Kent County Water Authority

Water Quality Snapshot: Kent County Water Authority

Kent County Water Authority is a local-owned community water system that delivers drinking water to 88,779 residents in West Greenwich, Rhode Island (Kent County) through 27,665 service connections. Its water is drawn from surface water sources. EPA's Safe Drinking Water Information System records 32 total violations for this system , of which 6 (19%) are health-based, meaning a contaminant exceeded an EPA Maximum Contaminant Level or a required treatment technique failed. A further 23 monitoring and reporting violations are on file. The most recent violation on record dates to 2019.

The most frequently cited contaminant at this system is E. COLI, recorded in 10 violations (MR). Under EPA's UCMR5 PFAS monitoring program, 6 PFAS compounds were detected in samples collected from this system, with a maximum reported concentration of 8.4 ppt (parts per trillion). PFAS are persistent synthetic chemicals linked to health effects at very low exposure levels.

Across Rhode Island, EPA tracks 463 public water systems serving 1,159,492 people, with 33,766 cumulative violations and 8,949 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 72.9 violations. Statewide, 15 of 29 UCMR5-tested systems have reported PFAS detections (51.7%).

Kent County Water Authority's 32 violations sit below the Rhode Island average.

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