Community Water System · PWSID WA5356500

Mount Baker Water Association

Serves 500 peopleGroundwaterOwner: PrivateBellingham, Washington
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 2016: 4 violations. 1 over the limit · 3 missed or late tests. Most recent began 2022-04-01.

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

1Over the limit
0Treatment lapse
3Missed or late test1 open
0Notice or report

More violations on record than 60% of active water systems in Washington. Small systems with no staff chemist often rack up missed-test violations; big utilities rarely do.

The record, year by year

2005201020152016 · Over the limit: 12018 · Missed or late test: 120202022 · Missed or late test: 22022 · Missed or late test: 22025
One square = one violation, by the year it began. Empty columns are years with nothing on EPA's record.
25% over the limit · 175% missed or late test · 3

Across Washington, 88% 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

3 ppb
1 ppb

Open now (1)

  1. 2022-01-01Lead and Copper RuleFollow-up Or Routine LCR Tap M/ROpen

Every violation on record

  1. 2022-04-01Revised Total Coliform RuleMONBack in compliance
  2. 2022-01-01Lead and Copper RuleFollow-up Or Routine LCR Tap M/ROpen
  3. 2018-06-01Revised Total Coliform RuleMONBack in compliance
  4. 2016-01-01Coliform (TCR)MCL, Acute (TCR)Back in compliance

System details

Population served500
Service connections229
Water sourceGroundwater
System typeCommunity Water System
OwnerPrivate
StatusActive
CityBellingham
EPA ZIP on file98226

Areas served

  • Whatcom County

Reading this record

Mount Baker Water Association is a community water system that draws from groundwater and serves about 500 people in Bellingham, Washington. 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.