Drinking Water Quality
Introduction
This page highlights drinking water (treated water) quality within Santa Barbara County. The dashboard below contains a map of registered drinking water systems, with surrounding indicators of key drinking water contaminants.
Drinking water, including bottled water, may reasonably be expected to contain at least small amounts of some contaminants. The presence of contaminants does not necessarily indicate that water poses a health risk. More information about contaminants and potential health effects can be obtained by calling the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (USEPA’s) Safe Drinking Water Hotline (1-800-426-4791).
Data Sources
Contaminant data is derived from Consumer Confidence Reports (CCR) produced annually by each water system. Data displayed in the dashboard below are annual averages for 2020 for key contaminants of importance. (Systems test for a wide variety of contaminants, to view the entire CCR for a specific system, click on the "report link" below the map). Click on read more for more context about the data used on this page.
In order to ensure that tap water is safe to drink, the USEPA and the State Water Resources Control Board prescribe regulations that limit the amount of certain contaminants in water provided by public water systems. While all water systems are required to report their lab testing results to the State, not every system produces an annual CCR due to varied amounts of resources. The water system boundaries included in the map are from the California Water Resources Control Board, with the blue polygons illustrating systems with CCRs easily available, while those in grey don’t have a CCR for 2020 (small systems with few service connections, such as those for mobile home parks, don’t produces CCRs).
How to Use this Dashboard
To use this dashboard, click on the selector button within the map (shown in the image to the right) and then click on a water system polygon. The indicators will display the most recent contaminant measures for this system in the year 2020. The info tab includes additional info on each contaminant such as limits, potential health effects, and the main source of contaminants. Click on read more for more tips on using this dashboard.
use the search box to find your address and the associated water system in your area
If the contaminant value falls under or at the regulated guideline (PHG - Public Health Goal set by the California Environmental Protection Agency), the indicator will be highlighted in green
No data available will also be in yellow
Values that exceed guidelines will be highlighted in yellow