Portage Waterworks

Water Quality Snapshot: Portage Waterworks

Portage Waterworks is a local-owned community water system that delivers drinking water to 10,437 residents in Portage, Wisconsin (Columbia County) through 3,714 service connections. Its water is drawn from groundwater sources. EPA's Safe Drinking Water Information System records 139 total violations for this system , of which 25 (18%) are health-based, meaning a contaminant exceeded an EPA Maximum Contaminant Level or a required treatment technique failed. A further 112 monitoring and reporting violations are on file. The most recent violation on record dates to 2003.

The most frequently cited contaminant at this system is Coliform (TCR), recorded in 25 violations (MCL, health-based). Under EPA's UCMR5 PFAS monitoring program, 1 PFAS compound was detected in samples collected from this system, with a maximum reported concentration of 8.1 ppt (parts per trillion). PFAS are persistent synthetic chemicals linked to health effects at very low exposure levels.

Across Wisconsin, EPA tracks 10,988 public water systems serving 5,131,439 people, with 285,161 cumulative violations and 58,688 health-based violations on record. About 72% of systems in the state carry at least one violation, and state-wide the average per system is 26 violations. Statewide, 78 of 202 UCMR5-tested systems have reported PFAS detections (38.6%).

Portage Waterworks's 139 violations sit above the Wisconsin average.

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