WaterCompared

Water report · not indexed

What is in the water at 17601

4 public water systems serve this ZIP code in the federal records. Everything below comes from EPA monitoring data, and everything missing is named.

CITY OF LANCASTER

PWSID PA7360058 · PA · serves 120,000 people

PFAS and lithium

6 compounds detected at or above the reporting limit under EPA’s UCMR 5 monitoring, across 23 samples.

CompoundHighest detectedSamplesMost recent
PFHxA0.029 µg/L49/5/2024
PFOA0.024 µg/L49/5/2024
PFPeA0.022 µg/L49/5/2024
PFBA0.015 µg/L39/5/2024
PFBS0.0098 µg/L49/5/2024
PFHpA0.0081 µg/L49/5/2024

A detection is a measurement, not a violation and not a health finding. EPA states that UCMR 5 results do not indicate compliance or non-compliance with any limit.

Health-based violations

No open health-based violation on record. This covers MCL, treatment technique and MRDL violations in SDWIS that have not been returned to compliance. It excludes monitoring and reporting violations, which are the large majority nationally, so this is not “no violations”, and SDWIS completeness varies by state.

Hardness

Median hardness 316 mg/L as CaCO₃, measured at 7 stations serving this system across 431 results, 2015-01-15 to 2026-03-19. Measured in the water source and distribution area, not at a tap, and not in your home.

EAST HEMPFIELD WATER AUTH

PWSID PA7360063 · PA · serves 20,988 people

PFAS and lithium

5 compounds detected at or above the reporting limit under EPA’s UCMR 5 monitoring, across 18 samples.

CompoundHighest detectedSamplesMost recent
PFOA0.009 µg/L36/18/2025
PFBS0.0076 µg/L56/18/2025
PFPeA0.0052 µg/L46/18/2025
PFOS0.005 µg/L26/18/2025
PFHxA0.0042 µg/L46/18/2025

A detection is a measurement, not a violation and not a health finding. EPA states that UCMR 5 results do not indicate compliance or non-compliance with any limit.

Health-based violations

No open health-based violation on record. This covers MCL, treatment technique and MRDL violations in SDWIS that have not been returned to compliance. It excludes monitoring and reporting violations, which are the large majority nationally, so this is not “no violations”, and SDWIS completeness varies by state.

Hardness

Too few readings to state a hardness. 2 station(s), 2 result(s). Below two stations and five results this page will not state a number: a median of two readings from one creek is not your water.

COLUMBIA WATER CO

PWSID PA7360123 · PA · serves 25,200 people

PFAS and lithium

Sampled, nothing detected. Tested for 30 compounds under UCMR 5 with none found at or above its reporting limit. A reporting limit is the lowest concentration the method can measure, so this means “below that” rather than “zero”.

Health-based violations

No open health-based violation on record. This covers MCL, treatment technique and MRDL violations in SDWIS that have not been returned to compliance. It excludes monitoring and reporting violations, which are the large majority nationally, so this is not “no violations”, and SDWIS completeness varies by state.

Hardness

Median hardness 214 mg/L as CaCO₃, measured at 2 stations serving this system across 152 results, 2015-01-20 to 2026-01-14. Measured in the water source and distribution area, not at a tap, and not in your home.

UPPER LEACOCK TOWNSHIP

PWSID PA7360140 · PA · serves 7,734 people

PFAS and lithium

9 compounds detected at or above the reporting limit under EPA’s UCMR 5 monitoring, across 44 samples.

CompoundHighest detectedSamplesMost recent
lithium10 µg/L13/17/2025
PFPeA0.012 µg/L89/22/2025
PFOS0.0095 µg/L49/22/2025
PFBA0.0093 µg/L49/22/2025
PFHxA0.0091 µg/L89/22/2025
PFOA0.0081 µg/L89/22/2025
PFHpA0.0065 µg/L29/22/2025
PFBS0.0046 µg/L79/22/2025
PFHxS0.0037 µg/L29/22/2025

A detection is a measurement, not a violation and not a health finding. EPA states that UCMR 5 results do not indicate compliance or non-compliance with any limit.

Health-based violations

No open health-based violation on record. This covers MCL, treatment technique and MRDL violations in SDWIS that have not been returned to compliance. It excludes monitoring and reporting violations, which are the large majority nationally, so this is not “no violations”, and SDWIS completeness varies by state.

Hardness

No hardness measurement. Hardness is measured at environmental monitoring stations, and none fell inside this system’s service area. That is a gap in where monitoring happens, not a finding about the water.

What this report cannot tell you

Every figure describes water at a sampling point: a treatment plant, an entry point to the distribution system, or a monitoring station. None of it describes water arriving at your tap. Plumbing between the two can add lead and copper, and if your home was built before 1986 a test kit tells you something no federal dataset can.

Sources: EPA UCMR 5 occurrence (final release, frozen July 2026) · EPA SDWIS health-based violations · USGS and state monitoring via the Water Quality Portal · EPA Public Water System Service Area Boundaries v3. Compiled 2026-09-01.