Orange Water & Sewer Authority

Water Quality Snapshot: Orange Water & Sewer Authority

Orange Water & Sewer Authority is a local-owned community water system that delivers drinking water to 86,300 residents in Carrboro, North Carolina (Orange County) through 19,920 service connections. Its water is drawn from surface water sources. EPA's Safe Drinking Water Information System records 9 total violations for this system , of which 0 (0%) are health-based, meaning a contaminant exceeded an EPA Maximum Contaminant Level or a required treatment technique failed. A further 9 monitoring and reporting violations are on file. The most recent violation on record dates to 2022.

The most frequently cited contaminant at this system is TTHM, recorded in 5 violations (MR). Under EPA's UCMR5 PFAS monitoring program, 2 PFAS compounds were detected in samples collected from this system, with a maximum reported concentration of 4.8 ppt (parts per trillion). PFAS are persistent synthetic chemicals linked to health effects at very low exposure levels.

Across North Carolina, EPA tracks 5,020 public water systems serving 9,877,724 people, with 524,053 cumulative violations and 38,492 health-based violations on record. About 93% of systems in the state carry at least one violation, and state-wide the average per system is 104.4 violations. Statewide, 174 of 287 UCMR5-tested systems have reported PFAS detections (60.6%).

Orange Water & Sewer Authority's 9 violations sit below the North Carolina average.

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