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Pounding Mill

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
1,965 people
Connections
626
Water source
Surface water bought from another system
Based in
Covington, VA
County
Alleghany
Owner
Local government
The ZIP code it serves

24426

The short answer

1 result is above the health goal. The worst: Lead, above the health goal. No health-based violations on file since 2016.

What handles it

What was found

Lead and copper: EPA SDWIS monitoring periods ending 2005 to 2024.

Arsenic: Virginia’s yearly averages per water system, as CDC’s Environmental Public Health Tracking Network publishes them, 2022.

Haloacetic acids (HAA5) and total trihalomethanes (TTHM): EPA’s compliance monitoring file, samples taken from Feb. 13, 2012 to Nov. 8, 2019. Newer results are in the utility’s annual water quality report.

Above the health goal1

Lead

Comes from pipes, often your own

Above the health goal

3.5ppb

90th percentile, 2022 to 2024

In the latest period, 9 in 10 homes sampled were at or below 3.5 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 limits2

Haloacetic acids (HAA5)

Forms or is added in treatment

Below EPA’s limits

41.6ppb

Highest yearly average, 2012 to 2019

2019 average: 35.8 ppb

Averaged by year, the highest was 41.6 ppb, in 2018, below EPA’s legal limit of 60 ppb. Its highest single sample was 61 ppb. In 2019, the latest year on file, its four samples averaged 35.8 ppb. EPA recorded no violation for haloacetic acids (HAA5) at this utility from 2012 to 2019.

What handles it

No certification claim covers this compound yet.

Total trihalomethanes (TTHM)

Forms or is added in treatment

Below EPA’s limits

47.8ppb

Highest yearly average, 2012 to 2019

2019 average: 34.2 ppb

Averaged by year, the highest was 47.8 ppb, in 2012, below EPA’s legal limit of 80 ppb. Its highest single sample was 64.2 ppb. In 2019, the latest year on file, its four samples averaged 34.2 ppb.

What handles it

  • NSF/ANSI 53 look for “Trihalomethanes (TTHM) Reduction”
  • NSF/ANSI 58 look for “Trihalomethanes (TTHM) Reduction”
One compound tested and not foundBelow the reporting level in every sample. Not found is not the same as zero.
  • Arsenic

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.”

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

No health-based violations on file with EPA since 2016.

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. Haloacetic acids (HAA5) and total trihalomethanes (TTHM) come from EPA’s file alone, which ends in 2019. Pounding Mill’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 Feb. 13, 2012 to Nov. 8, 2019.

Testing your own tap

Pounding Mill’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 Pounding Mill serves, in a straight line. Call first: certification is test by test, and not every lab takes samples from homeowners.

  • Pace Analytical Services, LLC - Lexington VA

    Lexington, VA · about 30 miles

    Certified for bacteria

    (540) 464-1880

  • Willoughby & Associates, Inc.

    Forest, VA · about 50 miles

    Certified for bacteria

    (434) 534-9834

  • Pace Analytical Services, LLC - Beaver WV

    Beaver, WV · about 55 miles

    Certified for bacteria, nitrate, lead and copper, metals, minerals and other inorganics, radioactivity

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 VA2005600. Rebuilt from EPA data on Oct. 18, 2026.

Towns it serves

Nearby

All Virginia utilities

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