Community Water System · PWSID KS2016302

City of Palco

Serves 210 peopleGroundwaterOwner: Local GovernmentPalco, Kansas
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 2012: 18 violations. 12 over the limit · 4 missed or late tests · 2 notices or reports. Most recent began 2025-01-01.

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

12Over the limit
0Treatment lapse
4Missed or late test
2Notice or report1 open

More violations on record than 78% of active water systems in Kansas. Small systems with no staff chemist often rack up missed-test violations; big utilities rarely do.

The record, year by year

200520102012 · Missed or late test: 120152020 · Over the limit: 120202021 · Over the limit: 42021 · Over the limit: 42021 · Over the limit: 42021 · Over the limit: 42022 · Over the limit: 32022 · Over the limit: 32022 · Over the limit: 32022 · Missed or late test: 12022 · Notice or report: 12023 · Over the limit: 32023 · Over the limit: 32023 · Over the limit: 32023 · Missed or late test: 12023 · Notice or report: 12024 · Over the limit: 12025 · Missed or late test: 12025
One square = one violation, by the year it began. Empty columns are years with nothing on EPA's record.
67% over the limit · 1222% missed or late test · 411% notice or report · 2

Across Kansas, 52% of violations are missed or late tests and 13% are water over a limit.

How far over the limit

at the limit2×5×10×100×+Nitrate2024-01-01 · Nitrate: measured 11.00 MG/L vs limit 10.00 MG/L (1.1×)2023-07-01 · Nitrate: measured 11.00 MG/L vs limit 10.00 MG/L (1.1×)2023-04-01 · Nitrate: measured 11.00 MG/L vs limit 10.00 MG/L (1.1×)2023-01-01 · Nitrate: measured 11.00 MG/L vs limit 10.00 MG/L (1.1×)2022-10-01 · Nitrate: measured 11.00 MG/L vs limit 10.00 MG/L (1.1×)2022-07-01 · Nitrate: measured 11.00 MG/L vs limit 10.00 MG/L (1.1×)2022-01-01 · Nitrate: measured 11.00 MG/L vs limit 10.00 MG/L (1.1×)2021-10-01 · Nitrate: measured 11.00 MG/L vs limit 10.00 MG/L (1.1×)2021-07-01 · Nitrate: measured 11.00 MG/L vs limit 10.00 MG/L (1.1×)2021-04-01 · Nitrate: measured 11.00 MG/L vs limit 10.00 MG/L (1.1×)2021-01-01 · Nitrate: measured 12.00 MG/L vs limit 10.00 MG/L (1.2×)2020-01-01 · Nitrate: measured 11.00 MG/L vs limit 10.00 MG/L (1.1×)
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 3 results on file · action level 15 ppb

14 ppb
2.2 ppb
1.6 ppb

Open now (1)

  1. 2022-07-25Public NoticePN Violation for NPDWR ViolationOpen

Every violation on record

  1. 2025-01-01Lead and Copper RuleLead Consumer NoticeBack in compliance
  2. 2024-01-01NitrateMCL, Single Samplemeasured 11.00 MG/L · limit 10.00 MG/LPeriod ended · no return to compliance on file
  3. 2023-12-01Groundwater RuleMonitoring of Treatment (SWTR-Unfilt/GWR)Back in compliance
  4. 2023-08-03Public NoticePN Violation for NPDWR ViolationBack in compliance
  5. 2023-07-01NitrateMCL, Single Samplemeasured 11.00 MG/L · limit 10.00 MG/LPeriod ended · no return to compliance on file
  6. 2023-04-01NitrateMCL, Single Samplemeasured 11.00 MG/L · limit 10.00 MG/LPeriod ended · no return to compliance on file
  7. 2023-01-01NitrateMCL, Single Samplemeasured 11.00 MG/L · limit 10.00 MG/LPeriod ended · no return to compliance on file
  8. 2022-10-01NitrateMCL, Single Samplemeasured 11.00 MG/L · limit 10.00 MG/LPeriod ended · no return to compliance on file
  9. 2022-07-25Public NoticePN Violation for NPDWR ViolationOpen
  10. 2022-07-01NitrateMCL, Single Samplemeasured 11.00 MG/L · limit 10.00 MG/LPeriod ended · no return to compliance on file
  11. 2022-05-01Groundwater RuleMonitoring of Treatment (SWTR-Unfilt/GWR)Back in compliance
  12. 2022-01-01NitrateMCL, Single Samplemeasured 11.00 MG/L · limit 10.00 MG/LPeriod ended · no return to compliance on file
  13. 2021-10-01NitrateMCL, Single Samplemeasured 11.00 MG/L · limit 10.00 MG/LPeriod ended · no return to compliance on file
  14. 2021-07-01NitrateMCL, Single Samplemeasured 11.00 MG/L · limit 10.00 MG/LPeriod ended · no return to compliance on file
  15. 2021-04-01NitrateMCL, Single Samplemeasured 11.00 MG/L · limit 10.00 MG/LPeriod ended · no return to compliance on file
  16. 2021-01-01NitrateMCL, Single Samplemeasured 12.00 MG/L · limit 10.00 MG/LPeriod ended · no return to compliance on file
  17. 2020-01-01NitrateMCL, Single Samplemeasured 11.00 MG/L · limit 10.00 MG/LPeriod ended · no return to compliance on file
  18. 2012-10-01Lead and Copper RuleFollow-up Or Routine LCR Tap M/RBack in compliance

System details

Population served210
Service connections142
Water sourceGroundwater
System typeCommunity Water System
OwnerLocal Government
StatusActive
CityPalco
EPA ZIP on file67657

Areas served

  • Palco, Rooks County

Reading this record

City of Palco is a community water system that draws from groundwater and serves about 210 people in Palco, Kansas. 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.