Community Water System · PWSID CA4000563

Higuera Apartments

Serves 30 peopleGroundwaterOwner: PrivateSan Luis Obispo, California
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 2005: 28 violations. 19 over the limit · 1 treatment lapse · 6 missed or late tests · 2 notices or reports. Most recent began 2025-07-01.

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

19Over the limit
1Treatment lapse1 open
6Missed or late test
2Notice or report1 open

More violations on record than 95% of active water systems in California. Small systems with no staff chemist often rack up missed-test violations; big utilities rarely do.

The record, year by year

2005 · Notice or report: 12005201020152017 · Over the limit: 12018 · Missed or late test: 22018 · Missed or late test: 22019 · Missed or late test: 12020 · Missed or late test: 22020 · Missed or late test: 220202021 · Over the limit: 32021 · Over the limit: 32021 · Over the limit: 32022 · Over the limit: 42022 · Over the limit: 42022 · Over the limit: 42022 · Over the limit: 42022 · Missed or late test: 12023 · Over the limit: 42023 · Over the limit: 42023 · Over the limit: 42023 · Over the limit: 42024 · Over the limit: 42024 · Over the limit: 42024 · Over the limit: 42024 · Over the limit: 42024 · Treatment lapse: 12024 · Notice or report: 12025 · Over the limit: 32025 · Over the limit: 32025 · Over the limit: 32025
One square = one violation, by the year it began. Empty columns are years with nothing on EPA's record.
68% over the limit · 194% treatment lapse · 121% missed or late test · 67% notice or report · 2

Across California, 52% of violations are missed or late tests and 29% are water over a limit.

How far over the limit

at the limit2×5×10×100×+Nitrate2025-07-01 · Nitrate: measured 11.00 MG/L vs limit 10.00 MG/L (1.1×)2025-04-01 · Nitrate: measured 11.00 MG/L vs limit 10.00 MG/L (1.1×)2025-01-01 · Nitrate: measured 11.00 MG/L vs limit 10.00 MG/L (1.1×)2024-10-01 · Nitrate: measured 11.00 MG/L vs limit 10.00 MG/L (1.1×)2024-07-01 · Nitrate: measured 11.00 MG/L vs limit 10.00 MG/L (1.1×)2024-04-01 · Nitrate: measured 11.00 MG/L vs limit 10.00 MG/L (1.1×)2024-01-01 · Nitrate: measured 11.00 MG/L vs limit 10.00 MG/L (1.1×)2023-10-01 · 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×)
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 7 results on file · action level 15 ppb

11 ppb
2.5 ppb
2.5 ppb
0 ppb
0 ppb
0 ppb
0 ppb

Open now (2)

  1. 2024-10-17Lead service line inventoryRPTOpen
  2. 2024-10-17Lead service line inventoryTTOpen

Every violation on record

  1. 2025-07-01NitrateMCL, Single Samplemeasured 11.00 MG/L · limit 10.00 MG/LPeriod ended · no return to compliance on file
  2. 2025-04-01NitrateMCL, Single Samplemeasured 11.00 MG/L · limit 10.00 MG/LPeriod ended · no return to compliance on file
  3. 2025-01-01NitrateMCL, Single Samplemeasured 11.00 MG/L · limit 10.00 MG/LPeriod ended · no return to compliance on file
  4. 2024-10-17Lead service line inventoryRPTOpen
  5. 2024-10-17Lead service line inventoryTTOpen
  6. 2024-10-01NitrateMCL, Single Samplemeasured 11.00 MG/L · limit 10.00 MG/LPeriod ended · no return to compliance on file
  7. 2024-07-01NitrateMCL, Single Samplemeasured 11.00 MG/L · limit 10.00 MG/LPeriod ended · no return to compliance on file
  8. 2024-04-01NitrateMCL, Single Samplemeasured 11.00 MG/L · limit 10.00 MG/LPeriod ended · no return to compliance on file
  9. 2024-01-01NitrateMCL, Single Samplemeasured 11.00 MG/L · limit 10.00 MG/LPeriod ended · no return to compliance on file
  10. 2023-10-01NitrateMCL, Single Samplemeasured 11.00 MG/L · limit 10.00 MG/LPeriod ended · no return to compliance on file
  11. 2023-07-01NitrateMCL, Single Samplemeasured 11.00 MG/L · limit 10.00 MG/LPeriod ended · no return to compliance on file
  12. 2023-04-01NitrateMCL, Single Samplemeasured 11.00 MG/L · limit 10.00 MG/LPeriod ended · no return to compliance on file
  13. 2023-01-01NitrateMCL, Single Samplemeasured 14.40 MG/LPeriod ended · no return to compliance on file
  14. 2022-10-01NitrateMCL, Single Samplemeasured 14.40 MG/LPeriod ended · no return to compliance on file
  15. 2022-07-01NitrateMCL, Single Samplemeasured 14.00 MG/LPeriod ended · no return to compliance on file
  16. 2022-04-01NitrateMCL, Single Samplemeasured 14.00 MG/LPeriod ended · no return to compliance on file
  17. 2022-01-01NitrateMonitoring, RegularBack in compliance
  18. 2022-01-01NitrateMCL, Single Samplemeasured 12.00 MG/LPeriod ended · no return to compliance on file
  19. 2021-10-01NitrateMCL, Single Samplemeasured 12.00 MG/LPeriod ended · no return to compliance on file
  20. 2021-07-01NitrateMCL, Single Samplemeasured 12.00 MG/LPeriod ended · no return to compliance on file
  21. 2021-04-05NitrateMCL, Single Samplemeasured 12.00 UG/LPeriod ended · no return to compliance on file
  22. 2020-01-01NitrateMonitoring, RegularBack in compliance
  23. 2020-01-01Lead and Copper RuleInitial Tap Sampling for Pb and CuBack in compliance
  24. 2019-01-01Lead and Copper RuleInitial Tap Sampling for Pb and CuBack in compliance
  25. 2018-07-01Lead and Copper RuleInitial Tap Sampling for Pb and CuBack in compliance
Show the other 3 entries
  1. 2018-01-01NitrateMonitoring, RegularBack in compliance
  2. 2017-01-01NitrateMCL, Single Samplemeasured 13.00 UG/LBack in compliance
  3. 2005-07-01Consumer Confidence RuleCCR Complete Failure to ReportBack in compliance

System details

Population served30
Service connections24
Water sourceGroundwater
System typeCommunity Water System
OwnerPrivate
StatusActive
CitySan Luis Obispo
EPA ZIP on file93401

Areas served

  • San Luis Obispo County

Reading this record

Higuera Apartments is a community water system that draws from groundwater and serves about 30 people in San Luis Obispo, California. 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.