Community Water System · PWSID WI1280108

Lake Mills Waterworks

Serves 6,211 peopleGroundwaterOwner: Local GovernmentLake Mills, Wisconsin
Nothing open that measures the water, but 6 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 2009: 38 violations. 1 over the limit · 6 treatment lapses · 18 missed or late tests · 13 notices or reports. Most recent began 2022-09-17.

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

1Over the limit
6Treatment lapse
18Missed or late test2 open
13Notice or report4 open

More violations on record than 99% of active water systems in Wisconsin. Small systems with no staff chemist often rack up missed-test violations; big utilities rarely do.

The record, year by year

20052009 · Notice or report: 22010 · Notice or report: 120102011 · Missed or late test: 12011 · Notice or report: 12012 · Treatment lapse: 12012 · Missed or late test: 22012 · Notice or report: 22013 · Missed or late test: 22014 · Missed or late test: 120152016 · Treatment lapse: 32016 · Treatment lapse: 32016 · Missed or late test: 32016 · Missed or late test: 32016 · Notice or report: 22017 · Over the limit: 12017 · Treatment lapse: 12017 · Missed or late test: 92017 · Missed or late test: 92017 · Missed or late test: 92017 · Missed or late test: 92017 · Missed or late test: 92017 · Notice or report: 22018 · Notice or report: 12020 · Notice or report: 220202022 · Treatment lapse: 12025
One square ≈ 2 violations (rounded up), by the year they began. Empty columns are years with nothing on EPA's record.
3% over the limit · 116% treatment lapse · 647% missed or late test · 1834% notice or report · 13

Across Wisconsin, 54% of violations are missed or late tests and 5% are water over a limit.

How far over the limit

at the limit2×5×10×100×+Combined Radium (-226 and...2017-07-01 · Combined Radium (-226 and -228): measured 5.50 PCI/L vs limit 5.50 PCI/L (1.0×)
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 9 results on file · action level 15 ppb

18 ppb
11 ppb
7.3 ppb
7.1 ppb
6.5 ppb
5.9 ppb
5.7 ppb
4.6 ppb
3.9 ppb

Open now (6)

  1. 2016-10-01Lead and Copper RuleLead Consumer NoticeOpen
  2. 2014-01-01Lead and Copper RuleLead Consumer NoticeOpen
  3. 2012-01-01Public Notice ×2PN Violation for NPDWR ViolationOpen
  4. 2011-01-01Public NoticePN Violation for NPDWR ViolationOpen
  5. 2009-05-01Public NoticePN Violation for NPDWR ViolationOpen

Every violation on record

  1. 2022-09-17Lead and Copper RuleOCCT/SOWT Treatment Installation/DemonstrationBack in compliance
  2. 2020-07-01Consumer Confidence RuleCCR Inadequate ReportingBack in compliance
  3. 2020-07-01Consumer Confidence RuleCCR Complete Failure to ReportBack in compliance
  4. 2018-01-01Public NoticePN Violation for NPDWR ViolationBack in compliance
  5. 2017-10-01Lead and Copper RuleOCCT/SOWT Study/RecommendationBack in compliance
  6. 2017-07-01Lead and Copper RuleFollow-up Or Routine LCR Tap M/RBack in compliance
  7. 2017-07-01Combined Radium (-226 and -228)MCL, Averagemeasured 5.50 PCI/L · limit 5.50 PCI/LBack in compliance
  8. 2017-06-23Public NoticePN Violation for NPDWR ViolationBack in compliance
  9. 2017-04-01Lead and Copper RuleLead Consumer NoticeBack in compliance
  10. 2017-01-01Lead and Copper Rule ×3Initial, Follow-up, or Routine Source Water M/RBack in compliance
  11. 2017-01-01Lead and Copper Rule ×4Water Quality Parameter M/RBack in compliance
  12. 2017-01-01Public NoticePN Violation for NPDWR ViolationBack in compliance
  13. 2016-10-01Lead and Copper RuleLead Consumer NoticeOpen
  14. 2016-07-01Lead and Copper RuleFollow-up Or Routine LCR Tap M/RBack in compliance
  15. 2016-04-01Lead and Copper RulePublic EducationBack in compliance
  16. 2016-01-01Lead and Copper RuleFollow-up Or Routine LCR Tap M/RBack in compliance
  17. 2016-01-01Public Notice ×2PN Violation for NPDWR ViolationBack in compliance
  18. 2016-01-01Lead and Copper RuleLead Service Line Replacement (LSLR)Back in compliance
  19. 2016-01-01Lead and Copper RulePublic EducationBack in compliance
  20. 2014-01-01Lead and Copper RuleLead Consumer NoticeOpen
  21. 2013-06-01Lead and Copper RuleFollow-up Or Routine LCR Tap M/RBack in compliance
  22. 2013-04-01Lead and Copper RuleLead Consumer NoticeBack in compliance
  23. 2012-10-01Lead and Copper RuleLead Consumer NoticeBack in compliance
  24. 2012-04-01Lead and Copper RuleLead Consumer NoticeBack in compliance
  25. 2012-01-01Public Notice ×2PN Violation for NPDWR ViolationOpen
Show the other 6 entries
  1. 2012-01-01Lead and Copper RulePublic EducationBack in compliance
  2. 2011-10-01Lead and Copper RuleLead Consumer NoticeBack in compliance
  3. 2011-01-01Public NoticePN Violation for NPDWR ViolationOpen
  4. 2010-07-01Consumer Confidence RuleCCR Complete Failure to ReportBack in compliance
  5. 2009-07-01Consumer Confidence RuleCCR Complete Failure to ReportBack in compliance
  6. 2009-05-01Public NoticePN Violation for NPDWR ViolationOpen

System details

Population served6,211
Service connections2,607
Water sourceGroundwater
System typeCommunity Water System
OwnerLocal Government
StatusActive
CityLake Mills
EPA ZIP on file53551-1632

Areas served

  • Lake Mills, Jefferson County

Reading this record

Lake Mills Waterworks is a community water system that draws from groundwater and serves about 6,211 people in Lake Mills, Wisconsin. 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.