How many water violations are in Pierce County?

Pierce County has 14,826 total drinking water violations across 359 water systems, of which 1,259 are health-based violations. 96.1% of systems have at least one violation.

How many people get water from Pierce County systems?

Water systems in Pierce County serve approximately 1,138,508 people through 359 public water systems.

Has PFAS been detected in Pierce County water?

Under EPA UCMR5, 19 of 31 tested systems in Pierce County had at least one PFAS detection (61.3% of the UCMR5-tested subset - not of all 359 SDWIS systems).

What types of water sources supply Pierce County?

Water systems in Pierce County use GW (333 systems), SW (26 systems) as their primary water sources.

Are health-based violations serious?

Health-based violations indicate that drinking water exceeded Maximum Contaminant Levels (MCLs) set by the EPA or failed treatment technique requirements. 8.5% of Pierce County's violations are health-based. Among counties with any SDWIS violations, this extract puts Pierce County in the lower health-based share band. Not all violations indicate immediate health risk, but they require corrective action.

Where does Pierce County sit among U.S. counties for water-system population?

According to EPA SDWIS county population served used on /counties, Pierce County ranks #48 of 3,254 counties by people served, and #2 of 39 counties in Washington. Ordinals use the same total_population DESC sort as the counties directory. See /methodology#corpus-placement.

Counties → Washington

Pierce County, Washington

Compiled by PlainWater · May 15, 2026

SDWIS compliance plate

Sheet WA053 · Pierce County 359 sys · 14,826 viol · #48/3254

VIOL-SEVERE · HEALTH-LOW · RANK-TOP · PHOTO-FINISH · PFAS-HIGH · SRC-GW · SYS-LARGE · BOOK-FULL

VIOL-SEVERE 96.1% flagged
HEALTH-LOW 8.5% health
RANK-TOP #48/3254
PHOTO-FINISH ±0.2 pp
PFAS-HIGH 61.3% detect
SRC-GW GW lead 93%
SYS-LARGE 359 systems
BOOK-FULL 7/7 fields

Nearest flagged-rate peer: Spokane County (+ 0.2 pp flagged-rate)

According to EPA SDWIS county population served used on /counties, Pierce County ranks #48 of 3,254 counties by people served, and #2 of 39 counties in Washington. See methodology · corpus placement.

Pierce County standing, mid-flagged corpus third

Flagged-system rate 96.1% is in the corpus middle third (≤ 100.0% flagged) across 2,973 counties with ≥3 SDWIS systems . Health-based share 8.5% is health-based share at or below the lower third (≤ 10.3%) . UCMR5 detect rate 61.3% is UCMR5 detect rate above the tested-pool upper third (> 33.3%) . Population served ranks #48 of 3,254 · #2 of 39 in Washington.

Water Systems

System Name	Population	Violations	PFAS
Tacoma Water Division City Of	448,771	41	Detected
Southwood	64,155	379	Detected
Lakewood Water District	62,089	63	Detected
JBLM Lewis	58,497	9	Detected
Bonney Lake Water Department City	42,654	151	Detected
Puyallup City Of	39,100	3	Detected
Firgrove Mutual Inc	36,168	30	Detected
Fife Dept of Public Works	32,380	27	Clean
Spanaway Water Company	31,908	15	Detected
Parkland Light & Water Company	29,595	76	Detected
Summit Water & Supply Co	16,109	23	Detected
Sumner City Of	15,530	107	Clean
Fruitland Mutual Water Company	15,313	137	Detected
Gig Harbor Water Dept	14,902	36	Clean
Dupont Water System City Of	13,141	5	Clean
JBLM McChord Field	13,115	343	Detected
Orting City Of	10,332	57	Clean
Cougar Rock Campground	9,722	12	-
Mountain View-Edgewood Water Co	9,680	7	Detected
Steilacoom Town Of	8,545	2	Clean
Milton City Of	8,078	56	Detected
Fircrest City Of	7,927	134	Detected
Buckley Water	7,411	35	Clean
Peacock Hill	7,401	52	Detected
Artondale	5,828	551	Detected
Point Evans	5,211	411	Clean
Minterbrook	5,083	130	Detected
Longmire	4,871	214	Clean
Paradise	4,165	5	-
Crystal Mountain Inc	4,154	130	Clean
Eatonville Water Dept	3,645	77	Clean
Fox Island Mutual Water Assoc	3,255	415	-
Strohs Water Company Inc	3,192	19	-
Box Canyon	3,099	10	-
Sunrise No 12	3,018	13	-
Cedar Crest	2,954	242	-
Western State Hospital	2,857	65	-
Olympic Mall	2,681	79	-
White River Entrance	2,277	9	-
East Entrance Mt Rainier	2,263	11	-
White River Campground #11	2,263	13	-
Valley Water System	2,259	10	-
Ohanapecosh	2,092	35	-
Purdy Campus System	2,000	21	-
Palmer Lake	1,924	20	-
Canterwood Water System	1,805	18	-
Lake Minterwood	1,539	17	-
Tapps Island Water System	1,500	33	-
Graham Hill Mutual Water Co Inc	1,474	21	-
View Royal Water System	1,461	23	-

Compare beyond Washington

Mid-flagged peers for Pierce County

Cross-state counties nearest Pierce County on flagged-system share (96.1%) and cumulative violation count (14,826). In-state neighbours stay on the compliance plate above.

Similar flagged-system rate

Nearest cross-state counties by % of SDWIS systems with at least one violation on record.

4 peers

Similar violation load

Nearest cross-state counties by cumulative SDWIS violation count (all systems in the county).

4 peers

Read our methodology · Check your water system - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.

Data sourced from EPA SDWIS and UCMR5 PFAS monitoring data. See our methodology for details. Retrieved and formatted by PlainWater

Compiled by PlainWater, Drinking Water Quality Editorial Process · May 15, 2026

Every figure on PlainWater is rendered directly from EPA SDWIS drinking-water data, no number is typed in by an editor. This page draws directly on EPA SDWIS data, no figure is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error.