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State profile · EPA SDWIS + UCMR5

Rhode Island Drinking Water Quality

463 public water systems serve 1,159,492 people across Rhode Island, with every Safe Drinking Water Act violation and UCMR5 PFAS result on record.

463
Water systems
33,766
Total violations
95.9%
Systems w/ a violation
51.7%
PFAS detection rate

The verdict

Across Rhode Island, 444 of 463 water systems (95.9%) carry at least one EPA violation, and 15 of 29 UCMR5-tested systems show PFAS.

33,766
Total EPA violations on record
27%
Health-based (MCL / treatment)
95.9%
Systems with ≥1 violation
51.7%
UCMR5 PFAS detection rate
Water Systems
463
Total Violations
33,766
Violation Rate
95.9%
PFAS Detection
51.7%
15 of 29 tested

Violation Composition

How Rhode Island's 33,766 violations break down by type, per EPA SDWIS classification.

Health-based (8,949) Monitoring/Reporting (24,817)
Metric Value Share
Public water systems463-
Population served1,159,492-
Total violations33,766100%
Health-based violations8,94926.5%
Systems with violations44495.9%
PFAS detection rate15 of 2951.7%

Health-based violations indicate the contaminant exceeded an EPA Maximum Contaminant Level (MCL) or treatment-technique requirement. Monitoring/reporting violations indicate procedural issues (missed tests, late reports) - not necessarily a contamination event.

Largest Water Systems

Providence-City Of
Providence, RI · 333,142 served
51 violations
Pawtucket Water Supply Board Veolia-Na
Pawtucket, RI · 98,130 served
71 violations
Kent County Water Authority
West Greenwich, RI · 88,779 served
32 violations
Warwick-City Of
Warwick, RI · 73,289 served
83 violations
Bristol County Water Authority
Warren, RI · 49,000 served
154 violations
East Providence-City Of
East Providence, RI · 47,618 served
60 violations
Woonsocket Water Division
Woonsocket, RI · 45,828 served
127 violations
Newport-City Of
Newport, RI · 42,155 served
134 violations
Westerly Water Department
Westerly, RI · 35,298 served
344 violations
North Kingstown Town Of
North Kingstown, RI · 27,732 served
321 violations
Veolia Water Wakefield Rhode Island Inc
Wakefield, RI · 22,347 served
86 violations
Lincoln Water Commission
Lincoln, RI · 21,664 served
18 violations
Cumberland, Town Of
Cumberland, RI · 21,235 served
157 violations
University of Rhode Island
Kingston, RI · 19,354 served
198 violations
Portsmouth Water & Fire District
Portsmouth, RI · 17,090 served
76 violations
Quonset Business Park
North Kingstown, RI · 13,000 served
259 violations
Block Island Water Company
Block Island, RI · 9,999 served
378 violations
Cne - New London Turnpike Entry Point
Warwick, RI · 9,999 served
83 violations
Greenville Water District
Greenville, RI · 9,500 served
48 violations
Smithfield Water Supply Board
Smithfield, RI · 9,460 served
114 violations

Most Violations

#1 Village on Chopmist Hill, The Rye
784
#2 Lindhbrook Water Company Harwinton
633
#3 Bethel Village Water Assn Ashaway
600
#4 Aegean Pizza Chepachet
589
#5 Chimera Inc Narragansett
562
#6 New England Farms Harrisville
546
#7 Prudence Island Water District Prudence Island
506
#8 Lawrence Sunset Cove Association Tiverton
449
#9 Cooper Hill Office Complex Greenville
418
#10 Block Island Water Company Block Island
378
#11 Quonochontaug East Beach Water Associati Charlestown
360
#12 Dean Warehouse Services Blackstone
354
#13 Hillsdale Housing Cooperative, Inc. Warwick
350
#14 Westerly Water Department Westerly
344
#15 Wrights Farm Corp. Harrisville
334

Counties in Rhode Island

Providence
182 systems · 642,474 served · 14,067 violations
Washington
188 systems · 192,066 served · 12,743 violations
Kent
42 systems · 180,873 served · 2,880 violations
Newport
47 systems · 94,584 served · 3,746 violations
Bristol
4 systems · 49,495 served · 330 violations
View all 463 systems in Rhode Island →

Drinking Water Guides

Is Your Tap Water Safe?

How to interpret water quality reports and know when to take action.
PFAS in Drinking Water

What forever chemicals are, EPA testing results, and 2024 standards.
Check Your Water System

Step-by-step guide to finding and understanding your local water data.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many water systems are in Rhode Island? ▼
Rhode Island has 463 public water systems serving approximately 1,159,492 people. These include community water systems, non-transient non-community systems, and transient non-community systems regulated under the Safe Drinking Water Act.
How many drinking water violations are in Rhode Island? ▼
Rhode Island has 33,766 total drinking water violations on record, with 8,949 classified as health-based violations. 95.9% of water systems in the state have at least one violation.
Has PFAS been found in Rhode Island drinking water? ▼
Of 29 water systems tested for PFAS in Rhode Island, 15 had PFAS detected, a 51.7% detection rate. PFAS are persistent "forever chemicals" that do not break down in the environment.
What is the violation rate for Rhode Island water systems? ▼
Rhode Island's violation rate is 95.9%. This measures the percentage of public water systems that have at least one recorded violation in the EPA SDWIS database, including both health-based and monitoring/reporting violations.
Where does this Rhode Island water data come from? ▼
All drinking water data comes from the EPA Safe Drinking Water Information System (SDWIS) and the UCMR5 PFAS monitoring program. SDWIS is the federal database that tracks compliance for all public water systems regulated under the Safe Drinking Water Act.

Data Sources & Methodology

Drinking water violation data from the EPA Safe Drinking Water Information System (SDWIS). PFAS testing data from the UCMR5 monitoring program. SDWIS tracks all public water systems regulated under the Safe Drinking Water Act.

Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.

Related

All states → | Most violations → | Compare counties →
Data sourced from EPA SDWIS and UCMR5 PFAS monitoring data. See our methodology for details. Retrieved and formatted by PlainWater Editorial

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.