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Is Rapid City, SD tap water safe?

3 utilities serve Rapid City, by EPA’s records. Here is what EPA’s records show for each, against the legal limits and the stricter health goals.

Matched to your utility using EPA records.

The short answer

None of the 3 utilities serving Rapid City has a result above a legal limit or action level, or a health-based violation since 2016, in EPA’s records.

Rapid City, which serves the most people here, has 2 results above the health goal. The worst: Lead at 6.0 ppb, above the health goal. Health goals are stricter than legal limits and are not enforced.

A town can be served by more than one utility, and some homes are on private wells. The name on your water bill tells you which is yours, and your ZIP code narrows it down. They are listed by how many people each serves in Rapid City’s ZIP codes, from EPA’s estimates.

What handles it

Each of these is certified, on a certifier’s listing, for a result above a line in Rapid City’s water, which serves the most people here. Another utility’s report names what handles its own results.

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Every claim, and more filters, in the full report

Water testing near Rapid City

A utility tests the water it sends out. A test of your own tap shows what your pipes add, and on a private well it is the only test there is. It takes a lab South Dakota certifies.

The lab South Dakota certifies closest to Rapid City, in a straight line. Call first: certification is test by test, and not every lab takes samples from homeowners.

  • Mid Continent Testing Laboratory

    Rapid City, SD · under a mile

    Certified for bacteria, minerals and other inorganics, organic chemicals, disinfection byproducts

    (605) 348-0111

South Dakota Public Health Laboratory: Sample bottles for testing a private well for bacteria and nitrate, lead, or a new-well panel, ordered online from the lab or picked up at a County Extension office. Instructions and fees come with the bottles. Test a Private Well, South Dakota Department of Health.

All 16 certified labs for South Dakota

ZIP codes in Rapid City

Which ZIP codes are in Rapid City: Census 2020 relationship files. Which utilities serve them, and how many people: EPA SDWIS and EPA’s service area map. Each utility’s results: EPA UCMR 5, EPA SDWIS, and EPA’s and the state’s compliance monitoring, as its report lists them. How they are measured: methodology. Certified labs: South Dakota DANR, laboratories certified for the analysis of drinking water; distances from the Census 2020 ZIP code tabulation area gazetteer.

Near Rapid City

Towns nearby with a page of their own.

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