Community Water System · PWSID LA1049001

Bear Creek Water System

Serves 435 peopleGroundwaterOwner: PrivateQuitman, Louisiana
2 open treatment violations.

Open for: Groundwater Rule. EPA counts treatment-technique violations as health-based: a required protective step was not done. It is not a measurement of contamination.

On record since 2019: 7 violations. 4 treatment lapses · 1 missed or late test · 2 notices or reports. Most recent began 2022-05-23.

None of them is a measurement of contaminated water.

For this year's test results, ask the utility for its annual Consumer Confidence Report. Every community system must publish one.

0Over the limit
4Treatment lapse2 open
1Missed or late test1 open
2Notice or report

More violations on record than 51% of active water systems in Louisiana. Small systems with no staff chemist often rack up missed-test violations; big utilities rarely do.

The record, year by year

2005201020152019 · Treatment lapse: 22019 · Treatment lapse: 22019 · Notice or report: 120202021 · Missed or late test: 12022 · Treatment lapse: 22022 · Treatment lapse: 22022 · Notice or report: 12025
One square = one violation, by the year it began. Empty columns are years with nothing on EPA's record.
57% treatment lapse · 414% missed or late test · 129% notice or report · 2

Across Louisiana, 31% of violations are missed or late tests and 25% are water over a limit.

Lead & copper at the tap

Utilities sample taps in homes most likely to have lead pipes, and report the 90th-percentile result: 9 in 10 homes sampled came in at or below this number. Above the red line (the action level) the utility must act. The action level is not a safe level; EPA's health goal for lead is zero. EPA's file does not date these results, so they are shown highest first.

Lead, 90th percentile 3 results on file · action level 15 ppb

3 ppb
2 ppb
0 ppb

Open now (3)

  1. 2022-04-30Groundwater Rule ×2Failure To Address DeficiencyOpen
  2. 2021-02-12Lead and Copper RuleLead Consumer NoticeOpen

Every violation on record

  1. 2022-05-23Public NoticePN Violation for NPDWR ViolationBack in compliance
  2. 2022-04-30Groundwater Rule ×2Failure To Address DeficiencyOpen
  3. 2021-02-12Lead and Copper RuleLead Consumer NoticeOpen
  4. 2019-10-20Public NoticePN Violation for NPDWR ViolationBack in compliance
  5. 2019-09-12Groundwater Rule ×2Failure To Address DeficiencyBack in compliance

System details

Population served435
Service connections145
Water sourceGroundwater
System typeCommunity Water System
OwnerPrivate
StatusActive
CityQuitman
EPA ZIP on file71268

Areas served

  • Jackson Parish

Reading this record

Bear Creek Water System is a community water system that draws from groundwater and serves about 435 people in Quitman, Louisiana. Everything above comes from the EPA's Safe Drinking Water Information System (SDWIS), where states report every violation by every public water system.

Four kinds of violation. Only one is a measurement of the water: over the limit means a test came back above a legal maximum (an MCL). A treatment lapse means a required protective step was not done, such as disinfection, filtration, fixing a defect an inspector found, or filing a lead-pipe inventory. A missed or late test means a required test was skipped or never reported. That is the most common kind, and the most misread: it does not mean the water was bad, and it does not mean the water was fine. Notices and reports covers public notices and the annual Consumer Confidence Report.

Status. “Back in compliance” means the state recorded a return to compliance. “Period ended” means the violation's compliance period is over but no return to compliance was ever filed, which is common in older records. EPA's federal copy lags state records by months, so call the utility for anything current.