Carefree Valley Resort
What EPA’s and Texas’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
- 600 people
- Connections
- 200
- Water source
- Surface water bought from another system
- Based in
- Harlingen, TX
- County
- Cameron
- Owner
- Private
The ZIP code it serves
The short answer
Nothing in EPA’s and Texas’s records for this utility is above a health goal. That covers nitrate, arsenic and other regulated chemicals, plus lead and copper, not everything. 1 health-based violation since 2016.
What was found
Total trihalomethanes (TTHM), haloacetic acids (HAA5) and nitrate: Texas’s own results, samples taken from Oct. 19, 2020 to Oct. 22, 2025.
Below EPA’s limits3
Total trihalomethanes (TTHM)
Forms or is added in treatment
42.6ppb
Highest yearly average, 2021 to 2025
Averaged by year, the highest was 42.6 ppb, in 2025, below EPA’s legal limit of 80 ppb. Its highest single sample was 90.6 ppb. That was also the latest year on file. EPA recorded no violation for total trihalomethanes (TTHM) at this utility since 2020.
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
20.8ppb
Highest yearly average, 2021 to 2025
2025 average: 14.6 ppb
Averaged by year, the highest was 20.8 ppb, in 2024, below EPA’s legal limit of 60 ppb. In 2025, the latest year on file, its three samples averaged 14.6 ppb.
What handles it
No certification claim covers this compound yet.
Nitrate
Comes from the source
1.4ppm
Highest sample; found in 23 of 23
2025 average: 0.59 ppm
The highest sample, in 2025, was 1.4 ppm, below EPA’s legal limit of 10 ppm. That was also the latest year on file, and its five samples averaged 0.59 ppm.
What handles it
- NSF/ANSI 58 look for “Nitrate/Nitrite Reduction”
- NSF/ANSI 53 look for “Nitrate/Nitrite (30 ppm challenge)”
One compound tested and not foundBelow the reporting level in every sample. Not found is not the same as zero.
- Lead
Violations since 2016
| Contaminant or rule | Type | Period | Measured | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lead and Copper Rule Revisions | The required inventory of lead service lines was not completed or submitted on time.EPA: LSL Inventory | Oct. 17, 2024 | — | Unaddressed |
| Health-based violations only. Resolved and archived mean the utility returned to compliance or the state closed the record. 18 monitoring or reporting violations not shown. | ||||
What this report can’t tell you
Everything else. Total trihalomethanes (TTHM), haloacetic acids (HAA5) and nitrate results here are Texas’s own from 2020 on, with EPA’s national file for 2012 to 2019. Carefree Valley Resort’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; Texas’s results run from Oct. 19, 2020 to Oct. 22, 2025.
Testing your own tap
The lab Texas certifies closest to the area Carefree Valley Resort serves, in a straight line. Call first: certification is test by test, and not every lab takes samples from homeowners.
Texas Department of State Health Services South Texas Laboratory
Harlingen, TX · under a mile
Certified for bacteria
Texas Well Owner Network, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension: Well Informed screening events, where well owners bring in water samples to be screened for common contaminants, followed by an hour-long session explaining the results. Upcoming events are on the network's calendar. Trainings, Texas Well Owner Network.
All 80 certified labs for TexasSources
- EPA UCMR 5 occurrence data, file of Oct. 15, 2026
- EPA SDWA bulk download (SDWIS federal data), 2026 Q3
- Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, Texas Drinking Water Viewer, results from Jan. 7, 2020 to Oct. 6, 2026, read Oct. 16, 2026
- Certified labs: TCEQ, drinking water laboratories approved for public water system samples, read Oct. 10, 2026; distances from the Census 2020 ZIP code tabulation area gazetteer
- Limits and goals: each contaminant’s page, with its EPA source.
- How this page is built: methodology.
PWSID TX0310145. Rebuilt from EPA data on Oct. 18, 2026.
What to do next
- Nothing here is above a health goalIn EPA’s and Texas’s records for this utility. They don’t cover everything, which is why the next step matters.Every contaminant TapBuff tracks
- Get the utility’s own reportCarefree Valley Resort must send you a water quality report every year. It covers contaminants this page does not show.How to read it
- Test your own tap for leadYour service line, solder and fixtures decide the lead at your faucet, not the utility’s average.Lead in your water: what to do
- Decide if you want a filter at allA filter for taste or chlorine is a preference, not a need. The standards say what each kind can do.NSF/ANSI standards, decoded