City of Elsa

Water Quality Snapshot: City of Elsa

City of Elsa is a local-owned community water system that delivers drinking water to 5,500 residents in Elsa, Texas (Hidalgo County) through 2,194 service connections. Its water is drawn from surface water sources. EPA's Safe Drinking Water Information System records 274 total violations for this system , of which 15 (5%) are health-based, meaning a contaminant exceeded an EPA Maximum Contaminant Level or a required treatment technique failed. A further 158 monitoring and reporting violations are on file. The most recent violation on record dates to 2023.

The most frequently cited contaminant at this system is Interim Enhanced Surface Water Treatment Rule, recorded in 92 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 15 ppt (parts per trillion). PFAS are persistent synthetic chemicals linked to health effects at very low exposure levels.

Across Texas, EPA tracks 7,351 public water systems serving 33,253,313 people, with 746,210 cumulative violations and 162,945 health-based violations on record. About 90% of systems in the state carry at least one violation, and state-wide the average per system is 101.5 violations. Statewide, 1,068 of 1,147 UCMR5-tested systems have reported PFAS detections (93.1%).

City of Elsa's 274 violations sit above the Texas average.

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