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State profile · EPA SDWIS + UCMR5

Alabama Drinking Water Quality

562 SDWIS-listed systems serve 6,193,356 people. UCMR5 PFAS detection is 38.2% on the tested subset (upper-third UCMR5 detection (> 35.3%)); SDWIS violation rate is 98.6%.

562
SDWIS water systems
40,486
Total violations
98.6%
SDWIS systems w/ a violation
38.2%
UCMR5 PFAS rate (306 tested)

The verdict

UCMR5 PFAS detection is 38.2% (117 of 306 tested) - upper-third UCMR5 detection (> 35.3%). According to EPA SDWIS population served, Alabama ranks #18 of 66 states and territories by people served through public water systems.

#18 of 66
Population · states corpus
40,486
Total EPA violations on record
9%
Health-based (MCL / treatment)
98.6%
SDWIS systems with ≥1 violation

SDWIS violation % and UCMR5 PFAS % use different denominators (full inventory vs tested subset). Population ordinal uses SDWIS population served.

Alabama standing, high SDWIS violation-rate third

Alabama sits in the upper third of jurisdictions by SDWIS violation rate (98.6%), so the system lists below sample one of the denser state-level compliance trails in this extract. Population served is large (6,193,356; larger served population (> 5,131,439)), so household exposure scale sits behind inventory and rate. Health-based share is only 9% - almost all of this trail is monitoring/reporting rather than MCL exceedance. UCMR5 PFAS detection is 38.2% on the tested subset (upper-third UCMR5 detection (> 35.3%)) - a different denominator from the SDWIS violation rate. Systems listed below are ranked by population served or violation count; pair rate with inventory size before reading exposure scale.

Nationwide similar states

Nearest by SDWIS violation rate

Oregon (98.5%) Arizona (98.4%) Northern Mariana Islands (98.3%) Oklahoma (98.2%)

Nearest by population served

Maryland (6,070,211 served) Missouri (5,855,885 served) Indiana (5,774,616 served) Louisiana (5,316,532 served)

Health-based share of this violation record

EPA SDWIS classifications for Alabama's 40,486 recorded violations.

0%100%9.4%
3,786 health-based violations (9.4%) and 36,700 monitoring or reporting violations. Health-based violations are MCL or treatment-technique failures; neither total alone establishes a present household exposure risk.

Alabama vs nearest violation-rate peers

Share of SDWIS-listed systems with at least one recorded violation; peers are nearest by absolute rate distance, not a fixed top-seven list.

% of systems

What this shows Alabama's rate is 98.6% (554 of 562 systems; upper-third rate (> 96.1%)). This is a comparison of recorded SDWIS violations, not a measure of current water safety.

Source EPA SDWIS state aggregates As of 2026-05-15

Alabama vs all jurisdictions by SDWIS system inventory

Where this state's public water system count sits among every state and territory on PlainWater

562 45th of 66 higher than 21 of 66 jurisdictions

States and territories, banded by SDWIS-listed public water system count

Each bar is a band; taller bars hold more jurisdictions. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count and share, and where it sits relative to this entry.

Source EPA SDWIS state aggregates · 2026-05-15

Largest Water Systems

Central Alabama Water System
Birmingham, AL · 585,000 served
13 violations
Mobile, Bd. of W&S Comm. of the City Of
Mobile, AL · 279,000 served
204 violations
Montgomery (Ww&ssb of the City Of)
Montgomery, AL · 276,000 served
49 violations
Huntsville Utilities
Huntsville, AL · 262,158 served
1 violations
Tuscaloosa Water & Sewer
Tuscaloosa, AL · 166,524 served
43 violations
Madison County Water Department
Huntsville, AL · 119,100 served
60 violations
Dothan Utilities, City Of
Dothan, AL · 97,146 served
424 violations
Bessemer Water Service
Bessemer, AL · 86,091 served
17 violations
Florence, Water Department, City Of
Florence, AL · 77,766 served
12 violations
Decatur, Municipal Utilities Board Of
Decatur, AL · 77,103 served
7 violations
Auburn Water Works
Auburn, AL · 65,313 served
256 violations
Limestone County Water and Sewer Auth.
Athens, AL · 65,003 served
139 violations
Fairhope, City Of
Fairhope, AL · 59,484 served
471 violations
Anniston Alabama, the Wwsb of the City O
Anniston, AL · 56,646 served
2 violations
Cullman County Water Department
Cullman, AL · 55,974 served
15 violations
Madison, the W & Ww Board of the City Of
Madison, AL · 54,114 served
231 violations
Harvest-Monrovia Water System
Prospect, AL · 51,915 served
28 violations
Foley, Utilities Board of the City Of
Foley, AL · 50,919 served
16 violations
Enterprise Water Works
Enterprise, AL · 48,000 served
393 violations
Northeast Alabama Water, Sewer, and Fpd
Fort Payne, AL · 47,070 served
398 violations

Most Violations

#1 North Baldwin Utilities Bay Minette
697
#2 Henry County Water Authority Abbeville
578
#3 East Central Baldwin County Water & Fpa Robertsdale
566
#4 Robertsdale, City Of Robertsdale
527
#5 Frisco City Water System Frisco City
496
#6 East Brewton Water & Sewer Board East Brewton
487
#7 US Army Garrison-Redstone Arsenal Redstone Arsenal
474
#8 Fairhope, City Of Fairhope
471
#9 Cwm Water Authority Dickinson
467
#10 Lemoyne Water System, Inc. Axis
440
#11 Ardmore Water System Ardmore
432
#12 South Alabama Utilities Water System Citronelle
426
#13 Dothan Utilities, City Of Dothan
424
#14 Northeast Alabama Water, Sewer, and Fpd Fort Payne
398
#15 Enterprise Water Works Enterprise
393

Counties in Alabama

Jefferson
14 systems · 807,140 served · 493 violations
Madison
9 systems · 557,706 served · 1,075 violations
Mobile
15 systems · 461,024 served · 2,918 violations
Baldwin
24 systems · 303,145 served · 3,219 violations
Montgomery
8 systems · 291,756 served · 426 violations
Tuscaloosa
10 systems · 272,754 served · 118 violations
Shelby
16 systems · 210,543 served · 749 violations
Lee
7 systems · 178,816 served · 572 violations
Morgan
6 systems · 159,489 served · 224 violations
Calhoun
10 systems · 150,377 served · 652 violations
Cullman
11 systems · 138,799 served · 398 violations
Marshall
9 systems · 133,944 served · 437 violations
Houston
16 systems · 127,626 served · 1,072 violations
Lauderdale
8 systems · 125,019 served · 164 violations
Etowah
17 systems · 124,954 served · 963 violations
Elmore
10 systems · 110,629 served · 608 violations
Limestone
4 systems · 109,826 served · 664 violations
Jackson
8 systems · 97,683 served · 482 violations
St. Clair
17 systems · 91,862 served · 571 violations
Talladega
16 systems · 90,063 served · 1,068 violations
Walker
15 systems · 86,841 served · 540 violations
Colbert
13 systems · 84,199 served · 754 violations
DeKalb
6 systems · 82,045 served · 700 violations
Russell
5 systems · 74,437 served · 600 violations
Autauga
7 systems · 71,634 served · 885 violations
Blount
12 systems · 69,493 served · 803 violations
Dale
15 systems · 69,284 served · 472 violations
Coffee
8 systems · 68,696 served · 991 violations
Tallapoosa
11 systems · 65,594 served · 596 violations
Chilton
5 systems · 50,244 served · 211 violations

Showing top 30 of 67 counties.

Browse all 562 Alabama public water systems →

Context: PFAS in drinking water · methodology · all states

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

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.