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Pence Waterworks

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
191 people
Connections
102
Water source
Groundwater bought from another system
Based in
Pence, WI
County
Iron
Owner
Local government
The ZIP code it serves

54550

The short answer

1 result is above the health goal. The worst: Lead, above the health goal. 2 health-based violations since 2016.

What handles it

What was found

Lead and copper: EPA SDWIS monitoring periods ending 2002 to 2023.

Copper: EPA’s file records a utility’s copper only when it exceeds the action level. The last here was 1.9 ppm, for the period ending Dec. 31, 1994. None since is on file, so it is not counted as a current finding.

Total trihalomethanes (TTHM) and haloacetic acids (HAA5): Wisconsin’s own results, samples taken from Jan. 29, 2020 to July 27, 2026, with EPA’s 2012 to 2019 file for earlier years.

Above the health goal1

Lead

Comes from pipes, often your own

Above the health goal

4.3ppb

90th percentile, 2023

In the latest period, 9 in 10 homes sampled were at or below 4.3 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

Total trihalomethanes (TTHM)

Forms or is added in treatment

Below EPA’s limits

70.3ppb

Highest yearly average, 2020 to 2026

2026 average: 46.2 ppb

Averaged by year, the highest was 70.3 ppb, in 2022, below EPA’s legal limit of 80 ppb. Its highest single sample was 104 ppb. In 2026, the latest year on file, its three samples averaged 46.2 ppb. EPA recorded no violation for total trihalomethanes (TTHM) at this utility since 2020. Earlier, from 2012 to 2019, EPA’s file shows a highest yearly average of 105 ppb, in 2016, and EPA recorded a violation in 2018.

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

23ppb

Highest yearly average, 2020 to 2026

2026 average: 18.7 ppb

Averaged by year, the highest was 23 ppb, in 2023, below EPA’s legal limit of 60 ppb. Its highest single sample was 40 ppb. In 2026, the latest year on file, its three samples averaged 18.7 ppb. Earlier, from 2012 to 2019, EPA’s file shows a highest yearly average of 19.6 ppb, in 2018.

What handles it

No certification claim covers this compound yet.

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

Contaminant or ruleTypePeriodMeasuredStatus
Groundwater RuleA significant problem found in a state inspection was not fixed on time.EPA: Failure To Address DeficiencySept. 2, 2025—Resolved
TTHMThe running average was above the legal limit.EPA: Maximum Contaminant Level Violation, AverageOct. 1, 2018 to Dec. 31, 201880.9 UG/LResolved
Health-based violations only. Resolved and archived mean the utility returned to compliance or the state closed the record. 3 monitoring or reporting violations not shown.

What this report can’t tell you

  • Everything else. Total trihalomethanes (TTHM) and haloacetic acids (HAA5) results here are Wisconsin’s own from 2020 on, with EPA’s national file for 2012 to 2019. Pence Waterworks’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. 29, 2020 to July 27, 2026.

Testing your own tap

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

  • Iron County Health Department

    Hurley, WI · about 3 miles

    Certified for bacteria, nitrate

    (715) 561-2191

  • Ashland County Health & Human Services

    Ashland, WI · about 31 miles

    Certified for bacteria

    (715) 682-7004

  • Bayfield County Health Dept.

    Washburn, WI · about 40 miles

    Certified for bacteria, nitrate

    (715) 373-6109

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 WI8260122. Rebuilt from EPA data on Oct. 18, 2026.

Also in Iron County

All Wisconsin utilities

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