South Bend Water Works

Water Quality Snapshot: South Bend Water Works

South Bend Water Works is a local-owned community water system that delivers drinking water to 115,000 residents in South Bend, Indiana (St. Joseph County) through 46,000 service connections. Its water is drawn from groundwater sources. EPA's Safe Drinking Water Information System records 340 total violations for this system , of which 6 (2%) are health-based, meaning a contaminant exceeded an EPA Maximum Contaminant Level or a required treatment technique failed. A further 330 monitoring and reporting violations are on file. The most recent violation on record dates to 2013.

The most frequently cited contaminant at this system is Chromium, recorded in 25 violations (MR). Under EPA's UCMR5 PFAS monitoring program, 8 PFAS compounds were detected in samples collected from this system, with a maximum reported concentration of 39.7 ppt (parts per trillion). PFAS are persistent synthetic chemicals linked to health effects at very low exposure levels.

Across Indiana, EPA tracks 3,967 public water systems serving 5,774,616 people, with 352,710 cumulative violations and 35,932 health-based violations on record. About 96% of systems in the state carry at least one violation, and state-wide the average per system is 88.9 violations. Statewide, 93 of 229 UCMR5-tested systems have reported PFAS detections (40.6%).

South Bend Water Works's 340 violations sit above the Indiana average.

All figures above are sourced directly from EPA SDWIS and UCMR5 public data releases and are updated as EPA publishes new reporting cycles.