWTR and GWR)Feb. 1, 2017 to Feb. 28, 2017—Resolved
Health-based violations only. Resolved and archived mean the utility returned to compliance or the state closed the record. 12 monitoring or reporting violations not shown.

What this report can’t tell you

  • Everything else. Nitrate, haloacetic acids (HAA5), total trihalomethanes (TTHM), arsenic, chromium (total), fluoride and uranium results here are Pennsylvania’s own from 2020 on, with EPA’s national file for 2012 to 2019. Penny Park’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 Jan. 14, 2020 to July 15, 2026; Pennsylvania’s PFAS results run from Feb. 19, 2025 to Nov. 10, 2025.

Testing your own tap

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

  • Eurofins Lancaster Laboratories Environment Testing, LLC

    Lancaster, PA · about 15 miles

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

    (717) 656-2300

  • Waypoint Analytical - PA Inc.

    Leola, PA · about 18 miles

    Certified for bacteria, nitrate

    (717) 656-9326

  • H.O. Thompson Testing Lab

    Parkesburg, PA · about 21 miles

    Certified for bacteria

    (610) 593-5030

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 PA7360056. Rebuilt from EPA data on Oct. 18, 2026.

Also in Lancaster County

All Pennsylvania utilities

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