Skip to content
TapBuff

South Wayne 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
478 people
Connections
177
Water source
Groundwater
Based in
South Wayne, WI
County
Lafayette
Owner
Local government
Hardness
Very hard
The ZIP code it serves

53587

The short answer

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

What handles it

What was found

Fluoride, haloacetic acids (HAA5), nitrate, arsenic, chromium (total) and total trihalomethanes (TTHM): Wisconsin’s own results, samples taken from Aug. 8, 2020 to July 21, 2026, with EPA’s 2012 to 2019 file for earlier years.

Uranium: EPA’s compliance monitoring file, samples taken from March 17, 2015 to Sept. 25, 2019. Newer results are in the utility’s annual water quality report.

Above the health goal1

Uranium

Comes from the source

Above the health goal

0.86ppb

Highest yearly average, 2015 to 2019

2019, one sample: 0.74 ppb

Averaged by year, the highest was 0.86 ppb, in 2018: below EPA’s legal limit of 30 ppb, but above its health goal of zero. In 2019, the latest year on file, its one sample was 0.74 ppb.

What handles it

Below EPA’s limits3

Fluoride

Forms or is added in treatment

Below EPA’s limits

0.09ppm

Highest yearly average, 2020 to 2026

2026, one sample: 0.06 ppm

Averaged by year, the highest was 0.09 ppm, in 2020, below EPA’s legal limit of 4.0 ppm. In 2026, the latest year on file, its one sample was 0.06 ppm. Earlier, from 2012 to 2019, EPA’s file shows a highest yearly average of 0.52 ppm, in 2012.

What handles it

Haloacetic acids (HAA5)

Forms or is added in treatment

Below EPA’s limits

0.31ppb

Highest yearly average, 2021 to 2024

2024: not found

Averaged by year, the highest was 0.31 ppb, in 2021, below EPA’s legal limit of 60 ppb. In 2024, the latest year on file, it wasn’t found in its one sample. Earlier, from 2012 to 2019, EPA’s file shows a highest yearly average of 0.52 ppb, in 2012.

What handles it

No certification claim covers this compound yet.

Nitrate

Comes from the source

Below EPA’s limits

0.026ppm

Highest sample; found in 4 of 7

2026: not found

The highest sample, in 2023, was 0.026 ppm, below EPA’s legal limit of 10 ppm. In 2026, the latest year on file, it wasn’t found in its one sample. Earlier, from 2012 to 2019, EPA’s file shows a highest sample of 0.3 ppm, in 2015.

What handles it

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

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

None of the filters TapBuff has checked so far carry these claims. Search the certifier listings for the claim above.

Compare five-year costs

Hardness

Very hard, 310 mg/L (18.1 grains per gallon), at its one sampling point, 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.

Violations since 2016

No health-based violations on file with EPA since 2016. There is 1 monitoring or reporting violation: a sample missed, late or not reported.

What this report can’t tell you

  • Everything else. Fluoride, haloacetic acids (HAA5), nitrate, arsenic, chromium (total) and total trihalomethanes (TTHM) results here are Wisconsin’s own from 2020 on, with EPA’s national file for 2012 to 2019. Uranium comes from EPA’s file alone, which ends in 2019. South Wayne Waterworks’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; Wisconsin’s results run from Aug. 8, 2020 to July 21, 2026; EPA’s compliance samples are from March 17, 2015 to Sept. 25, 2019.

Testing your own tap

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

  • Lafayette County Health Department

    Darlington, WI · about 13 miles

    Certified for bacteria, nitrate

    (608) 776-4895

  • Green County Public Health Water Lab

    Monroe, WI · about 13 miles

    Certified for bacteria, nitrate

    (608) 328-9390

  • Water Quality Investigations

    Mt Horeb, WI · about 28 miles

    Certified for bacteria

    (888) 499-2507

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 WI1330077. Rebuilt from EPA data on Oct. 18, 2026.