Community Water System · PWSID VA2580100

City of Covington

Serves 5,961 peopleSurface WaterOwner: Local GovernmentCovington, Virginia
1 open treatment violation.

Open for: DBP Stage 1. 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 2023: 46 violations. 2 treatment lapses · 44 missed or late tests. Most recent began 2024-07-01.

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
2Treatment lapse1 open
44Missed or late test
0Notice or report

More violations on record than 98% of active water systems in Virginia. Small systems with no staff chemist often rack up missed-test violations; big utilities rarely do.

The record, year by year

20052010201520202023 · Treatment lapse: 12023 · Missed or late test: 422023 · Missed or late test: 422023 · Missed or late test: 422023 · Missed or late test: 422023 · Missed or late test: 422023 · Missed or late test: 422023 · Missed or late test: 422023 · Missed or late test: 422023 · Missed or late test: 422023 · Missed or late test: 422023 · Missed or late test: 422024 · Treatment lapse: 12024 · Missed or late test: 22025
One square ≈ 4 violations (rounded up), by the year they began. Empty columns are years with nothing on EPA's record.
4% treatment lapse · 296% missed or late test · 44

Across Virginia, 74% of violations are missed or late tests and 7% 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 5 results on file · action level 15 ppb

1.8 ppb
1.3 ppb
1 ppb
0.49 ppb
0.31 ppb

Open now (1)

  1. 2024-03-01DBP Stage 1Treatment Technique No Certif. OperatorOpen

Every violation on record

  1. 2024-07-01Total Haloacetic Acids (HAA5)Monitoring and Reporting (DBP)Back in compliance
  2. 2024-07-01Trihalomethanes (TTHM)Monitoring and Reporting (DBP)Back in compliance
  3. 2024-03-01DBP Stage 1Treatment Technique No Certif. OperatorOpen
  4. 2023-06-01DBP Stage 1Treatment Technique No Certif. OperatorBack in compliance
  5. 2023-01-01SeleniumMonitoring, RegularBack in compliance
  6. 2023-01-01TdsMonitoring, RegularBack in compliance
  7. 2023-01-01CorrosivityMonitoring, RegularBack in compliance
  8. 2023-01-01ColorMonitoring, RegularBack in compliance
  9. 2023-01-01ZincMonitoring, RegularBack in compliance
  10. 2023-01-01Thallium, TotalMonitoring, RegularBack in compliance
  11. 2023-01-01Beryllium, TotalMonitoring, RegularBack in compliance
  12. 2023-01-01Antimony, TotalMonitoring, RegularBack in compliance
  13. 2023-01-01SulfateMonitoring, RegularBack in compliance
  14. 2023-01-01SodiumMonitoring, RegularBack in compliance
  15. 2023-01-01NickelMonitoring, RegularBack in compliance
  16. 2023-01-01MercuryMonitoring, RegularBack in compliance
  17. 2023-01-01ManganeseMonitoring, RegularBack in compliance
  18. 2023-01-01IronMonitoring, RegularBack in compliance
  19. 2023-01-01FluorideMonitoring, RegularBack in compliance
  20. 2023-01-01ChromiumMonitoring, RegularBack in compliance
  21. 2023-01-01ChlorideMonitoring, RegularBack in compliance
  22. 2023-01-01CadmiumMonitoring, RegularBack in compliance
  23. 2023-01-01BariumMonitoring, RegularBack in compliance
  24. 2023-01-01ArsenicMonitoring, RegularBack in compliance
  25. 2023-01-01Nitrate-NitriteMonitoring, RegularBack in compliance
Show the other 21 entries
  1. 2023-01-01StyreneMonitoring, RegularBack in compliance
  2. 2023-01-01EthylbenzeneMonitoring, RegularBack in compliance
  3. 2023-01-01TolueneMonitoring, RegularBack in compliance
  4. 2023-01-01BenzeneMonitoring, RegularBack in compliance
  5. 2023-01-01ChlorobenzeneMonitoring, RegularBack in compliance
  6. 2023-01-01TetrachloroethyleneMonitoring, RegularBack in compliance
  7. 2023-01-011,1,2-TrichloroethaneMonitoring, RegularBack in compliance
  8. 2023-01-01TrichloroethyleneMonitoring, RegularBack in compliance
  9. 2023-01-011,2-DichloropropaneMonitoring, RegularBack in compliance
  10. 2023-01-01Carbon tetrachlorideMonitoring, RegularBack in compliance
  11. 2023-01-011,1,1-TrichloroethaneMonitoring, RegularBack in compliance
  12. 2023-01-011,2-DichloroethaneMonitoring, RegularBack in compliance
  13. 2023-01-01trans-1,2-DichloroethyleneMonitoring, RegularBack in compliance
  14. 2023-01-011,1-DichloroethyleneMonitoring, RegularBack in compliance
  15. 2023-01-01Vinyl chlorideMonitoring, RegularBack in compliance
  16. 2023-01-01p-DichlorobenzeneMonitoring, RegularBack in compliance
  17. 2023-01-01o-DichlorobenzeneMonitoring, RegularBack in compliance
  18. 2023-01-01DichloromethaneMonitoring, RegularBack in compliance
  19. 2023-01-01Xylenes, TotalMonitoring, RegularBack in compliance
  20. 2023-01-01cis-1,2-DichloroethyleneMonitoring, RegularBack in compliance
  21. 2023-01-011,2,4-TrichlorobenzeneMonitoring, RegularBack in compliance

System details

Population served5,961
Service connections3,344
Water sourceSurface Water
System typeCommunity Water System
OwnerLocal Government
StatusActive
CityCovington
EPA ZIP on file24426

Areas served

  • Covington City

Reading this record

City of Covington is a community water system that draws from surface water and serves about 5,961 people in Covington, Virginia. 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.