Community Water System · PWSID IL0310720

Ford Heights

Serves 1,813 peopleSurface Water PurchasedOwner: Local GovernmentFord Heights, Illinois
Nothing open that measures the water, but 4 open testing or paperwork violations.

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 1997: 24 violations. 4 treatment lapses · 7 missed or late tests · 13 notices or reports. Most recent began 2025-07-02.

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
4Treatment lapse
7Missed or late test
13Notice or report4 open

More violations on record than 91% 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

1997 · Treatment lapse: 21997 · Treatment lapse: 21998 · Treatment lapse: 11999 · Treatment lapse: 120002001 · Notice or report: 12002 · Notice or report: 12004 · Missed or late test: 12005 · Missed or late test: 12005 · Notice or report: 42005 · Notice or report: 42005 · Notice or report: 42005 · Notice or report: 420052006 · Notice or report: 22006 · Notice or report: 220102012 · Notice or report: 12013 · Notice or report: 22013 · Notice or report: 220152018 · Missed or late test: 22018 · Missed or late test: 22020 · Missed or late test: 120202024 · Missed or late test: 22024 · Missed or late test: 22025 · Notice or report: 22025 · Notice or report: 22025
One square = one violation, by the year it began. Empty columns are years with nothing on EPA's record.
17% treatment lapse · 429% missed or late test · 754% notice or report · 13

Across Illinois, 81% 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 3 results on file · action level 15 ppb

1 ppb
0 ppb
0 ppb

Open now (4)

  1. 2025-07-02Lead service line inventoryRPTOpen
  2. 2025-07-01Consumer Confidence RuleCCR Inadequate ReportingOpen
  3. 2013-09-13Public Notice ×2PN Violation for NPDWR ViolationOpen

Every violation on record

  1. 2025-07-02Lead service line inventoryRPTOpen
  2. 2025-07-01Consumer Confidence RuleCCR Inadequate ReportingOpen
  3. 2024-01-01Total Haloacetic Acids (HAA5)Monitoring and Reporting (DBP)Period ended · no return to compliance on file
  4. 2024-01-01Trihalomethanes (TTHM)Monitoring and Reporting (DBP)Period ended · no return to compliance on file
  5. 2020-12-30Lead and Copper RuleLead Consumer NoticeBack in compliance
  6. 2018-02-01Revised Total Coliform RuleMONBack in compliance
  7. 2018-01-01ChlorineMonitoring and Reporting (DBP)Back in compliance
  8. 2013-09-13Public Notice ×2PN Violation for NPDWR ViolationOpen
  9. 2012-07-01Consumer Confidence RuleCCR Complete Failure to ReportBack in compliance
  10. 2006-11-02Public NoticePN Violation without NPDWR ViolationBack in compliance
  11. 2006-11-02Public NoticePN Violation for NPDWR ViolationBack in compliance
  12. 2005-10-01Lead and Copper RuleFollow-up Or Routine LCR Tap M/RBack in compliance
  13. 2005-08-06Public NoticePN Violation without NPDWR ViolationBack in compliance
  14. 2005-08-06Public NoticePN Violation for NPDWR ViolationBack in compliance
  15. 2005-07-09Public NoticePN Violation without NPDWR ViolationBack in compliance
  16. 2005-07-09Public NoticePN Violation for NPDWR ViolationBack in compliance
  17. 2004-10-01Lead and Copper RuleFollow-up Or Routine LCR Tap M/RBack in compliance
  18. 2002-07-01Consumer Confidence RuleCCR Inadequate ReportingBack in compliance
  19. 2001-07-01Consumer Confidence RuleCCR Complete Failure to ReportBack in compliance
  20. 1999-01-01Lead and Copper RulePublic EducationBack in compliance
  21. 1998-01-01Lead and Copper RulePublic EducationBack in compliance
  22. 1997-07-01Lead and Copper RulePublic EducationBack in compliance
  23. 1997-01-01Lead and Copper RuleOCCT/SOWT Study/RecommendationBack in compliance

System details

Population served1,813
Service connections694
Water sourceSurface Water Purchased
System typeCommunity Water System
OwnerLocal Government
StatusActive
CityFord Heights
EPA ZIP on file60411

Areas served

  • East Chicago Heights, Cook County

Reading this record

Ford Heights is a community water system that draws from surface water purchased and serves about 1,813 people in Ford Heights, 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.