Community Water System · PWSID MD0070204

West Nottingham Academy

Serves 250 peopleGroundwaterOwner: PrivateColora, Maryland
1 open treatment violation.

Open for: Lead and Copper 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 1999: 16 violations. 3 treatment lapses · 7 missed or late tests · 6 notices or reports. Most recent began 2025-04-01.

None of them is a measurement of contaminated water.

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

0Over the limit
3Treatment lapse1 open
7Missed or late test1 open
6Notice or report

More violations on record than 95% of active water systems in Maryland. Small systems with no staff chemist often rack up missed-test violations; big utilities rarely do.

The record, year by year

1999 · Missed or late test: 1200020052007 · Notice or report: 12008 · Notice or report: 12009 · Treatment lapse: 12009 · Missed or late test: 12009 · Notice or report: 12010 · Notice or report: 120102011 · Missed or late test: 12011 · Notice or report: 12012 · Notice or report: 1201520202023 · Missed or late test: 22023 · Missed or late test: 22024 · Treatment lapse: 12024 · Missed or late test: 12025 · Treatment lapse: 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.
19% treatment lapse · 344% missed or late test · 738% notice or report · 6

Across Maryland, 72% of violations are missed or late tests and 5% are water over a limit.

What you can do

  • Lead: Run cold water for 30 seconds to 2 minutes before using it for drinking or cooking, especially after the water has been sitting for several hours. Use only cold water for cooking and baby formula. Consider a water filter certified to remove lead (look for NSF/ANSI Standard 53 certification). Have your water tested if you live in an older home.

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

23.8 ppb
3.5 ppb
2 ppb
1 ppb

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

5 mg/L

Open now (2)

  1. 2025-04-01Lead and Copper RuleInitial, Follow-up, or Routine Source Water M/ROpen
  2. 2025-04-01Lead and Copper RuleOCCT/SOWT Study/RecommendationOpen

Every violation on record

  1. 2025-04-01Lead and Copper RuleInitial, Follow-up, or Routine Source Water M/ROpen
  2. 2025-04-01Lead and Copper RuleOCCT/SOWT Study/RecommendationOpen
  3. 2024-11-30Lead and Copper RulePublic EducationBack in compliance
  4. 2024-06-01Lead and Copper RuleWater Quality Parameter M/RPeriod ended · no return to compliance on file
  5. 2023-07-01Revised Total Coliform RuleMONBack in compliance
  6. 2023-06-01Revised Total Coliform RuleMONBack in compliance
  7. 2012-07-01Consumer Confidence RuleCCR Complete Failure to ReportBack in compliance
  8. 2011-07-01Consumer Confidence RuleCCR Complete Failure to ReportBack in compliance
  9. 2011-07-01Lead and Copper RuleFollow-up Or Routine LCR Tap M/RBack in compliance
  10. 2010-07-01Consumer Confidence RuleCCR Complete Failure to ReportBack in compliance
  11. 2009-07-01Consumer Confidence RuleCCR Complete Failure to ReportBack in compliance
  12. 2009-04-01Lead and Copper RuleOCCT/SOWT Study/RecommendationBack in compliance
  13. 2009-04-01Lead and Copper RuleInitial, Follow-up, or Routine Source Water M/RBack in compliance
  14. 2008-07-01Consumer Confidence RuleCCR Complete Failure to ReportBack in compliance
  15. 2007-07-01Consumer Confidence RuleCCR Complete Failure to ReportBack in compliance
  16. 1999-10-01Lead and Copper RuleFollow-up Or Routine LCR Tap M/RBack in compliance

System details

Population served250
Service connections10
Water sourceGroundwater
System typeCommunity Water System
OwnerPrivate
StatusActive
CityColora
EPA ZIP on file21917-1599

Areas served

  • Cecil County

Reading this record

West Nottingham Academy is a community water system that draws from groundwater and serves about 250 people in Colora, Maryland. 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.