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Summit Hill Water Authority

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
2,890 people
Connections
1,284
Water source
Groundwater
Based in
Summit Hill, PA
County
Carbon
Owner
Local government
The ZIP code it serves

18250

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 Feb. 8, 2024 to July 31, 2025.

Lead and copper: EPA SDWIS monitoring periods ending 1993.

Copper: EPA’s file records a utility’s copper only when it exceeds the action level. The last here was 3.2 ppm, for the period ending Dec. 31, 1997. None since is on file, so it is not counted as a current finding.

Total trihalomethanes (TTHM), nitrate, arsenic, chromium (total), fluoride, haloacetic acids (HAA5) and uranium: Pennsylvania’s own results, samples taken from Aug. 6, 2020 to Aug. 6, 2026, with EPA’s 2012 to 2019 file for earlier years.

PFAS: PFOA was found, of the six PFAS in EPA’s 2024 drinking water rule; its result is below.

EPA’s 2024 PFAS rule, compound by compound

PFASEPA’s limitResult
PFOA4.0 pptAbove the health goal0.42 ppt highest, found in 1 of 7 samples. Details
PFOS4.0 pptNot foundNot found in any of 7 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.

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

Lead

Comes from pipes, often your own

Above the health goal

13ppb

90th percentile, 1993

In the latest period, 9 in 10 homes sampled were at or below 13 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

PFOA

Comes from the source

Above the health goal

0.42ppt

Highest sample, Feb. 20, 2025; found in 1 of 7

2025 average: 0.14 ppt

The highest sample was 0.42 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 0.11 ppt, for the year to March 31, 2025: below Pennsylvania’s limit of 14 ppt and below EPA’s new limit of 4.0 ppt. In 2025, the latest year on file, its three samples averaged 0.14 ppt.

What handles it

Below EPA’s limits2

Total trihalomethanes (TTHM)

Forms or is added in treatment

Below EPA’s limits

21ppb

Highest yearly average, 2020 to 2026

Averaged by year, the highest was 21 ppb, in 2026, 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 22.5 ppb, in 2016.

What handles it

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

Nitrate

Comes from the source

Below EPA’s limits

0.17ppm

Highest sample; found in 3 of 6

2025, one sample: 0.1 ppm

The highest sample, in 2022, was 0.17 ppm, below EPA’s legal limit of 10 ppm. In 2025, the latest year on file, its one sample was 0.1 ppm. Earlier, from 2012 to 2019, EPA’s file shows a highest sample of 0.2 ppm, in 2017.

What handles it

  • NSF/ANSI 58 look for “Nitrate/Nitrite Reduction”
  • NSF/ANSI 53 look for “Nitrate/Nitrite (30 ppm challenge)”
10 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
  • Haloacetic acids (HAA5)
  • Uranium

PFAS, from Pennsylvania’s own monitoring

  • HFPO-DA (GenX)
  • PFBS
  • PFHxS
  • PFNA
  • 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: Lead Reduction, PFOA Reduction

    For: Lead, PFOA

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

  • NSF/ANSI 58

    Claims: Lead Reduction, Perfluorooctanoic Acid (PFOA)

    For: Lead, PFOA

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

Contaminant or ruleTypePeriodMeasuredStatus
Groundwater RuleRequired treatment for surface water or groundwater was not met.EPA: Treatment Technique (SWTR and GWR)Dec. 1, 2023 to Dec. 31, 2023—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. Total trihalomethanes (TTHM), nitrate, arsenic, chromium (total), fluoride, haloacetic acids (HAA5) and uranium results here are Pennsylvania’s own from 2020 on, with EPA’s national file for 2012 to 2019. Summit Hill Water Authority’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 Aug. 6, 2020 to Aug. 6, 2026; Pennsylvania’s PFAS results run from Feb. 8, 2024 to July 31, 2025.

Testing your own tap

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

  • HawkMtn Labs Inc

    Hazle Township, PA · about 14 miles

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

    (570) 455-6011

  • ABE Laboratories LLC

    Bath, PA · about 23 miles

    Certified for bacteria, nitrate, minerals and other inorganics

    (610) 837-7721

  • Eurofins Drinking Water and Wastewater Northeast, LLC

    Pottsville, PA · about 25 miles

    Certified for bacteria

    (570) 662-7315

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 PA3130013. Rebuilt from EPA data on Oct. 18, 2026.

Towns it serves

Also in Carbon County

All Pennsylvania utilities

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