Buffalo Creek Estates
What EPA’s and CDC’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
- 93
- Water source
- Groundwater
- Based in
- Buffalo Junction, VA
- County
- Mecklenburg
- Owner
- Private
The ZIP code it serves
The short answer
Nothing in EPA’s and CDC’s records for this utility is above a health goal. That covers nitrate, arsenic and other regulated chemicals, plus lead and copper, not everything. No health-based violations on file 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 1.9 ppm, for the period ending July 1, 1993. None since is on file, so it is not counted as a current finding.
Arsenic: Virginia’s yearly averages per water system, as CDC’s Environmental Public Health Tracking Network publishes them, 2022.
Nitrate, fluoride, chromium (total), haloacetic acids (HAA5) and total trihalomethanes (TTHM): EPA’s compliance monitoring file, samples taken from June 21, 2012 to June 19, 2019. Newer results are in the utility’s annual water quality report.
Below EPA’s limits2
Nitrate
Comes from the source
3.6ppm
Highest sample; found in 15 of 16
2019 average: 1.4 ppm
The highest sample, in 2016, was 3.6 ppm, below EPA’s legal limit of 10 ppm. In 2019, the latest year on file, its two samples averaged 1.4 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
0.1ppm
Highest yearly average, 2013 to 2019
2019: not found
Averaged by year, the highest was 0.1 ppm, in 2013, below EPA’s legal limit of 4.0 ppm. Its highest single sample was 0.21 ppm. In 2019, the latest year on file, it wasn’t found in any of its two samples.
What handles it
- NSF/ANSI 58 look for “Fluoride Reduction”
- NSF/ANSI 53 look for “Fluoride”
5 compounds tested and not foundBelow the reporting level in every sample. Not found is not the same as zero.
- Arsenic
- Chromium (total)
- Haloacetic acids (HAA5)
- Lead
- Total trihalomethanes (TTHM)
Violations since 2016
No health-based violations on file with EPA since 2016. There are 2 monitoring or reporting violations: a sample missed, late or not reported.
What this report can’t tell you
Everything else. Arsenic results here are Virginia’s yearly averages as CDC publishes them, from 2022 on, with EPA’s national file for 2012 to 2019. Nitrate, fluoride, chromium (total), haloacetic acids (HAA5) and total trihalomethanes (TTHM) come from EPA’s file alone, which ends in 2019. Buffalo Creek Estates’s own annual report, which it must send you every year, has newer results for those and 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; CDC’s yearly averages for Virginia cover 2022; EPA’s compliance samples are from June 21, 2012 to June 19, 2019.
Testing your own tap
The 3 labs Virginia certifies closest to the area Buffalo Creek Estates serves, in a straight line. Call first: certification is test by test, and not every lab takes samples from homeowners.
B & B Consultants, Inc.
Chase City, VA · about 18 miles
Certified for bacteria
American Water Testing Company
Alton, VA · about 21 miles
Certified for bacteria
RTI International
Durham, NC · about 53 miles
Certified for lead and copper, metals
Virginia Household Water Quality Program, Virginia Cooperative Extension: Drinking water clinics in about 70 counties a year, run through local Extension offices: pick up a kit, collect the sample on the set day, and drop it off locally. Each kit tests well, spring or cistern water for 28 things, including bacteria, nitrate, lead and arsenic. $70 a kit, with funding to help if you need it. Virginia Household Water Quality Program.
All 145 certified labs for VirginiaSources
- EPA UCMR 5 occurrence data, file of Oct. 15, 2026
- EPA SDWA bulk download (SDWIS federal data), 2026 Q3
- CDC Environmental Public Health Tracking Network, yearly averages Virginia supplied to CDC, 2021 to 2023, read Oct. 8, 2026. TapBuff’s comparisons with EPA’s limits are its own, not CDC’s or Virginia’s.
- EPA Six-Year Review 4 compliance monitoring data, 2012 to 2019, file of Feb. 5, 2024
- Certified labs: DCLS, drinking water laboratories with certification detail, 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 VA5117530. Rebuilt from EPA data on Oct. 18, 2026.
What to do next
- Nothing here is above a health goalIn EPA’s and CDC’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 reportBuffalo Creek Estates must send you a water quality report every year. It covers contaminants this page does not show, and has newer results than EPA’s national file for the ones here that come from it.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