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Livingston Water Department

What EPA’s and CDC’s records show in this utility’s water: PFAS and lithium; nitrate, arsenic and other regulated chemicals; lead and copper; and violations since 2016, with the certification that handles each result.

Serves
15,348 people
Connections
6,290
Water source
Surface water
Based in
Livingston, TN
County
Overton
Owner
Local government
The 8 ZIP codes it serves

38541, 38542, 38543, 38562, 38568, 38570, 38573, 38580

The short answer

1 result is above the health goal. The worst: Lead, above the health goal. 2 health-based violations since 2016.

What handles it

What was found

PFAS and lithium: EPA UCMR 5, samples taken from May 2, 2024 to Feb. 11, 2025.

Lead and copper: EPA SDWIS monitoring periods ending 2010 to 2025.

Haloacetic acids (HAA5), total trihalomethanes (TTHM) and nitrate: Tennessee’s yearly averages per water system, as CDC’s Environmental Public Health Tracking Network publishes them, 2020 to 2022, 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 23 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 4 samples, below 4 ppt
PFOS4.0 pptNot foundNot found in any of 4 samples, below 4 ppt
PFHxS10 pptNot foundNot found in any of 4 samples, below 3 ppt
PFNA10 pptNot foundNot found in any of 4 samples, below 4 ppt
HFPO-DA (GenX)10 pptNot foundNot found in any of 4 samples, below 5 ppt
PFBSIndex onlyNot foundNot found in any of 4 samples, below 3 ppt
Hazard IndexPFHxS, PFNA, HFPO-DA and PFBS together1Doesn’t applyDoesn’t apply: no sampling location found two or more of the four
Results from EPA’s UCMR 5 sampling. “Below” is the lab’s reporting level: a result under it reads as not found, which is not the same as zero. 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. PFBS has no limit of its own and counts only toward the Hazard Index, which adds up the four, each against EPA’s health-based level, from each sampling location’s average, as EPA’s UCMR 5 summary does. It counts only where two or more of the four were found, and is above the limit from 1.5.

Above the health goal1

Lead

Comes from pipes, often your own

Above the health goal

1.0ppb

90th percentile, 2023 to 2025

In the latest period, 9 in 10 homes sampled were at or below 1.0 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

Below EPA’s limits3

Haloacetic acids (HAA5)

Forms or is added in treatment

Below EPA’s limits

34.4ppb

Highest yearly average, 2020 to 2022

2022 average: 34.4 ppb

Averaged by year, the highest was 34.4 ppb, in 2021, below EPA’s legal limit of 60 ppb. In 2022, the latest year on file, it averaged 34.4 ppb. Earlier, from 2012 to 2019, EPA’s file shows a highest yearly average of 44.6 ppb, in 2016, and EPA recorded violations in 2014 and 2016.

What handles it

No certification claim covers this compound yet.

Total trihalomethanes (TTHM)

Forms or is added in treatment

Below EPA’s limits

40.8ppb

Highest yearly average, 2020 to 2022

Averaged by year, the highest was 40.8 ppb, in 2022, 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 42.3 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

1.9ppm

Highest yearly average, 2020 to 2022

2022 average: 0.24 ppm

Averaged by year, the highest was 1.9 ppm, in 2021, below EPA’s legal limit of 10 ppm. In 2022, the latest year on file, it averaged 0.24 ppm. Earlier, from 2012 to 2019, EPA’s file shows a highest sample of 0.34 ppm, in 2015.

What handles it

  • NSF/ANSI 58 look for “Nitrate/Nitrite Reduction”
  • NSF/ANSI 53 look for “Nitrate/Nitrite (30 ppm challenge)”
Tennessee utilities above EPA’s PFAS limits
30 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.
  • 11Cl-PF3OUdS
  • 4:2 FTS
  • 6:2 FTS
  • 8:2 FTS
  • 9Cl-PF3ONS
  • ADONA
  • HFPO-DA (GenX)
  • Lithium
  • NEtFOSAA
  • NFDHA
  • NMeFOSAA
  • PFBA
  • PFBS
  • PFDA
  • PFDoA
  • PFEESA
  • PFHpA
  • PFHpS
  • PFHxA
  • PFHxS
  • PFMBA
  • PFMPA
  • PFNA
  • PFOA
  • PFOS
  • PFPeA
  • PFPeS
  • 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.”

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

Disinfectant

Livingston Water Department reported disinfecting with chlorine, not chloramine, at its one sampling point, in its 2024 to 2025 sampling for EPA.

Chlorine leaves water that sits out for a few days, CDC says. A filter certified for it carries a chlorine claim under NSF/ANSI 42; a shower filter, a free chlorine claim under NSF/ANSI 177. This is what the utility reported for that sampling. Its annual water quality report says what it uses now.

Chlorine vs. chloramineShower filters, by what their listings cover

Violations since 2016

Contaminant or ruleTypePeriodMeasuredStatus
Total Haloacetic Acids (HAA5)The running average was above the legal limit.EPA: Maximum Contaminant Level Violation, AverageOct. 1, 2016 to Dec. 31, 20160.063 MG/LResolved
Total Haloacetic Acids (HAA5)The running average was above the legal limit.EPA: Maximum Contaminant Level Violation, AverageJuly 1, 2016 to Sept. 30, 20160.063 MG/LResolved
Health-based violations only. Resolved and archived mean the utility returned to compliance or the state closed the record. 3 monitoring or reporting violations not shown.

What this report can’t tell you

  • Everything else. Haloacetic acids (HAA5), total trihalomethanes (TTHM) and nitrate results here are Tennessee’s yearly averages as CDC publishes them, from 2020 on, with EPA’s national file for 2012 to 2019. Livingston 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 samples are from May 2, 2024 to Feb. 11, 2025; CDC’s yearly averages for Tennessee cover 2020 to 2022.

Testing your own tap

Livingston 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 Tennessee certifies.

The 3 labs Tennessee certifies closest to the area Livingston Water Department serves, in a straight line. Call first: certification is test by test, and not every lab takes samples from homeowners.

  • Tennessee Tech University Water Center

    Cookeville, TN · about 18 miles

    Certified for bacteria, metals, minerals and other inorganics, disinfection byproducts

    (931) 372-3538

  • Assured Bio Labs, LLC

    Oak Ridge, TN · about 65 miles

    Certified for bacteria

    (865) 813-1700

  • DOE Y-12 CNS National Security Complex

    Oak Ridge, TN · about 65 miles

    Certified for metals, minerals and other inorganics, disinfection byproducts, radioactivity

    (865) 576-3099

Tennessee Department of Health: Water quality testing for eligible private wells and springs, through the program formerly called SafeWATCH. Contact the department's Waterborne Disease Team to ask about eligibility. Free for eligible wells and springs. Waterborne Diseases, Tennessee Department of Health.

All 37 certified labs for Tennessee

Sources

PWSID TN0000405. Rebuilt from EPA data on Oct. 18, 2026.

Towns it serves

Nearby

All Tennessee utilities

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