Community Water System · PWSID FL6531992

Winter Haven Water Department

Serves 87,537 peopleGroundwaterOwner: Local GovernmentWinter Haven, Florida
Nothing open that measures the water, but 3 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 2017: 28 violations. 1 over the limit · 24 missed or late tests · 3 notices or reports. 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
0Treatment lapse
24Missed or late test3 open
3Notice or report

More violations on record than 94% of active water systems in Florida. Small systems with no staff chemist often rack up missed-test violations; big utilities rarely do.

The record, year by year

2005201020152017 · Missed or late test: 22017 · Notice or report: 12018 · Missed or late test: 12020 · Missed or late test: 120202021 · Over the limit: 12023 · Missed or late test: 122023 · Missed or late test: 122023 · Missed or late test: 122023 · Missed or late test: 122023 · Missed or late test: 122023 · Missed or late test: 122023 · Notice or report: 22024 · Missed or late test: 62024 · Missed or late test: 62024 · Missed or late test: 62025 · Missed or late test: 22025
One square ≈ 2 violations (rounded up), by the year they began. Empty columns are years with nothing on EPA's record.
4% over the limit · 186% missed or late test · 2411% notice or report · 3

Across Florida, 85% of violations are missed or late tests and 5% 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

7 ppb
0.5 ppb
0 ppb

Open now (3)

  1. 2024-07-01E. Coli ×3Monitoring, Source Water (GWR)Open

Every violation on record

  1. 2025-09-01Revised Total Coliform RuleMONPeriod ended · no return to compliance on file
  2. 2025-09-01E. ColiFailure to Conduct Assessment MonitoringPeriod ended · no return to compliance on file
  3. 2024-09-01Revised Total Coliform RuleMONPeriod ended · no return to compliance on file
  4. 2024-07-01E. Coli ×3Monitoring, Source Water (GWR)Open
  5. 2024-02-01E. ColiMonitoring, Source Water (GWR)Back in compliance
  6. 2024-01-01E. ColiMonitoring, Source Water (GWR)Back in compliance
  7. 2023-12-01E. ColiFailure to Conduct Assessment MonitoringBack in compliance
  8. 2023-12-01E. ColiMonitoring, Source Water (GWR)Back in compliance
  9. 2023-12-01Revised Total Coliform RuleRPTBack in compliance
  10. 2023-11-01Revised Total Coliform RuleMONBack in compliance
  11. 2023-11-01E. ColiFailure to Conduct Assessment MonitoringBack in compliance
  12. 2023-10-01E. Coli ×2Monitoring, Source Water (GWR)Back in compliance
  13. 2023-10-01Revised Total Coliform RuleRPTBack in compliance
  14. 2023-07-01Revised Total Coliform RuleMONBack in compliance
  15. 2023-06-01E. ColiFailure to Conduct Assessment MonitoringPeriod ended · no return to compliance on file
  16. 2023-06-01Revised Total Coliform RuleMONPeriod ended · no return to compliance on file
  17. 2023-05-01E. ColiFailure to Conduct Assessment MonitoringPeriod ended · no return to compliance on file
  18. 2023-05-01Revised Total Coliform RuleMONPeriod ended · no return to compliance on file
  19. 2023-04-01Revised Total Coliform RuleMONPeriod ended · no return to compliance on file
  20. 2021-09-01Revised Total Coliform RuleMCLBack in compliance
  21. 2020-07-01Trihalomethanes (TTHM)Monitoring and Reporting (DBP)Back in compliance
  22. 2018-09-01E. ColiFailure to Conduct Assessment MonitoringBack in compliance
  23. 2017-07-01Consumer Confidence RuleCCR Inadequate ReportingBack in compliance
  24. 2017-04-01Total Haloacetic Acids (HAA5)Monitoring and Reporting (DBP)Back in compliance
  25. 2017-04-01Trihalomethanes (TTHM)Monitoring and Reporting (DBP)Back in compliance

System details

Population served87,537
Service connections33,798
Water sourceGroundwater
System typeCommunity Water System
OwnerLocal Government
StatusActive
CityWinter Haven
EPA ZIP on file33880

Areas served

  • Winter Haven, Polk County

Reading this record

Winter Haven Water Department is a community water system that draws from groundwater and serves about 87,537 people in Winter Haven, Florida. 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.