Erwin Utilities Authority

Water Quality Snapshot: Erwin Utilities Authority

Erwin Utilities Authority is a local-owned community water system that delivers drinking water to 12,236 residents in Erwin, Tennessee (Unicoi County) through 5,438 service connections. Its water is drawn from surface water sources. EPA's Safe Drinking Water Information System records 73 total violations for this system , of which 60 (82%) are health-based, meaning a contaminant exceeded an EPA Maximum Contaminant Level or a required treatment technique failed. A further 11 monitoring and reporting violations are on file. The most recent violation on record dates to 2012.

The most frequently cited contaminant at this system is Surface Water Treatment Rule, recorded in 56 violations (TT, health-based). Under EPA's UCMR5 PFAS monitoring program, 4 PFAS compounds were detected in samples collected from this system, with a maximum reported concentration of 7.5 ppt (parts per trillion). PFAS are persistent synthetic chemicals linked to health effects at very low exposure levels.

Across Tennessee, EPA tracks 762 public water systems serving 7,934,203 people, with 43,318 cumulative violations and 9,414 health-based violations on record. About 94% of systems in the state carry at least one violation, and state-wide the average per system is 56.8 violations. Statewide, 93 of 277 UCMR5-tested systems have reported PFAS detections (33.6%).

Erwin Utilities Authority's 73 violations sit above the Tennessee average.

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