Community Water System · PWSID MT0000184

Flathead County Water Dist 101

Serves 210 peopleGroundwaterOwner: PrivateColumbia Falls, Montana
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 1994: 36 violations. 1 over the limit · 1 treatment lapse · 16 missed or late tests · 18 notices or reports. Most recent began 2024-12-30.

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

1Over the limit
1Treatment lapse
16Missed or late test
18Notice or report1 open

More violations on record than 91% of active water systems in Montana. Small systems with no staff chemist often rack up missed-test violations; big utilities rarely do.

The record, year by year

1994 · Missed or late test: 119951999 · Missed or late test: 21999 · Missed or late test: 22000 · Notice or report: 120002001 · Missed or late test: 12005 · Notice or report: 120052007 · Notice or report: 12009 · Missed or late test: 12010 · Missed or late test: 12010 · Notice or report: 22010 · Notice or report: 220102011 · Treatment lapse: 12011 · Missed or late test: 12011 · Notice or report: 22011 · Notice or report: 22012 · Notice or report: 22012 · Notice or report: 22013 · Missed or late test: 32013 · Missed or late test: 32013 · Missed or late test: 32013 · Notice or report: 22013 · Notice or report: 22014 · Notice or report: 22014 · Notice or report: 22015 · Over the limit: 12015 · Missed or late test: 32015 · Missed or late test: 32015 · Missed or late test: 32015 · Notice or report: 22015 · Notice or report: 220152016 · Missed or late test: 22016 · Missed or late test: 22018 · Notice or report: 12020 · Notice or report: 120202023 · Notice or report: 12024 · Missed or late test: 12025
One square = one violation, by the year it began. Empty columns are years with nothing on EPA's record.
3% over the limit · 13% treatment lapse · 144% missed or late test · 1650% notice or report · 18

Across Montana, 85% of violations are missed or late tests and 3% 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 2 results on file · action level 15 ppb

1 ppb
0 ppb

Open now (1)

  1. 2023-10-01Consumer Confidence RuleCCR Inadequate ReportingOpen

Every violation on record

  1. 2024-12-30Lead and Copper RuleLead Consumer NoticeBack in compliance
  2. 2023-10-01Consumer Confidence RuleCCR Inadequate ReportingOpen
  3. 2020-07-01Consumer Confidence RuleCCR Complete Failure to ReportBack in compliance
  4. 2018-07-01Consumer Confidence RuleCCR Complete Failure to ReportBack in compliance
  5. 2016-02-01Coliform (TCR)Monitoring, Routine Major (TCR)Back in compliance
  6. 2016-01-01Coliform (TCR)Monitoring, Routine Major (TCR)Back in compliance
  7. 2015-12-30Lead and Copper RuleLead Consumer NoticeBack in compliance
  8. 2015-12-12E. ColiMonitoring, Source Water (GWR)Back in compliance
  9. 2015-12-01Coliform (TCR)MCL, Monthly (TCR)Back in compliance
  10. 2015-10-01Consumer Confidence RuleCCR Inadequate ReportingBack in compliance
  11. 2015-07-01Consumer Confidence RuleCCR Complete Failure to ReportBack in compliance
  12. 2015-01-01Nitrate-NitriteMonitoring, RegularBack in compliance
  13. 2014-10-01Consumer Confidence RuleCCR Inadequate ReportingBack in compliance
  14. 2014-07-01Consumer Confidence RuleCCR Complete Failure to ReportBack in compliance
  15. 2013-10-01Consumer Confidence RuleCCR Inadequate ReportingBack in compliance
  16. 2013-07-01Consumer Confidence RuleCCR Complete Failure to ReportBack in compliance
  17. 2013-01-01E. Coli ×2Monitoring, Source Water (GWR)Back in compliance
  18. 2013-01-01Lead and Copper RuleLead Consumer NoticeBack in compliance
  19. 2012-10-01Consumer Confidence RuleCCR Inadequate ReportingBack in compliance
  20. 2012-07-01Consumer Confidence RuleCCR Complete Failure to ReportBack in compliance
  21. 2011-10-01Consumer Confidence RuleCCR Inadequate ReportingBack in compliance
  22. 2011-07-21Groundwater RuleFailure To Address DeficiencyBack in compliance
  23. 2011-07-01Consumer Confidence RuleCCR Complete Failure to ReportBack in compliance
  24. 2011-01-01AsbestosMonitoring, RegularBack in compliance
  25. 2010-10-01Consumer Confidence RuleCCR Inadequate ReportingBack in compliance
Show the other 10 entries
  1. 2010-07-01Consumer Confidence RuleCCR Complete Failure to ReportBack in compliance
  2. 2010-01-01Lead and Copper RuleLead Consumer NoticeBack in compliance
  3. 2009-10-01Lead and Copper RuleFollow-up Or Routine LCR Tap M/RBack in compliance
  4. 2007-02-05Consumer Confidence RuleCCR Inadequate ReportingBack in compliance
  5. 2005-07-01Consumer Confidence RuleCCR Inadequate ReportingBack in compliance
  6. 2001-10-01Lead and Copper RuleInitial Tap Sampling for Pb and CuBack in compliance
  7. 2000-07-01Consumer Confidence RuleCCR Complete Failure to ReportBack in compliance
  8. 1999-07-01Lead and Copper RuleInitial Tap Sampling for Pb and CuBack in compliance
  9. 1999-01-01Lead and Copper RuleInitial Tap Sampling for Pb and CuBack in compliance
  10. 1994-01-01Lead and Copper RuleInitial Tap Sampling for Pb and CuBack in compliance

System details

Population served210
Service connections96
Water sourceGroundwater
System typeCommunity Water System
OwnerPrivate
StatusActive
CityColumbia Falls
EPA ZIP on file59912

Areas served

  • Columbia Falls, Flathead County

Reading this record

Flathead County Water Dist 101 is a community water system that draws from groundwater and serves about 210 people in Columbia Falls, Montana. 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.