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South Mountain Restoration Ctr

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
950 people
Connections
25
Water source
Surface water
Based in
South Mountain, PA
County
Franklin
Owner
State government
Hardness
Soft
The ZIP code it serves

17222

The short answer

2 results are above the health goal. The worst: Lead, above the health goal. 1 health-based violation since 2016.

What handles it

What was found

PFAS: Pennsylvania’s own results under its PFAS rule, entry point samples taken from March 13, 2024 to Dec. 23, 2025.

Lead and copper: EPA SDWIS monitoring periods ending 1993 to 2007.

Copper: EPA’s file records a utility’s copper only when it exceeds the action level. The last here was 3.8 ppm, for the period ending Dec. 31, 1993. None since is on file, so it is not counted as a current finding.

Arsenic, haloacetic acids (HAA5), total trihalomethanes (TTHM), chromium (total), fluoride, nitrate and uranium: Pennsylvania’s own results, samples taken from Jan. 9, 2020 to Aug. 11, 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. None of the other 12 PFAS tested for was found either.

EPA’s 2024 PFAS rule, compound by compound

PFASEPA’s limitResult
PFOA4.0 pptNot foundNot found in any of 13 samples
PFOS4.0 pptNot foundNot found in any of 13 samples
PFHxS10 pptNot foundNot found in any of 11 samples
PFNA10 pptNot foundNot found in any of 11 samples
HFPO-DA (GenX)10 pptNot foundNot found in any of 11 samples
PFBSIndex onlyNot foundNot found in any of 11 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

Lead

Comes from pipes, often your own

Above the health goal

4.4ppb

90th percentile, 2007

In the latest period, 9 in 10 homes sampled were at or below 4.4 ppb, below EPA’s action level of 15 ppb. The action level drops to 10 ppb on Nov. 1, 2027. EPA’s health goal for lead is zero.

What handles it

Arsenic

Comes from the source

Above the health goal

2.0ppb

Highest yearly average, 2020 to 2025

2025: not found

Averaged by year, the highest was 2.0 ppb, in 2022: below EPA’s legal limit of 10 ppb, but above its health goal of zero. In 2025, the latest year on file, it wasn’t found in any of its two samples.

What handles it

  • NSF/ANSI 58 look for “Arsenic (Pentavalent)<=50 ppb Reduction”
  • NSF/ANSI 53 look for “Arsenic (Pentavalent)<=50 ppb Reduction”

Below EPA’s limits2

Haloacetic acids (HAA5)

Forms or is added in treatment

Below EPA’s limits

10.3ppb

Highest yearly average, 2020 to 2026

Averaged by year, the highest was 10.3 ppb, in 2026, below EPA’s legal limit of 60 ppb. Its highest single sample was 17.9 ppb. That was also the latest year on file. Earlier, from 2012 to 2019, EPA’s file shows a highest yearly average of 32.1 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

10.9ppb

Highest yearly average, 2020 to 2026

Averaged by year, the highest was 10.9 ppb, in 2026, below EPA’s legal limit of 80 ppb. Its highest single sample was 18.3 ppb. That was also the latest year on file. Earlier, from 2012 to 2019, EPA’s file shows a highest yearly average of 33.2 ppb, in 2019.

What handles it

  • NSF/ANSI 53 look for “Trihalomethanes (TTHM) Reduction”
  • NSF/ANSI 58 look for “Trihalomethanes (TTHM) Reduction”
22 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

  • Chromium (total)
  • Fluoride
  • Nitrate
  • 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
  • PFOS
  • 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, Arsenic (Pentavalent)<=50 ppb Reduction

    For: Lead, Arsenic

    Other certifiers’ wording: Arsenic (III) (50 ppb influent level)

  • NSF/ANSI 58

    Claims: Lead Reduction, Arsenic (Pentavalent)<=50 ppb Reduction

    For: Lead, Arsenic

    Other certifiers’ wording: Arsenic (Pentavalent)<=300 ppb Reduction; Arsenic (V) (300 ppb influent level)

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 reverse osmosis systems, ranked

Hardness

Soft, 7.8 mg/L (0.5 grains per gallon), at its one sampling point, in 2020.

Hardness is calcium and magnesium. EPA sets no limit for it: it shows up as scale on fixtures and in water heaters, and as soap that won’t lather. USGS calls water above 60 mg/L moderately hard, above 120 hard and above 180 very hard.

Softeners compared at 0.5 grains per gallon, salt includedSoftener or salt-free conditioner?Pennsylvania water hardness, utility by utility

Violations since 2016

Contaminant or ruleTypePeriodMeasuredStatus
Surface Water Treatment RuleRequired treatment for surface water or groundwater was not met.EPA: Treatment Technique (SWTR and GWR)Jan. 1, 2019 to Jan. 31, 2019—Resolved
Health-based violations only. Resolved and archived mean the utility returned to compliance or the state closed the record. 186 monitoring or reporting violations not shown.

What this report can’t tell you

  • Everything else. Arsenic, haloacetic acids (HAA5), total trihalomethanes (TTHM), chromium (total), fluoride, nitrate and uranium results here are Pennsylvania’s own from 2020 on, with EPA’s national file for 2012 to 2019. South Mountain Restoration Ctr’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. 9, 2020 to Aug. 11, 2026; Pennsylvania’s PFAS results run from March 13, 2024 to Dec. 23, 2025.

Testing your own tap

South Mountain Restoration Ctr’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 South Mountain Restoration Ctr serves, in a straight line. Call first: certification is test by test, and not every lab takes samples from homeowners.

  • SPL-Chambersburg

    Chambersburg, PA · about 10 miles

    Certified for bacteria

    (717) 263-9970

  • Laboratory, Analytical and Biological Services, Inc

    New Oxford, PA · about 22 miles

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

    (717) 259-6550

  • H2O Environmental LLC

    Harrisburg, PA · about 45 miles

    Certified for bacteria

    (717) 743-9310

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 PA7280042. Rebuilt from EPA data on Oct. 18, 2026.

Also in Franklin County

All Pennsylvania utilities

What to do next