Community Water System · PWSID 090605153

Pala North

Serves 14,280 peopleGroundwaterOwner: Native AmericanPala, California
2 open treatment violations.

Open for: Groundwater Rule. 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 2016: 17 violations. 1 over the limit · 12 treatment lapses · 4 missed or late tests. Most recent began 2025-09-01.

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

1Over the limit
12Treatment lapse2 open
4Missed or late test
0Notice or report

More violations on record than 92% 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

2005201020152016 · Missed or late test: 12019 · Treatment lapse: 122019 · Treatment lapse: 122019 · Treatment lapse: 122019 · Treatment lapse: 122019 · Treatment lapse: 122019 · Treatment lapse: 122019 · Treatment lapse: 122019 · Treatment lapse: 122019 · Treatment lapse: 122019 · Treatment lapse: 122019 · Treatment lapse: 122019 · Treatment lapse: 1220202021 · Missed or late test: 12022 · Missed or late test: 12025 · Over the limit: 12025 · Missed or late test: 12025
One square = one violation, by the year it began. Empty columns are years with nothing on EPA's record.
6% over the limit · 171% treatment lapse · 1224% missed or late test · 4

Across California, 52% of violations are missed or late tests and 29% 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 5 results on file · action level 15 ppb

below 5 ppb
2.3 ppb
2.2 ppb
1.5 ppb
below 1 ppb

Copper, 90th percentile 1 result on file · action level 1.3 mg/L

1.4 mg/L

Open now (2)

  1. 2019-09-27Groundwater Rule ×2Failure To Address DeficiencyOpen

Every violation on record

  1. 2025-09-01Revised Total Coliform RuleMONBack in compliance
  2. 2025-07-01NitrateMCL, Single Samplemeasured 12.50 MG/LBack in compliance
  3. 2022-01-01NitrateMonitoring, RegularBack in compliance
  4. 2021-01-01NitrateMonitoring, RegularBack in compliance
  5. 2019-09-27Groundwater Rule ×2Failure To Address DeficiencyOpen
  6. 2019-09-26Groundwater Rule ×10Failure To Address DeficiencyBack in compliance
  7. 2016-01-01Lead and Copper RuleFollow-up Or Routine LCR Tap M/RBack in compliance

System details

Population served14,280
Service connections400
Water sourceGroundwater
System typeCommunity Water System
OwnerNative American
StatusActive
CityPala
EPA ZIP on file92059

Areas served

    Reading this record

    Pala North is a community water system that draws from groundwater and serves about 14,280 people in Pala, 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.