State profile · EPA SDWIS + UCMR5
West Virginia Drinking Water Quality
774 SDWIS-listed public water systems serve 1,597,057 people across West Virginia. Violation rates use that full inventory; PFAS rates use only the UCMR5-tested subset.
- 774
- SDWIS water systems
- 187,590
- Total violations
- 99.5%
- SDWIS systems w/ a violation
- 33.3%
- UCMR5 PFAS rate (102 tested)
The verdict
99.5% of listed systems carry ≥1 SDWIS violation - upper-third rate (> 96.1%). According to EPA SDWIS population served, West Virginia ranks #40 of 66 states and territories by people served through public water systems.
- #40 of 66
- Population · states corpus
- 187,590
- Total EPA violations on record
- 6%
- Health-based (MCL / treatment)
- 99.5%
- SDWIS systems with ≥1 violation
SDWIS violation % and UCMR5 PFAS % use different denominators (full inventory vs tested subset). Population ordinal uses SDWIS population served.
West Virginia standing, high SDWIS violation-rate third
West Virginia sits in the upper third of jurisdictions by SDWIS violation rate (99.5%), so the system lists below sample one of the denser state-level compliance trails in this extract. Population served is mid-pack at 1,597,057 (mid served population (≤ 5,131,439)). Health-based share is only 6% - almost all of this trail is monitoring/reporting rather than MCL exceedance. UCMR5 PFAS detection is 33.3% on the tested subset (mid 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
Nearest by population served
Health-based share of this violation record
EPA SDWIS classifications for West Virginia's 187,590 recorded violations.
West Virginia 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.
- WV
West Virginia
99.5 % of systems
- PR
Puerto Rico
99.6 % of systems
- KS
Kansas
99.1 % of systems
- KY
Kentucky
99.1 % of systems
- DC
District of Columbia
100 % of systems
What this shows West Virginia's rate is 99.5% (770 of 774 systems; upper-third rate (> 96.1%)). This is a comparison of recorded SDWIS violations, not a measure of current water safety.
West Virginia vs all jurisdictions by SDWIS system inventory
Where this state's public water system count sits among every state and territory on PlainWater
774 40th of 66 higher than 26 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
Most Violations
Counties in West Virginia
Showing top 30 of 55 counties.
Context: Check your water system · methodology · all states
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.