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Is Brownsville, TX tap water safe?

10 utilities serve Brownsville, by EPA’s records. Here is what EPA’s and Texas’s records show for each, against the legal limits and the stricter health goals.

Matched to your utility using EPA records.

The short answer

6 of the 10 utilities serving Brownsville have a result above a legal limit or action level, or a health-based violation since 2016, in EPA’s and Texas’s records: Military Hwy WSC Las Rusias, Olmito WSC, East Rio Hondo WSC and 3 more.

Brownsville Public Utilities Board, which serves the most people here, has 2 results above EPA’s new limit, which takes effect in 2029, 1 result above the health goal and 1 result above EPA’s health benchmark. The worst: PFOS at 9.2 ppt, above EPA’s new limit, which takes effect in 2029.

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 Brownsville’s ZIP codes, from EPA’s estimates.

MUD stands for municipal utility district, a local water and sewer district common in Texas.

What handles it

Each of these is certified, on a certifier’s listing, for a result above a line in Brownsville Public Utilities Board’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 Brownsville

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 Texas certifies.

The lab Texas certifies closest to Brownsville, 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 · about 22 miles

    Certified for bacteria

    (956) 364-8746

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

ZIP codes in Brownsville

Which ZIP codes are in Brownsville: 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: TCEQ, drinking water laboratories approved for public water system samples; distances from the Census 2020 ZIP code tabulation area gazetteer.

Near Brownsville

Other towns in Cameron County with a page of their own.

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