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Is Charleston, TN tap water safe?

5 utilities serve Charleston, by EPA’s records. Here is what EPA’s and CDC’s records show for each, against the legal limits and the stricter health goals.

Matched to your utility using EPA records.

The short answer

1 of the 5 utilities serving Charleston has a result above a legal limit or action level, or a health-based violation since 2016, in EPA’s and CDC’s records: River Landing Condominium Assoc.

Cleveland Utilities, which serves the most people here, has 2 results above the health goal. The worst: Arsenic at 1.0 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 Charleston’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 Cleveland Utilities’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 Charleston

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 Tennessee certifies.

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

  • AIRL, Inc.

    Cleveland, TN · about 10 miles

    Certified for bacteria, metals, minerals and other inorganics

    (423) 476-7766

  • Assured Bio Labs, LLC

    Oak Ridge, TN · about 55 miles

    Certified for bacteria

    (865) 813-1700

  • DOE Y-12 CNS National Security Complex

    Oak Ridge, TN · about 55 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

ZIP codes in Charleston

Which ZIP codes are in Charleston: 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: TDEC, commercial laboratories certified for drinking water analysis; distances from the Census 2020 ZIP code tabulation area gazetteer.

Near Charleston

Towns nearby with a page of their own.

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