Fort Detrick

Water Quality Snapshot: Fort Detrick

Fort Detrick is a federal-owned community water system that delivers drinking water to 7,900 residents in Frederick, Maryland (Frederick County) through 644 service connections. Its water is drawn from surface water sources. EPA's Safe Drinking Water Information System records 109 total violations for this system , of which 24 (22%) are health-based, meaning a contaminant exceeded an EPA Maximum Contaminant Level or a required treatment technique failed. A further 83 monitoring and reporting violations are on file. The most recent violation on record dates to 2024.

The most frequently cited contaminant at this system is Coliform (TCR), recorded in 14 violations (MR). Under EPA's UCMR5 PFAS monitoring program, 1 PFAS compound was detected in samples collected from this system, with a maximum reported concentration of 3.9 ppt (parts per trillion). PFAS are persistent synthetic chemicals linked to health effects at very low exposure levels.

Across Maryland, EPA tracks 3,215 public water systems serving 6,070,211 people, with 60,496 cumulative violations and 18,132 health-based violations on record. About 80% of systems in the state carry at least one violation, and state-wide the average per system is 18.8 violations. Statewide, 50 of 83 UCMR5-tested systems have reported PFAS detections (60.2%).

Fort Detrick's 109 violations sit above the Maryland average.

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