Bear Valley Joint Auth

Water Quality Snapshot: Bear Valley Joint Auth

Bear Valley Joint Auth is a local-owned community water system that delivers drinking water to 12,589 residents in St Thomas, Pennsylvania (Franklin County) through 4,237 service connections. Its water is drawn from surface water sources. EPA's Safe Drinking Water Information System records 254 total violations for this system , of which 9 (4%) are health-based, meaning a contaminant exceeded an EPA Maximum Contaminant Level or a required treatment technique failed. A further 233 monitoring and reporting violations are on file. The most recent violation on record dates to 2025.

The most frequently cited contaminant at this system is Interim Enhanced Surface Water Treatment Rule, recorded in 31 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 9.7 ppt (parts per trillion). PFAS are persistent synthetic chemicals linked to health effects at very low exposure levels.

Across Pennsylvania, EPA tracks 7,701 public water systems serving 12,630,061 people, with 1,159,868 cumulative violations and 68,517 health-based violations on record. About 97% of systems in the state carry at least one violation, and state-wide the average per system is 150.6 violations. Statewide, 224 of 389 UCMR5-tested systems have reported PFAS detections (57.6%).

Bear Valley Joint Auth's 254 violations sit above the Pennsylvania average.

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