Community Water System · PWSID PA3060059

Reading Area Water Authority

Serves 95,100 peopleSurface WaterOwner: Local GovernmentReading, Pennsylvania
Nothing open right now.

On record since 2006: 9 violations. 3 over the limit · 1 treatment lapse · 4 missed or late tests · 1 notice or report. Most recent began 2025-04-01.

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

3Over the limit
1Treatment lapse
4Missed or late test
1Notice or report

More violations on record than 49% of active water systems in Pennsylvania. Small systems with no staff chemist often rack up missed-test violations; big utilities rarely do.

The record, year by year

20052006 · Notice or report: 1201020152016 · Over the limit: 12018 · Over the limit: 22018 · Over the limit: 22018 · Missed or late test: 22018 · Missed or late test: 220202022 · Missed or late test: 22022 · Missed or late test: 22025 · Treatment lapse: 12025
One square = one violation, by the year it began. Empty columns are years with nothing on EPA's record.
33% over the limit · 311% treatment lapse · 144% missed or late test · 411% notice or report · 1

Across Pennsylvania, 71% of violations are missed or late tests and 2% 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 4 results on file · action level 15 ppb

2 ppb
1 ppb
0 ppb
0 ppb

Every violation on record

  1. 2025-04-01Surface water treatment (LT2)Treatment Technique (SWTR and GWR)Back in compliance
  2. 2022-01-01Trihalomethanes (TTHM)Monitoring and Reporting (DBP)Back in compliance
  3. 2022-01-01Total Haloacetic Acids (HAA5)Monitoring and Reporting (DBP)Back in compliance
  4. 2018-10-01Revised Total Coliform RuleMCLBack in compliance
  5. 2018-09-01Revised Total Coliform RuleMCLBack in compliance
  6. 2018-01-01Thallium, TotalMonitoring, RegularBack in compliance
  7. 2018-01-01Surface water treatment (SWTR)Monitoring of Treatment (SWTR-Filter)Back in compliance
  8. 2016-08-01Revised Total Coliform RuleMCLBack in compliance
  9. 2006-07-01Consumer Confidence RuleCCR Complete Failure to ReportBack in compliance

System details

Population served95,100
Service connections28,500
Water sourceSurface Water
System typeCommunity Water System
OwnerLocal Government
StatusActive
CityReading
EPA ZIP on file19604

Areas served

  • Berks County

Reading this record

Reading Area Water Authority is a community water system that draws from surface water and serves about 95,100 people in Reading, Pennsylvania. 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.