International Alert Academy

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: 300 people
Connections: 100
Water source: Groundwater
Based in: Big Sandy, TX
County: Upshur
Owner: Private

The ZIP code it serves

75755

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

Copper: EPA’s file records a utility’s copper only when it exceeds the action level. The last here was 2.4 ppm, for the period ending Dec. 31, 2017. None since is on file, so it is not counted as a current finding.

Total trihalomethanes (TTHM), haloacetic acids (HAA5), nitrate, fluoride, arsenic, chromium (total) and uranium: Texas’s own results, samples taken from Sept. 21, 2020 to Sept. 7, 2026, with EPA’s 2012 to 2019 file for earlier years.

Below EPA’s limits4

Total trihalomethanes (TTHM)

Forms or is added in treatment

Below EPA’s limits

69.2ppb

Highest yearly average, 2020 to 2026

2026, one sample: 44.4 ppb

Averaged by year, the highest was 69.2 ppb, in 2020, below EPA’s legal limit of 80 ppb. In 2026, the latest year on file, its one sample was 44.4 ppb. Earlier, from 2012 to 2019, EPA’s file shows a highest yearly average of 89.3 ppb, in 2015.

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

16ppb

Highest yearly average, 2020 to 2026

2026, one sample: 11 ppb

Averaged by year, the highest was 16 ppb, in 2020, below EPA’s legal limit of 60 ppb. In 2026, the latest year on file, its one sample was 11 ppb. Earlier, from 2012 to 2019, EPA’s file shows a highest yearly average of 49.8 ppb, in 2013.

What handles it

No certification claim covers this compound yet.

Nitrate

Comes from the source

Below EPA’s limits

1.2ppm

Highest sample; found in 7 of 7

2026, one sample: 0.58 ppm

The highest sample, in 2023, was 1.2 ppm, below EPA’s legal limit of 10 ppm. In 2026, the latest year on file, its one sample was 0.58 ppm.

What handles it

NSF/ANSI 58 look for “Nitrate/Nitrite Reduction”
NSF/ANSI 53 look for “Nitrate/Nitrite (30 ppm challenge)”

Fluoride

Forms or is added in treatment

Below EPA’s limits

0.05ppm

Highest yearly average, 2023 to 2026

Averaged by year, the highest was 0.05 ppm, in 2026, below EPA’s legal limit of 4.0 ppm. That was also the latest year on file.

What handles it

NSF/ANSI 58 look for “Fluoride Reduction”
NSF/ANSI 53 look for “Fluoride”

4 compounds tested and not foundBelow the reporting level in every sample. Not found is not the same as zero.

Arsenic
Chromium (total)
Lead
Uranium

Violations since 2016

Contaminant or rule	Type	Period	Measured	Status
Lead and Copper Rule	OCCT/SOWT Treatment Installation/Demonstration	Oct. 1, 2024	—	Unaddressed
Health-based violations only. Resolved and archived mean the utility returned to compliance or the state closed the record. 1 monitoring or reporting violation not shown.

What this report can’t tell you

Everything else. Total trihalomethanes (TTHM), haloacetic acids (HAA5), nitrate, fluoride, arsenic, chromium (total) and uranium results here are Texas’s own from 2020 on, with EPA’s national file for 2012 to 2019. International Alert Academy’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 Sept. 21, 2020 to Sept. 7, 2026.

Testing your own tap

International Alert Academy’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 Texas certifies.

The 3 labs Texas certifies closest to the area International Alert Academy serves, in a straight line. Call first: certification is test by test, and not every lab takes samples from homeowners.

Environmental Monitoring Lab
Winona, TX · about 12 miles
Certified for bacteria
(903) 877-9222
Southern Petroleum Laboratories (SPL), Inc. (FKA Ana-Lab Corporation)
Kilgore, TX · about 21 miles
Certified for bacteria, lead and copper
(903) 984-0551
Northeast Texas Public Health District Laboratory
Tyler, TX · about 24 miles
Certified for bacteria
(903) 535-0090

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 Texas