Community Water System · PWSID CO0116001

Denver Water Board

Serves 1,287,000 peopleSurface WaterOwner: Local GovernmentDenver, Colorado
Nothing open right now.

On record since 2014: 97 violations. 97 missed or late tests. Most recent began 2024-03-01.

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
0Treatment lapse
97Missed or late test
0Notice or report

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

The record, year by year

200520102014 · Missed or late test: 932014 · Missed or late test: 932014 · Missed or late test: 932014 · Missed or late test: 932014 · Missed or late test: 932014 · Missed or late test: 932014 · Missed or late test: 932014 · Missed or late test: 932014 · Missed or late test: 932014 · Missed or late test: 932014 · Missed or late test: 932014 · Missed or late test: 9320152019 · Missed or late test: 120202022 · Missed or late test: 12024 · Missed or late test: 22025
One square ≈ 8 violations (rounded up), by the year they began. Empty columns are years with nothing on EPA's record.
100% missed or late test · 97

Across Colorado, 74% of violations are missed or late tests and 6% 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 19 results on file · action level 15 ppb

11 ppb
11 ppb
11 ppb
11 ppb
10 ppb
10 ppb
10 ppb
10 ppb
6.7 ppb
4.5 ppb
4.1 ppb
4.1 ppb
4 ppb
3.9 ppb
3.9 ppb
3.9 ppb
3.8 ppb
3.6 ppb
3.5 ppb

Every violation on record

  1. 2024-03-01Surface water filtration (IESWTR)Monitoring, Turbidity (Enhanced SWTR)Back in compliance
  2. 2024-01-01Combined UraniumMonitoring, RegularBack in compliance
  3. 2022-09-01Surface water filtration (IESWTR)Monitoring, Turbidity (Enhanced SWTR)Back in compliance
  4. 2019-05-01Surface water filtration (IESWTR)Monitoring, Turbidity (Enhanced SWTR)Back in compliance
  5. 2014-01-01Chlordane ×3Monitoring, RegularBack in compliance
  6. 2014-01-01Ethylene Dibromide ×3Monitoring, RegularBack in compliance
  7. 2014-01-011, 2-Dibromo-3-Chloropropane ×3Monitoring, RegularBack in compliance
  8. 2014-01-01Total Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCB) ×3Monitoring, RegularBack in compliance
  9. 2014-01-01Pentachlorophenol ×3Monitoring, RegularBack in compliance
  10. 2014-01-01Benzo(a)pyrene ×3Monitoring, RegularBack in compliance
  11. 2014-01-01Hexachlorobenzene ×3Monitoring, RegularBack in compliance
  12. 2014-01-012, 4, 5-Tp ×3Monitoring, RegularBack in compliance
  13. 2014-01-012, 4-D ×3Monitoring, RegularBack in compliance
  14. 2014-01-01Heptachlor epoxide ×3Monitoring, RegularBack in compliance
  15. 2014-01-01Heptachlor ×3Monitoring, RegularBack in compliance
  16. 2014-01-01Lasso ×3Monitoring, RegularBack in compliance
  17. 2014-01-01Atrazine ×3Monitoring, RegularBack in compliance
  18. 2014-01-01Aldicarb ×3Monitoring, RegularBack in compliance
  19. 2014-01-01Carbofuran ×3Monitoring, RegularBack in compliance
  20. 2014-01-01Aldicarb sulfone ×3Monitoring, RegularBack in compliance
  21. 2014-01-01Aldicarb sulfoxide ×3Monitoring, RegularBack in compliance
  22. 2014-01-01Hexachlorocyclopentadiene ×3Monitoring, RegularBack in compliance
  23. 2014-01-01Dinoseb ×3Monitoring, RegularBack in compliance
  24. 2014-01-01Picloram ×3Monitoring, RegularBack in compliance
  25. 2014-01-01Di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate ×3Monitoring, RegularBack in compliance
Show the other 10 entries
  1. 2014-01-01Simazine ×3Monitoring, RegularBack in compliance
  2. 2014-01-01Oxamyl ×3Monitoring, RegularBack in compliance
  3. 2014-01-01Di(2-ethylhexyl) adipate ×3Monitoring, RegularBack in compliance
  4. 2014-01-01Endothall ×3Monitoring, RegularBack in compliance
  5. 2014-01-01Diquat ×3Monitoring, RegularBack in compliance
  6. 2014-01-01Dalapon ×3Monitoring, RegularBack in compliance
  7. 2014-01-01Toxaphene ×3Monitoring, RegularBack in compliance
  8. 2014-01-01Methoxychlor ×3Monitoring, RegularBack in compliance
  9. 2014-01-01Bhc-Gamma ×3Monitoring, RegularBack in compliance
  10. 2014-01-01Endrin ×3Monitoring, RegularBack in compliance

System details

Population served1,287,000
Service connections311,339
Water sourceSurface Water
System typeCommunity Water System
OwnerLocal Government
StatusActive
CityDenver
EPA ZIP on file80204

Areas served

  • Denver County

Reading this record

Denver Water Board is a community water system that draws from surface water and serves about 1,287,000 people in Denver, Colorado. 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.