How many water violations are in Wake County?

Wake County has 42,422 total drinking water violations across 437 water systems, of which 3,855 are health-based violations. 92.0% of systems have at least one violation.

How many people get water from Wake County systems?

Water systems in Wake County serve approximately 1,145,508 people through 437 public water systems.

Has PFAS been detected in Wake County water?

Under EPA UCMR5, 7 of 7 tested systems in Wake County had at least one PFAS detection (100.0% of the UCMR5-tested subset - not of all 437 SDWIS systems).

What types of water sources supply Wake County?

Water systems in Wake County use GW (425 systems), SW (12 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. 9.1% of Wake County's violations are health-based. Among counties with any SDWIS violations, this extract puts Wake County in the lower health-based share band. Not all violations indicate immediate health risk, but they require corrective action.

Counties → North Carolina

Wake County, North Carolina

Compiled by PlainWater · May 15, 2026

SDWIS compliance plate

Sheet NC183 · Wake County 437 sys · 42,422 viol · #46/3254

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

VIOL-SEVERE 92.0% flagged
HEALTH-LOW 9.1% health
RANK-TOP #46/3254
PHOTO-FINISH ±0.2 pp
PFAS-HIGH 100.0% detect
SRC-GW GW lead 97%
SYS-LARGE 437 systems
BOOK-FULL 7/7 fields

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

According to EPA SDWIS county population served used on /counties, Wake County ranks #46 of 3,254 counties by people served, and #2 of 100 counties in North Carolina. See methodology · corpus placement.

Wake County standing, lower-flagged corpus third

Flagged-system rate 92.0% is at or below the corpus lower third (≤ 92.7% flagged) across 2,973 counties with ≥3 SDWIS systems . Health-based share 9.1% is health-based share at or below the lower third (≤ 10.3%) . UCMR5 detect rate 100.0% is UCMR5 detect rate above the tested-pool upper third (> 33.3%) . Population served ranks #46 of 3,254 · #2 of 100 in North Carolina.

Water Systems

System Name	Population	Violations	PFAS
Raleigh, City Of	640,000	24	Detected
Cary, Town Of	224,000	69	Detected
Apex, Town Of	82,029	69	Detected
Holly Springs, Town Of	51,947	93	Detected
Fuquay-Varina, Town Of	42,954	64	Detected
Bayleaf Master	15,585	415	Detected
New Light Master	2,619	17	-
Stonehenge S/D	1,840	294	-
Rockbridge S/D	1,042	139	-
Harris Nuclear Plant Water System	1,001	37	-
Holland UMC Annex	1,000	123	-
Medfield Estates S/D	772	45	-
Turner Farms III & IV	757	38	-
Deerchase S/D	757	61	-
Amber Acres North S/D	752	159	-
Amber Ridge S/D	742	130	-
Royal Senter Ridge S/D	740	13	-
Sandy Trail S/D	739	20	-
Rutledge Landing S/D	713	14	-
Mallards Crossing S/D	709	43	-
Mobile Estates	690	61	-
Middle Creek Master	681	136	-
Whittingham Master System	680	11	-
Myatt Mill S/D	676	6	-
Lynnhaven-Crowsdale	650	16	-
Kensington Meadows S/D	638	15	-
Glendale Master System	633	105	-
Weekend Retreat/Southern Oak	615	9	-
Camelot S/D	607	28	-
West Oaks S/D	605	17	-
Ashley Hills North S/D	602	170	-
Broadhurst/Turner Downs S/D	597	15	-
Saddle Run S/D	589	17	-
Avocet S/D	566	7	-
Crest of Carolina Master	564	3	-
Stagecoach S/D	561	16	-
Nottingham Forest S/D	549	52	-
Baywood Forest S/D	533	241	-
Jamison Park S/D	531	3	-
All Star MHP	530	343	-
Windhaven S/D	528	13	-
Turner Farms V Master System	518	398	-
Wilders Ridge S/D	518	56	-
Briarwood/Kildaire	517	12	-
Cotesworth Down S/D	510	222	-
Church of Jesus Christ Lds_4092129	500	45	-
Speedway 6959	500	90	-
Southern Trace S/D	485	248	-
Honeycutt Landing S/D	473	3	-
Cross Creek MHP	467	143	-

Compare beyond North Carolina

Lower-flagged peers for Wake County

Cross-state counties nearest Wake County on flagged-system share (92.0%) and cumulative violation count (42,422). 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.