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Town of Courtland

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
1,284 people
Connections
529
Water source
Groundwater
Based in
Courtland, VA
County
Southampton
Owner
Local government
The ZIP code it serves

23837

The short answer

1 result is above EPA’s legal limit. The worst: Fluoride, above the legal limit. 2 health-based violations since 2016.

What handles it

What was found

Arsenic: Virginia’s yearly averages per water system, as CDC’s Environmental Public Health Tracking Network publishes them, 2021.

Fluoride: EPA’s violation records from 2020 on, with EPA’s 2012 to 2019 file for earlier years.

Nitrate and chromium (total): EPA’s compliance monitoring file, samples taken from Oct. 10, 2012 to Aug. 12, 2019. Newer results are in the utility’s annual water quality report.

Above the legal limit1

Fluoride

Forms or is added in treatment

Above the legal limit

4.7ppm

Limit violation, 2023

EPA recorded two violations of the legal limit for fluoride at this utility in 2023. The highest measured level, for Jan. 1, 2023 to March 31, 2023, was an average of 4.7 ppm, above EPA’s legal limit of 4.0 ppm. Earlier, from 2012 to 2019, EPA’s file shows a highest yearly average of 4.4 ppm, in 2015, and EPA recorded a violation in 2012.

What handles it

Below EPA’s limits1

Nitrate

Comes from the source

Below EPA’s limits

0.08ppm

Highest sample; found in 3 of 12

2019: not found

The highest sample, in 2012, was 0.08 ppm, below EPA’s legal limit of 10 ppm. In 2019, the latest year on file, it wasn’t found in its one sample.

What handles it

  • NSF/ANSI 58 look for “Nitrate/Nitrite Reduction”
  • NSF/ANSI 53 look for “Nitrate/Nitrite (30 ppm challenge)”
3 compounds tested and not foundBelow the reporting level in every sample. Not found is not the same as zero.
  • Arsenic
  • Chromium (total)
  • Lead

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?

These come with the water itself, so a whole-house system certified for the same claims treats every tap and shower. A filter at the tap treats drinking water for much less. 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 fluoride, ranked

Violations since 2016

Contaminant or ruleTypePeriodMeasuredStatus
FluorideThe running average was above the legal limit.EPA: Maximum Contaminant Level Violation, AverageApril 1, 2023 to June 30, 20234.4 MG/LResolved
FluorideThe running average was above the legal limit.EPA: Maximum Contaminant Level Violation, AverageJan. 1, 2023 to March 31, 20234.7 MG/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. Nitrate and chromium (total) come from EPA’s file alone, which ends in 2019. Town of Courtland’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 Oct. 10, 2012 to Aug. 12, 2019.

Testing your own tap

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

  • Cornwell Engineering Group Laboratory

    Newport News, VA · about 38 miles

    Certified for lead and copper, metals, disinfection byproducts

    (757) 873-1216

  • James R. Reed & Associates

    Newport News, VA · about 38 miles

    Certified for bacteria, nitrate, lead and copper, metals, minerals and other inorganics, organic chemicals, disinfection byproducts

    (757) 873-4703

  • Marine Chemist Service, Inc.

    Newport News, VA · about 38 miles

    Certified for lead and copper, metals

    (757) 873-0933

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 VA3175220. Rebuilt from EPA data on Oct. 18, 2026.

Towns it serves

Also in Southampton County

All Virginia utilities

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