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Chesapeake Shores

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
103 people
Connections
43
Water source
Groundwater
Based in
Rockville, VA
County
Mathews
Owner
Private
The ZIP code it serves

23138

The short answer

1 result is above EPA’s legal limit, and 1 more is above the health goal. The worst: Total trihalomethanes (TTHM), above the legal limit. 5 health-based violations since 2016.

What handles it

What was found

Lead and copper: EPA SDWIS monitoring periods ending 2011 to 2025.

Arsenic: Virginia’s yearly averages per water system, as CDC’s Environmental Public Health Tracking Network publishes them, 2021, with EPA’s 2012 to 2019 file for earlier years.

Total trihalomethanes (TTHM): EPA’s violation records from 2020 on, with EPA’s 2012 to 2019 file for earlier years.

Haloacetic acids (HAA5), chromium (total), fluoride and nitrate: EPA’s compliance monitoring file, samples taken from Jan. 10, 2012 to Nov. 18, 2019. Newer results are in the utility’s annual water quality report.

Above the legal limit1

Total trihalomethanes (TTHM)

Forms or is added in treatment

Above the legal limit

267ppb

Limit violation, 2020

EPA recorded five violations of the legal limit for total trihalomethanes (TTHM) at this utility in 2020 and 2021. The highest measured level, for April 1, 2020 to June 30, 2020, was an average of 267 ppb, about 3.3 times EPA’s legal limit of 80 ppb. Earlier, from 2012 to 2019, EPA’s file shows a highest yearly average of 221 ppb, in 2019.

What handles it

  • NSF/ANSI 53 look for “Trihalomethanes (TTHM) Reduction”
  • NSF/ANSI 58 look for “Trihalomethanes (TTHM) Reduction”

Above the health goal1

Lead

Comes from pipes, often your own

Above the health goal

3.2ppb

90th percentile, 2023 to 2025

In the latest period, 9 in 10 homes sampled were at or below 3.2 ppb, below EPA’s action level of 15 ppb. The action level drops to 10 ppb on Nov. 1, 2027. EPA’s health goal for lead is zero.

What handles it

Below EPA’s limits3

Haloacetic acids (HAA5)

Forms or is added in treatment

Below EPA’s limits

32.7ppb

Highest yearly average, 2012 to 2019

Averaged by year, the highest was 32.7 ppb, in 2019, below EPA’s legal limit of 60 ppb. Its highest single sample was 50 ppb. That was also the latest year on file.

What handles it

No certification claim covers this compound yet.

Chromium (total)

Comes from the source

Below EPA’s limits

10ppb

Highest yearly average, 2012 to 2018

2018: not found

Averaged by year, the highest was 10 ppb, in 2012, below EPA’s legal limit of 100 ppb. In 2018, the latest year on file, it wasn’t found in its one sample.

What handles it

Fluoride

Forms or is added in treatment

Below EPA’s limits

0.25ppm

Highest yearly average, 2012 to 2018

2018, one sample: 0.2 ppm

Averaged by year, the highest was 0.25 ppm, in 2012, below EPA’s legal limit of 4.0 ppm. In 2018, the latest year on file, its one sample was 0.2 ppm.

What handles it

2 compounds tested and not foundBelow the reporting level in every sample. Not found is not the same as zero.
  • Arsenic
  • Nitrate

What handles it

A certification covers specific claims, not a whole standard. Look for these claims on the certifier’s listing, not the box. Wording varies a little: NSF writes “Lead Reduction,” WQA just “Lead.”

  • NSF/ANSI 53

    Claims: Trihalomethanes (TTHM) Reduction, Lead Reduction

    For: Total trihalomethanes (TTHM), Lead

    Other certifiers’ wording: VOC Reduction

  • NSF/ANSI 58

    Claims: Trihalomethanes (TTHM) Reduction, Lead Reduction

    For: Total trihalomethanes (TTHM), Lead

At the tap, or for the whole house?

Lead and copper usually come from pipes and fixtures inside or near your home. A whole-house system sits where water enters, so it cannot catch what your own plumbing adds after it. For those, the filter that counts is the one at the tap. How whole-house systems compare.

Filters with those claims on a certifier’s listing

Disclosure: TapBuff earns a commission if you buy through some links on this page. It does not change which standard or filter we name. As an Amazon Associate, TapBuff earns from qualifying purchases. How TapBuff makes money

Compare five-year costs

The best water filters for lead, ranked

Violations since 2016

Contaminant or ruleTypePeriodMeasuredStatus
TTHMThe running average was above the legal limit.EPA: Maximum Contaminant Level Violation, AverageApril 1, 2021 to June 30, 202186 UG/LResolved
TTHMThe running average was above the legal limit.EPA: Maximum Contaminant Level Violation, AverageJan. 1, 2021 to March 31, 202196 UG/LResolved
TTHMThe running average was above the legal limit.EPA: Maximum Contaminant Level Violation, AverageOct. 1, 2020 to Dec. 31, 2020152 UG/LResolved
TTHMThe running average was above the legal limit.EPA: Maximum Contaminant Level Violation, AverageJuly 1, 2020 to Sept. 30, 2020206 UG/LResolved
TTHMThe running average was above the legal limit.EPA: Maximum Contaminant Level Violation, AverageApril 1, 2020 to June 30, 2020267 UG/LResolved
Health-based violations only. Resolved and archived mean the utility returned to compliance or the state closed the record.

What this report can’t tell you

  • Everything else. Arsenic results here are Virginia’s yearly averages as CDC publishes them, from 2021 on, with EPA’s national file for 2012 to 2019. Haloacetic acids (HAA5), chromium (total), fluoride and nitrate come from EPA’s file alone, which ends in 2019. Chesapeake Shores’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 2021; EPA’s compliance samples are from Jan. 10, 2012 to Nov. 18, 2019.

Testing your own tap

Chesapeake Shores’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 Virginia certifies.

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

  • Coastal Bioanalysts, Inc.

    Gloucester, VA · about 14 miles

    Certified for bacteria

    (804) 694-8285

  • Universal Laboratories - Hampton

    Hampton, VA · about 20 miles

    Certified for bacteria, nitrate, metals, minerals and other inorganics, disinfection byproducts

    (757) 865-0880

  • Cornwell Engineering Group Laboratory

    Newport News, VA · about 23 miles

    Certified for lead and copper, metals, disinfection byproducts

    (757) 873-1216

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 Virginia

Sources

PWSID VA4115400. Rebuilt from EPA data on Oct. 18, 2026.

Also in Mathews County

All Virginia utilities

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