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Hortonville Water Utility

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
3,028 people
Connections
1,137
Water source
Groundwater
Based in
Hortonville, WI
County
Outagamie
Owner
Local government
Hardness
Very hard
The ZIP code it serves

54944

The short answer

1 result is above EPA’s legal limit, and 2 more are above the health goal. The worst: Copper, above the action level. 1 health-based violation since 2016.

What handles it

What was found

Lead and copper: EPA SDWIS monitoring periods ending 1997 to 2025.

Arsenic, nitrate, fluoride, total trihalomethanes (TTHM), haloacetic acids (HAA5) and chromium (total): Wisconsin’s own results, samples taken from Jan. 14, 2020 to Aug. 4, 2026, with EPA’s 2012 to 2019 file for earlier years.

Above the legal limit1

Copper

Comes from pipes, often your own

Above the action level

1.5ppm

90th percentile, 2025

In the latest period, 9 in 10 homes sampled were at or below 1.5 ppm, above EPA’s action level of 1.3 ppm.

What handles it

Above the health goal2

Lead

Comes from pipes, often your own

Above the health goal

2.7ppb

90th percentile, 2025

In the latest period, 9 in 10 homes sampled were at or below 2.7 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

0.63ppb

Highest yearly average, 2020 to 2026

2026: not found

Averaged by year, the highest was 0.63 ppb, in 2020: below EPA’s legal limit of 10 ppb, but above its health goal of zero. Its highest single sample was 0.76 ppb. In 2026, the latest year on file, it wasn’t found in any of its two 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 limits4

Nitrate

Comes from the source

Below EPA’s limits

2.4ppm

Highest sample; found in 2 of 2

2021 average: 1.3 ppm

The highest sample, in 2021, was 2.4 ppm, below EPA’s legal limit of 10 ppm. That is the only year on file, and its two samples averaged 1.3 ppm. Earlier, from 2012 to 2019, EPA’s file shows a highest sample of 2.7 ppm, in 2013.

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

Below EPA’s limits

0.59ppm

Highest yearly average, 2020 to 2026

2026 average: 0.13 ppm

Averaged by year, the highest was 0.59 ppm, in 2020, below EPA’s legal limit of 4.0 ppm. Its highest single sample was 2.4 ppm. In 2026, the latest year on file, its two samples averaged 0.13 ppm. Earlier, from 2012 to 2019, EPA’s file shows a highest yearly average of 0.57 ppm, in 2012.

What handles it

Total trihalomethanes (TTHM)

Forms or is added in treatment

Below EPA’s limits

10.5ppb

Highest yearly average, 2020 to 2026

2026, one sample: 4.2 ppb

Averaged by year, the highest was 10.5 ppb, in 2025, below EPA’s legal limit of 80 ppb. In 2026, the latest year on file, its one sample was 4.2 ppb. Earlier, from 2012 to 2019, EPA’s file shows a highest yearly average of 2.9 ppb, in 2013.

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

3.4ppb

Highest yearly average, 2020 to 2026

Averaged by year, the highest was 3.4 ppb, in 2026, below EPA’s legal limit of 60 ppb. That was also the latest year on file. Earlier, from 2012 to 2019, EPA’s file shows a highest yearly average of 0.69 ppb, in 2019.

What handles it

No certification claim covers this compound yet.

One compound tested and not foundBelow the reporting level in every sample. Not found is not the same as zero.
  • Chromium (total)

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

    For: Copper, Lead, Arsenic

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

  • NSF/ANSI 58

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

    For: Copper, 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 362 mg/L (21.2 grains per gallon), across 3 sampling points, 2017 to 2026.

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 21.2 grains per gallon, salt includedSoftener or salt-free conditioner?Wisconsin water hardness, utility by utility

Violations since 2016

Contaminant or ruleTypePeriodMeasuredStatus
Lead and Copper Rule RevisionsThe required inventory of lead service lines was not completed or submitted on time.EPA: LSL InventoryOct. 17, 2024—Resolved
Health-based violations only. Resolved and archived mean the utility returned to compliance or the state closed the record. 2 monitoring or reporting violations not shown.

What this report can’t tell you

  • Everything else. Arsenic, nitrate, fluoride, total trihalomethanes (TTHM), haloacetic acids (HAA5) and chromium (total) results here are Wisconsin’s own from 2020 on, with EPA’s national file for 2012 to 2019. Hortonville Water Utility’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 Jan. 14, 2020 to Aug. 4, 2026.

Testing your own tap

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

  • TG Analytical Laboratories

    Greenville, WI · about 4 miles

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

    (920) 757-1355

  • Clean Water Testing LLC

    Appleton, WI · about 9 miles

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

    (920) 733-7590

  • Badger Laboratories, Inc.

    Neenah, WI · about 11 miles

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

    (800) 776-7196

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 WI4450411. Rebuilt from EPA data on Oct. 18, 2026.

Also in Outagamie County

All Wisconsin utilities

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