Community Water System · PWSID IL0630200

Coal City

Serves 5,749 peopleGroundwaterOwner: Local GovernmentCoal City, Illinois
1 open treatment violation.

Open for: Lead service line inventory. 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 2015: 53 violations. 9 over the limit · 1 treatment lapse · 32 missed or late tests · 11 notices or reports. Most recent began 2025-09-01.

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

9Over the limit
1Treatment lapse1 open
32Missed or late test
11Notice or report2 open

More violations on record than 96% of active water systems in Illinois. Small systems with no staff chemist often rack up missed-test violations; big utilities rarely do.

The record, year by year

200520102015 · Missed or late test: 220152017 · Missed or late test: 12019 · Over the limit: 22020 · Over the limit: 22020 · Missed or late test: 282020 · Missed or late test: 282020 · Missed or late test: 282020 · Missed or late test: 282020 · Missed or late test: 282020 · Missed or late test: 282020 · Missed or late test: 282020 · Missed or late test: 282020 · Missed or late test: 282020 · Missed or late test: 2820202021 · Over the limit: 52021 · Over the limit: 52021 · Missed or late test: 12021 · Notice or report: 62021 · Notice or report: 62022 · Notice or report: 12024 · Treatment lapse: 12024 · Notice or report: 12025 · Notice or report: 32025
One square ≈ 3 violations (rounded up), by the year they began. Empty columns are years with nothing on EPA's record.
17% over the limit · 92% treatment lapse · 160% missed or late test · 3221% notice or report · 11

Across Illinois, 81% of violations are missed or late tests and 3% are water over a limit.

How far over the limit

at the limit2×5×10×100×+Combined Radium (-226 and...Gross Alpha Particle Activity2021-07-01 · Combined Radium (-226 and -228): measured 10.00 PCI/L vs limit 5.00 PCI/L (2.0×)2021-04-01 · Gross Alpha Particle Activity: measured 16.00 PCI/L vs limit 15.00 PCI/L (1.1×)2021-04-01 · Combined Radium (-226 and -228): measured 10.00 PCI/L vs limit 5.00 PCI/L (2.0×)2021-01-01 · Gross Alpha Particle Activity: measured 19.00 PCI/L vs limit 15.00 PCI/L (1.3×)2021-01-01 · Combined Radium (-226 and -228): measured 11.00 PCI/L vs limit 5.00 PCI/L (2.2×)2020-10-01 · Gross Alpha Particle Activity: measured 19.00 PCI/L vs limit 15.00 PCI/L (1.3×)2020-10-01 · Combined Radium (-226 and -228): measured 11.00 PCI/L vs limit 5.00 PCI/L (2.2×)2019-07-01 · Combined Radium (-226 and -228): measured 6.00 PCI/L vs limit 5.00 PCI/L (1.2×)2019-04-01 · Combined Radium (-226 and -228): measured 6.00 PCI/L vs limit 5.00 PCI/L (1.2×)
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 8 results on file · action level 15 ppb

39 ppb
16.8 ppb
12.1 ppb
7.7 ppb
7.3 ppb
5 ppb
4.4 ppb
0 ppb

Open now (3)

  1. 2025-07-02Lead service line inventoryRPTOpen
  2. 2025-07-01Consumer Confidence RuleCCR Inadequate ReportingOpen
  3. 2024-10-17Lead service line inventoryTTOpen

Every violation on record

  1. 2025-09-01Public NoticePN Violation for NPDWR ViolationBack in compliance
  2. 2025-07-02Lead service line inventoryRPTOpen
  3. 2025-07-01Consumer Confidence RuleCCR Inadequate ReportingOpen
  4. 2024-10-17Lead service line inventoryTTOpen
  5. 2024-07-01Consumer Confidence RuleCCR Complete Failure to ReportBack in compliance
  6. 2022-01-18Public NoticePN Violation for NPDWR ViolationBack in compliance
  7. 2021-10-14Public Notice ×2PN Violation for NPDWR ViolationBack in compliance
  8. 2021-07-01Combined Radium (-226 and -228)MCL, Averagemeasured 10.00 PCI/L · limit 5.00 PCI/LBack in compliance
  9. 2021-07-01ChlorineMonitoring and Reporting (DBP)Back in compliance
  10. 2021-05-26Public NoticePN Violation for NPDWR ViolationBack in compliance
  11. 2021-05-05Public NoticePN Violation for NPDWR ViolationBack in compliance
  12. 2021-04-01Gross Alpha Particle ActivityMCL, Averagemeasured 16.00 PCI/L · limit 15.00 PCI/LBack in compliance
  13. 2021-04-01Combined Radium (-226 and -228)MCL, Averagemeasured 10.00 PCI/L · limit 5.00 PCI/LBack in compliance
  14. 2021-03-27Public NoticePN Violation for NPDWR ViolationBack in compliance
  15. 2021-03-03Public NoticePN Violation for NPDWR ViolationBack in compliance
  16. 2021-01-01Gross Alpha Particle ActivityMCL, Averagemeasured 19.00 PCI/L · limit 15.00 PCI/LBack in compliance
  17. 2021-01-01Combined Radium (-226 and -228)MCL, Averagemeasured 11.00 PCI/L · limit 5.00 PCI/LBack in compliance
  18. 2020-10-01Gross Alpha Particle ActivityMCL, Averagemeasured 19.00 PCI/L · limit 15.00 PCI/LBack in compliance
  19. 2020-10-01Combined Radium (-226 and -228)MCL, Averagemeasured 11.00 PCI/L · limit 5.00 PCI/LBack in compliance
  20. 2020-01-01AldrinMonitoring, RegularPeriod ended · no return to compliance on file
  21. 2020-01-01ChlordaneMonitoring, RegularPeriod ended · no return to compliance on file
  22. 2020-01-01DieldrinMonitoring, RegularPeriod ended · no return to compliance on file
  23. 2020-01-01OxamylMonitoring, RegularPeriod ended · no return to compliance on file
  24. 2020-01-01HexachlorobenzeneMonitoring, RegularPeriod ended · no return to compliance on file
  25. 2020-01-01DalaponMonitoring, RegularPeriod ended · no return to compliance on file
Show the other 27 entries
  1. 2020-01-01MethoxychlorMonitoring, RegularPeriod ended · no return to compliance on file
  2. 2020-01-01PicloramMonitoring, RegularPeriod ended · no return to compliance on file
  3. 2020-01-01HexachlorocyclopentadieneMonitoring, RegularPeriod ended · no return to compliance on file
  4. 2020-01-01AtrazineMonitoring, RegularPeriod ended · no return to compliance on file
  5. 2020-01-012, 4, 5-TpMonitoring, RegularPeriod ended · no return to compliance on file
  6. 2020-01-01Total Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCB)Monitoring, RegularPeriod ended · no return to compliance on file
  7. 2020-01-01Di(2-ethylhexyl) adipateMonitoring, RegularPeriod ended · no return to compliance on file
  8. 2020-01-01Bhc-GammaMonitoring, RegularPeriod ended · no return to compliance on file
  9. 2020-01-01Heptachlor epoxideMonitoring, RegularPeriod ended · no return to compliance on file
  10. 2020-01-01PentachlorophenolMonitoring, RegularPeriod ended · no return to compliance on file
  11. 2020-01-012, 4-DMonitoring, RegularPeriod ended · no return to compliance on file
  12. 2020-01-01ToxapheneMonitoring, RegularPeriod ended · no return to compliance on file
  13. 2020-01-01SimazineMonitoring, RegularPeriod ended · no return to compliance on file
  14. 2020-01-01DinosebMonitoring, RegularPeriod ended · no return to compliance on file
  15. 2020-01-011, 2-Dibromo-3-ChloropropaneMonitoring, RegularPeriod ended · no return to compliance on file
  16. 2020-01-01Ethylene DibromideMonitoring, RegularPeriod ended · no return to compliance on file
  17. 2020-01-01EndrinMonitoring, RegularPeriod ended · no return to compliance on file
  18. 2020-01-01DiquatMonitoring, RegularPeriod ended · no return to compliance on file
  19. 2020-01-01Di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalateMonitoring, RegularPeriod ended · no return to compliance on file
  20. 2020-01-01CarbofuranMonitoring, RegularPeriod ended · no return to compliance on file
  21. 2020-01-01LassoMonitoring, RegularPeriod ended · no return to compliance on file
  22. 2020-01-01HeptachlorMonitoring, RegularPeriod ended · no return to compliance on file
  23. 2019-07-01Combined Radium (-226 and -228)MCL, Averagemeasured 6.00 PCI/L · limit 5.00 PCI/LBack in compliance
  24. 2019-04-01Combined Radium (-226 and -228)MCL, Averagemeasured 6.00 PCI/L · limit 5.00 PCI/LBack in compliance
  25. 2017-07-01Lead and Copper RuleWater Quality Parameter M/RBack in compliance
  26. 2015-09-01Total Haloacetic Acids (HAA5)Monitoring and Reporting (DBP)Back in compliance
  27. 2015-09-01Trihalomethanes (TTHM)Monitoring and Reporting (DBP)Back in compliance

System details

Population served5,749
Service connections2,406
Water sourceGroundwater
System typeCommunity Water System
OwnerLocal Government
StatusActive
CityCoal City
EPA ZIP on file60416

Areas served

  • Coal City, Grundy County

Reading this record

Coal City is a community water system that draws from groundwater and serves about 5,749 people in Coal City, Illinois. 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.