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Port Allegany Water Department

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
2,591 people
Connections
1,033
Water source
Groundwater
Based in
Port Allegany, PA
County
McKean
Owner
Local government
The ZIP code it serves

16743

The short answer

1 result is above EPA’s legal limit, and 1 more is above the health goal. The worst: Lead, above the action level. 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 Feb. 7, 2024 to July 16, 2026.

Lead and copper: EPA SDWIS monitoring periods ending 1993 to 2013.

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 Dec. 31, 1993. None since is on file, so it is not counted as a current finding.

Nitrate, haloacetic acids (HAA5), total trihalomethanes (TTHM), arsenic, chromium (total), fluoride and uranium: Pennsylvania’s own results, samples taken from July 22, 2020 to Sept. 10, 2026, with EPA’s 2012 to 2019 file for earlier years.

PFAS: PFOS was found, of the six PFAS in EPA’s 2024 drinking water rule; its result is below. None of the other 12 PFAS tested for was found.

EPA’s 2024 PFAS rule, compound by compound

PFASEPA’s limitResult
PFOA4.0 pptNot foundNot found in any of 15 samples
PFOS4.0 pptAbove the health goal2.4 ppt highest, found in 3 of 15 samples. Details
PFHxS10 pptNot foundNot found in any of 15 samples
PFNA10 pptNot foundNot found in any of 15 samples
HFPO-DA (GenX)10 pptNot foundNot found in any of 15 samples
PFBSIndex onlyNot foundNot found in any of 15 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.

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 legal limit1

Lead

Comes from pipes, often your own

Above the action level

20.6ppb

90th percentile, 2013

In the latest period, 9 in 10 homes sampled were at or below 20.6 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

Above the health goal1

PFOS

Comes from the source

Above the health goal

2.4ppt

Highest sample, July 17, 2024; found in 3 of 15

2026 average: 0.71 ppt

The highest sample was 2.4 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 1.1 ppt, for the year to Dec. 31, 2024: 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 three samples averaged 0.71 ppt.

What handles it

Below EPA’s limits3

Nitrate

Comes from the source

Below EPA’s limits

2.6ppm

Highest sample; found in 16 of 21

2026 average: 1.6 ppm

The highest sample, in 2026, was 2.6 ppm, below EPA’s legal limit of 10 ppm. That was also the latest year on file, and its three samples averaged 1.6 ppm. Earlier, from 2012 to 2019, EPA’s file shows a highest sample of 2.2 ppm, in 2014.

What handles it

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

Haloacetic acids (HAA5)

Forms or is added in treatment

Below EPA’s limits

5.9ppb

Highest yearly average, 2020 to 2026

2026: not found

Averaged by year, the highest was 5.9 ppb, in 2021, below EPA’s legal limit of 60 ppb. Its highest single sample was 6.5 ppb. In 2026, the latest year on file, it wasn’t found in any of its two samples. Earlier, from 2012 to 2019, EPA’s file shows a highest yearly average of 0.58 ppb, in 2012.

What handles it

No certification claim covers this compound yet.

Total trihalomethanes (TTHM)

Forms or is added in treatment

Below EPA’s limits

4.2ppb

Highest yearly average, 2020 to 2026

Averaged by year, the highest was 4.2 ppb, in 2026, below EPA’s legal limit of 80 ppb. Its highest single sample was 4.5 ppb. That was also the latest year on file. Earlier, from 2012 to 2019, EPA’s file shows a highest yearly average of 5.2 ppb, in 2015.

What handles it

  • NSF/ANSI 53 look for “Trihalomethanes (TTHM) Reduction”
  • NSF/ANSI 58 look for “Trihalomethanes (TTHM) Reduction”
21 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

  • 11Cl-PF3OUdS
  • 9Cl-PF3ONS
  • ADONA
  • HFPO-DA (GenX)
  • NEtFOSAA
  • NMeFOSAA
  • PFBS
  • PFDA
  • PFDoA
  • PFHpA
  • PFHxA
  • PFHxS
  • PFNA
  • PFOA
  • PFTA
  • PFTrDA
  • PFUnA

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: Lead Reduction, PFOS Reduction

    For: Lead, PFOS

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

  • NSF/ANSI 58

    Claims: Lead Reduction, Perfluorooctane Sulfonate (PFOS)

    For: Lead, PFOS

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

The best water filters for PFAS, ranked

Violations since 2016

No health-based violations on file with EPA since 2016. There are 10 monitoring or reporting violations: a sample missed, late or not reported.

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. Port Allegany Water Department’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 July 22, 2020 to Sept. 10, 2026; Pennsylvania’s PFAS results run from Feb. 7, 2024 to July 16, 2026.

Testing your own tap

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

  • Cattaraugus County Department of Health Laboratory

    Olean, NY · about 23 miles

    Certified for bacteria

    (716) 701-3434

  • White Oak Laboratory LLC

    Ridgway, PA · about 39 miles

    Certified for bacteria, nitrate, minerals and other inorganics

    (814) 772-5927

  • Pace Analytical Services, LLC - Dubois

    Dubois, PA · about 51 miles

    Certified for bacteria, nitrate

    (814) 371-6030

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 PA6420021. Rebuilt from EPA data on Oct. 18, 2026.

Also in McKean County

All Pennsylvania utilities

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