Community Water System · PWSID NH2001010

Rochester Water Dept

Serves 25,000 peopleSurface WaterOwner: Local GovernmentRochester, New Hampshire
Nothing open that measures the water, but 2 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 2016: 5 violations. 3 over the limit · 2 notices or reports. Most recent began 2022-01-01.

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

3Over the limit
0Treatment lapse
0Missed or late test
2Notice or report2 open

More violations on record than 64% of active water systems in New Hampshire. 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: 22016 · Over the limit: 22016 · Notice or report: 12017 · Notice or report: 120202022 · Over the limit: 12025
One square = one violation, by the year it began. Empty columns are years with nothing on EPA's record.
60% over the limit · 340% notice or report · 2

Across New Hampshire, 37% of violations are missed or late tests and 7% 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 3 results on file · action level 15 ppb

2 ppb
2 ppb
0 ppb

Open now (2)

  1. 2017-03-27Public NoticePN Violation for NPDWR ViolationOpen
  2. 2016-12-08Public NoticePN Violation for NPDWR ViolationOpen

Every violation on record

  1. 2022-01-01Total Haloacetic Acids (HAA5)MCL, Averagemeasured 0.0610 MG/LBack in compliance
  2. 2017-03-27Public NoticePN Violation for NPDWR ViolationOpen
  3. 2016-12-08Public NoticePN Violation for NPDWR ViolationOpen
  4. 2016-10-01Trihalomethanes (TTHM)MCL, Averagemeasured 0.0820 MG/LBack in compliance
  5. 2016-07-01Trihalomethanes (TTHM)MCL, Averagemeasured 0.0900 MG/LBack in compliance

System details

Population served25,000
Service connections7,500
Water sourceSurface Water
System typeCommunity Water System
OwnerLocal Government
StatusActive
CityRochester
EPA ZIP on file03867

Areas served

  • Rochester, Strafford County

Reading this record

Rochester Water Dept is a community water system that draws from surface water and serves about 25,000 people in Rochester, New Hampshire. 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.