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Is Center, TX tap water safe?

6 utilities serve Center, 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

2 of the 6 utilities serving Center have a result above a legal limit or action level, or a health-based violation since 2016, in EPA’s and Texas’s records: City of Center and East Lamar WSC.

City of Center, which serves the most people here, has 2 results above the health goal. The worst: Arsenic at 1.1 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 Center’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 City of Center’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 Center

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

  • Eastex Environmental Lab, Inc.-Nacogdoches

    Nacogdoches, TX · about 22 miles

    Certified for bacteria

    (936) 569-8879

  • Southern Petroleum Laboratories (SPL), Inc. (FKA Ana-Lab Corporation)

    Kilgore, TX · about 60 miles

    Certified for bacteria, lead and copper

    (903) 984-0551

  • Environmental Monitoring Lab

    Winona, TX · about 74 miles

    Certified for bacteria

    (903) 877-9222

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 Center

Which ZIP codes are in Center: 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 Center

Towns nearby with a page of their own.

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