Community Water System · PWSID NC0136025

City of Bessemer City

Serves 5,690 peopleSurface WaterOwner: Local GovernmentBessemer City, North Carolina

Nothing open that measures the water, but 1 open testing or paperwork violation.

A missed test is not evidence of bad water. It also is not evidence of good water: for that period nobody checked.

On record since 2015: 26 violations. 1 over the limit · 7 treatment lapses · 13 missed or late tests · 5 notices or reports. Most recent began 2024-10-17.

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

1Over the limit

7Treatment lapse

13Missed or late test

5Notice or report1 open

More violations on record than 92% of active water systems in North Carolina. Small systems with no staff chemist often rack up missed-test violations; big utilities rarely do.

The record, year by year

One square ≈ 2 violations (rounded up), by the year they began. Empty columns are years with nothing on EPA's record.

4% over the limit · 127% treatment lapse · 750% missed or late test · 1319% notice or report · 5

Across North Carolina, 39% of violations are missed or late tests and 2% are water over a limit.

How far over the limit

Each dot is one over-the-limit violation: the measured value divided by the limit it broke, on a log scale. Most legal limits for chemicals are running averages set for a lifetime of drinking, so “just over” and “ten times over” are very different news. Hover a dot for the numbers.

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 4 results on file · action level 15 ppb

1.6 ppb

0 ppb

Open now (1)

2023-05-11Revised Total Coliform RuleRPTOpen

Every violation on record

2024-10-17Lead service line inventoryRPTBack in compliance
2024-10-17Lead service line inventoryTTBack in compliance
2024-10-01Carbon, Total ×4Monitoring and Reporting (DBP)Period ended · no return to compliance on file
2024-10-01Total Haloacetic Acids (HAA5)Monitoring and Reporting (DBP)Period ended · no return to compliance on file
2024-10-01Trihalomethanes (TTHM)Monitoring and Reporting (DBP)Period ended · no return to compliance on file
2024-01-01Carbon, TotalTreatment Technique Precursor Removalmeasured 0.9900 MG/LBack in compliance
2023-10-01Carbon, TotalTreatment Technique Precursor Removalmeasured 0.7000 RATIOBack in compliance
2023-07-01Carbon, TotalTreatment Technique Precursor Removalmeasured 0.6700 RATIOBack in compliance
2023-07-01Consumer Confidence RuleCCR Complete Failure to ReportBack in compliance
2023-05-11Revised Total Coliform RuleRPTOpen
2023-04-01Carbon, TotalTreatment Technique Precursor Removalmeasured 0.8600 RATIOBack in compliance
2023-04-01Carbon, TotalMonitoring and Reporting (DBP)Back in compliance
2023-04-01Carbon, Total ×3Monitoring and Reporting (DBP)Period ended · no return to compliance on file
2023-03-10Public NoticePN Violation for NPDWR ViolationBack in compliance
2023-03-01Total Haloacetic Acids (HAA5)Monitoring and Reporting (DBP)Back in compliance
2023-03-01Trihalomethanes (TTHM)Monitoring and Reporting (DBP)Back in compliance
2023-01-01Carbon, TotalTreatment Technique Precursor Removalmeasured 0.9900 RATIOPeriod ended · no return to compliance on file
2022-10-01Carbon, TotalTreatment Technique Precursor Removalmeasured 0.9300 RATIOPeriod ended · no return to compliance on file
2022-10-01Carbon, TotalMonitoring and Reporting (DBP)Back in compliance
2017-04-01Trihalomethanes (TTHM)MCL, Averagemeasured 0.0860 MG/L · limit 0.0800 MG/LBack in compliance
2015-01-22Public NoticePN Violation for NPDWR ViolationBack in compliance

System details

Population served	5,690
Service connections	2,775
Water source	Surface Water
System type	Community Water System
Owner	Local Government
Status	Active
City	Bessemer City
EPA ZIP on file	28016

Areas served

Bessemer City, Gaston County

Reading this record

City of Bessemer City is a community water system that draws from surface water and serves about 5,690 people in Bessemer City, North Carolina. 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.