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Hidden Meadows

What EPA’s and Wisconsin’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
166 people
Connections
161
Water source
Groundwater
Based in
Watertown, WI
County
Dodge
Owner
Private
Hardness
Very hard
The ZIP code it serves

53098

The short answer

2 results are above the health goal. The worst: Lead, above the health goal. 5 health-based violations since 2016.

What handles it

What was found

Lead and copper: EPA SDWIS monitoring periods ending 2000 to 2021.

Copper: EPA’s file records a utility’s copper only when it exceeds the action level. The last here was 1.4 ppm, for the period ending June 30, 1994. None since is on file, so it is not counted as a current finding.

Arsenic, total trihalomethanes (TTHM), haloacetic acids (HAA5), fluoride, chromium (total) and nitrate: Wisconsin’s own results, samples taken from April 29, 2020 to Feb. 10, 2026, with EPA’s 2012 to 2019 file for earlier years.

Above the health goal2

Lead

Comes from pipes, often your own

Above the health goal

1.9ppb

90th percentile, 2021

In the latest period, 9 in 10 homes sampled were at or below 1.9 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

Arsenic

Comes from the source

Above the health goal

0.47ppb

Highest yearly average, 2024 to 2025

2025: not found

Averaged by year, the highest was 0.47 ppb, in 2024: below EPA’s legal limit of 10 ppb, but above its health goal of zero. Its highest single sample was 1.4 ppb. In 2025, the latest year on file, it wasn’t found in any of its three samples.

What handles it

  • NSF/ANSI 58 look for “Arsenic (Pentavalent)<=50 ppb Reduction”
  • NSF/ANSI 53 look for “Arsenic (Pentavalent)<=50 ppb Reduction”

Below EPA’s limits3

Total trihalomethanes (TTHM)

Forms or is added in treatment

Below EPA’s limits

37.5ppb

Highest yearly average, 2022 to 2025

2025, one sample: 2.0 ppb

Averaged by year, the highest was 37.5 ppb, in 2022, below EPA’s legal limit of 80 ppb. In 2025, the latest year on file, its one sample was 2.0 ppb. Earlier, from 2012 to 2019, EPA’s file shows a highest yearly average of 25.9 ppb, in 2016.

What handles it

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

Haloacetic acids (HAA5)

Forms or is added in treatment

Below EPA’s limits

7.3ppb

Highest yearly average, 2022 to 2025

2025, one sample: 2.0 ppb

Averaged by year, the highest was 7.3 ppb, in 2022, below EPA’s legal limit of 60 ppb. In 2025, the latest year on file, its one sample was 2.0 ppb. Earlier, from 2012 to 2019, EPA’s file shows a highest yearly average of 5.6 ppb, in 2013.

What handles it

No certification claim covers this compound yet.

Fluoride

Forms or is added in treatment

Below EPA’s limits

0.28ppm

Highest yearly average, 2024

Averaged by year, the highest was 0.28 ppm, in 2024, below EPA’s legal limit of 4.0 ppm. Its highest single sample was 0.36 ppm. That is the only year on file. Earlier, from 2012 to 2019, EPA’s file shows a highest yearly average of 0.37 ppm, in 2018.

What handles it

2 compounds tested and not foundBelow the reporting level in every sample. Not found is not the same as zero.
  • Chromium (total)
  • 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: Lead Reduction, Arsenic (Pentavalent)<=50 ppb Reduction

    For: Lead, Arsenic

    Other certifiers’ wording: Arsenic (III) (50 ppb influent level)

  • NSF/ANSI 58

    Claims: Lead Reduction, Arsenic (Pentavalent)<=50 ppb Reduction

    For: Lead, Arsenic

    Other certifiers’ wording: Arsenic (Pentavalent)<=300 ppb Reduction; Arsenic (V) (300 ppb influent level)

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

The best reverse osmosis systems, ranked

Hardness

Very hard, typically 355 mg/L (20.8 grains per gallon), across 2 sampling points, in 2018.

Hardness is calcium and magnesium. EPA sets no limit for it: it shows up as scale on fixtures and in water heaters, and as soap that won’t lather. USGS calls water above 60 mg/L moderately hard, above 120 hard and above 180 very hard.

Softeners compared at 20.8 grains per gallon, salt includedSoftener or salt-free conditioner?Wisconsin water hardness, utility by utility

Violations since 2016

Contaminant or ruleTypePeriodMeasuredStatus
Combined Radium (-226 and -228)The running average was above the legal limit.EPA: Maximum Contaminant Level Violation, AverageApril 1, 2026 to June 30, 20266.6 PCI/LArchived
Combined Radium (-226 and -228)The running average was above the legal limit.EPA: Maximum Contaminant Level Violation, AverageJan. 1, 2026 to March 31, 20266.1 PCI/LArchived
Combined Radium (-226 and -228)The running average was above the legal limit.EPA: Maximum Contaminant Level Violation, AverageOct. 1, 2025 to Dec. 31, 20256.3 PCI/LArchived
Combined Radium (-226 and -228)The running average was above the legal limit.EPA: Maximum Contaminant Level Violation, AverageJuly 1, 2025 to Sept. 30, 20256.2 PCI/LArchived
Combined Radium (-226 and -228)The running average was above the legal limit.EPA: Maximum Contaminant Level Violation, AverageApril 1, 2025 to June 30, 20256.4 PCI/LArchived
Health-based violations only. Resolved and archived mean the utility returned to compliance or the state closed the record. 46 monitoring or reporting violations not shown.

What this report can’t tell you

  • Everything else. Arsenic, total trihalomethanes (TTHM), haloacetic acids (HAA5), fluoride, chromium (total) and nitrate results here are Wisconsin’s own from 2020 on, with EPA’s national file for 2012 to 2019. Hidden Meadows’s own annual report, which it must send you every year, has 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; Wisconsin’s results run from April 29, 2020 to Feb. 10, 2026.

Testing your own tap

Hidden Meadows’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 Wisconsin certifies.

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

  • Watertown Department of Public Health Laboratory

    Watertown, WI · about 8 miles

    Certified for bacteria, nitrate

    (920) 262-8090

  • C & C Pumps LLC

    Hartford, WI · about 18 miles

    Certified for bacteria

    (262) 224-5576

  • SWD Labs, LLC

    Randolph, WI · about 25 miles

    Certified for bacteria, nitrate

    (920) 326-5193

Wisconsin State Laboratory of Hygiene: Well water test kits ordered by phone and shipped free; you pay to mail the sample back, and the lab bills you after testing. Tests run from bacteria alone to a homeowner package covering bacteria, nitrate, fluoride, metals, hardness, volatile organic compounds and atrazine. Bacteria is $35, nitrate $35, lead $38, and the homeowner package $450, as of July 1, 2026. Public Environmental and Water Testing Prices, Wisconsin State Laboratory of Hygiene.

All 156 certified labs for Wisconsin

Sources

PWSID WI1140016. Rebuilt from EPA data on Oct. 18, 2026.

Towns it serves

Also in Dodge County

All Wisconsin utilities

What to do next