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Rutledge Water System

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

Serves
2,137 people
Connections
845
Water source
Surface water bought from another system
Based in
Rutledge, TN
County
Grainger
Owner
Local government
The ZIP code it serves

37861

The short answer

1 result is above the health goal. The worst: Lead, above the health goal. No health-based violations on file since 2016.

What handles it

What was found

Lead and copper: EPA SDWIS monitoring periods ending 2007 to 2028.

Total trihalomethanes (TTHM) and haloacetic acids (HAA5): 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.

Above the health goal1

Lead

Comes from pipes, often your own

Above the health goal

1.0ppb

90th percentile, 2026 to 2028

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 limits2

Total trihalomethanes (TTHM)

Forms or is added in treatment

Below EPA’s limits

39.6ppb

Highest yearly average, 2020 to 2022

2022 average: 37.1 ppb

Averaged by year, the highest was 39.6 ppb, in 2021, below EPA’s legal limit of 80 ppb. In 2022, the latest year on file, it averaged 37.1 ppb. Earlier, from 2012 to 2019, EPA’s file shows a highest yearly average of 44.4 ppb, in 2014.

What handles it

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

Haloacetic acids (HAA5)

Forms or is added in treatment

Below EPA’s limits

11.4ppb

Highest yearly average, 2020 to 2022

Averaged by year, the highest was 11.4 ppb, in 2022, below EPA’s legal limit of 60 ppb. That was also the latest year on file. Earlier, from 2012 to 2019, EPA’s file shows a highest yearly average of 11.8 ppb, in 2018.

What handles it

No certification claim covers this compound yet.

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

Violations since 2016

No health-based violations on file with EPA since 2016. There are 2 monitoring or reporting violations: a sample missed, late or not reported.

What this report can’t tell you

  • Everything else. Total trihalomethanes (TTHM) and haloacetic acids (HAA5) results here are Tennessee’s yearly averages as CDC publishes them, from 2020 on, with EPA’s national file for 2012 to 2019. Rutledge Water System’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; CDC’s yearly averages for Tennessee cover 2020 to 2022.

Testing your own tap

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

  • Eurofins Knoxville

    Knoxville, TN · about 33 miles

    Certified for metals, minerals and other inorganics, organic chemicals

    (865) 291-3000

  • Microbac - Knoxville Division

    Maryville, TN · about 38 miles

    Certified for bacteria, metals, minerals and other inorganics

    (865) 977-1200

  • Microbac Laboratories, Inc - Nashville

    Maryville, TN · about 38 miles

    Certified for bacteria

    (615) 242-1480

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 TN0000600. Rebuilt from EPA data on Oct. 18, 2026.

Towns it serves

Nearby

All Tennessee utilities

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