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County water report

St. Francis County Water Report

Drinking-water compliance, watershed health, monitoring records, and river conditions for St. Francis County, Arkansas.

Water grade

A

Water score

86.0

State rank

#27

of 75

Health violations

0

EPA SDWIS, 5-year lookback

Watershed impaired

17.5%

446 water bodies assessed

Monitoring sites

7

4,048 recent measurements

Live streamflow

145%

LAnguille River at Palestine, AR

Water at a glance

Key Water Indicators for St. Francis County

EPA SDWIS

Safety Grade

A

Score: 86.0 / 100

EPA SDWIS

Active Violations

0

5-year health-based lookback

EPA ATTAINS

Watershed Health

18% impaired

446 bodies assessed

USGS NWIS

Streamflow Snapshot

145% of mean

LAnguille River at Palestine, AR

EPA WQP

Monitoring Sites

7

4,048 recent readings

Source: EPA SDWIS · Safe Drinking Water Information System

Drinking Water Compliance

Compliance grade

A

Based on EPA SDWIS compliance history.

Water score

Higher scores indicate cleaner recent compliance records.

86.0/100

Health violations

0

Health-based violations

Violations per 100K served

0.0

Population-normalized SDWIS rate

Editorial analysis

Understanding St. Francis County’s Water

Drinking Water Quality Overview

EPA SDWIS

St. Francis County earns an A grade for drinking water quality, scoring 86.0 out of 100. EPA's Safe Drinking Water Information System (SDWIS) records zero health-based violations over the past five years — a strong compliance signal for a heavily urbanized county.

Watershed Conditions

EPA ATTAINS

Under the Clean Water Act §303(d), EPA ATTAINS tracks whether waterways meet quality standards for drinking, recreation, and aquatic life (reporting cycle: 2022). A notable 17.5% of assessed waterways carry an impairment designation (78 of 446 water bodies) across St. Francis County's watersheds. The leading impairment causes are dissolved oxygen - critical and turbidity - base flows. Impairment does not mean tap water is unsafe — it measures ambient waterway conditions upstream of treatment, not finished drinking water.

River & Streamflow Status

USGS NWIS

USGS NWIS gauge data (as of 2026-05-14T13:00:00.000-05:00) puts LAnguille River at 1.7k cfs — flowing above its historical average at 145% of mean. Streamflow is a leading indicator of drought stress, sediment load, and dilution capacity: low flows concentrate pollutants and warm water temperatures, stressing aquatic life and, in surface-water-dependent systems, the source water quality for treatment plants.

Monitoring Network

EPA WQP

EPA's Water Quality Portal (WQP) aggregates monitoring data from federal, state, and tribal agencies. St. Francis County has limited coverage with 7 active monitoring sites with 4,048 recent measurements on record. Predominant monitoring categories include inorganics, minor, metals and physical. More monitoring sites generally indicate greater scientific attention to local water conditions — and provide the baseline data that regulators use to set future impairment listings.

Editorial advisory

What the data suggests for St. Francis County

Water Verdict

St. Francis County, Arkansas receives an excellent water quality assessment with a grade of A and a score of 86.0 out of 100. The water supply meets or exceeds federal safety standards, and residents can generally drink tap water with confidence. Separately, EPA ATTAINS assessments cover 446 water bodies in the county's watershed, with 17.5% listed as impaired under the Clean Water Act — a source-water measure that is tracked independently of tap-water compliance. At the most recent USGS reading, local streamflow was running above its historical mean at 144.7%.

Violation Context

EPA SDWIS records for St. Francis County, Arkansas show zero health-based violations, indicating that the county's water systems met all federal safety standards during the reporting period. The violation rate is zero per 100,000 people served, which is the best possible outcome. For independent context, 4,048 water-quality monitoring results have been recorded across the county in the EPA Water Quality Portal over the past five years.

Consumer Guidance

Tap water in St. Francis County is safe to drink based on current EPA compliance records. No health-based violations have been recorded, placing St. Francis County in the top tier for drinking-water safety. St. Francis County's drinking-water compliance score is 86.0 out of 100. As a routine precaution, requesting your utility's annual Consumer Confidence Report each July gives you a full list of detected contaminants and their treatment levels. There are 7 active water-quality monitoring sites in St. Francis County. A pipeline streamflow snapshot from the LAnguille River gauge is also available on this page.

Regional Context

St. Francis County has better water quality than the average county in Arkansas. Its water score is 38.4 points higher than the state average, indicating stronger water system performance relative to neighboring counties.

Advisory text summarizes county-level public records and is not a replacement for your utility's current Consumer Confidence Report or direct local notices.

Contaminants & Resources

Key issues flagged in St. Francis County's water environment

Watershed Impairment Causes (EPA ATTAINS)

  • 1

    Dissolved Oxygen - Critical

    Impairment cause per EPA Clean Water Act §303(d) assessment

  • 2

    High turbidity

    Impairment cause per EPA Clean Water Act §303(d) assessment

  • 3

    Dissolved Oxygen - Primary

    Impairment cause per EPA Clean Water Act §303(d) assessment

Source: EPA ATTAINS · Reporting cycle 2022

Official EPA Resources for St. Francis County

EPA How's My Waterway

Interactive watershed health data for St. Francis County

EPA ECHO: Drinking Water Systems

Search water utilities and violation records for St. Francis County

Consumer Confidence Reports (AR)

Annual water quality reports from utilities in Arkansas

Clean Water Act §303(d)

Watershed Health

Impaired Water Bodies

17.5%

78 of 446 assessed

Some impairment

Top Impairment Causes

  • 1

    DISSOLVED OXYGEN - CRITICAL

  • 2

    TURBIDITY - BASE FLOWS

  • 3

    DISSOLVED OXYGEN - PRIMARY

Source: EPA ATTAINS · Reporting cycle 2022

Impairment is determined under the Clean Water Act §303(d): a water body is impaired when it fails to meet state-defined quality standards for designated uses (drinking, recreation, aquatic life). Assessment coverage varies by state; counties without assessed water bodies are not shown.

Past 5 years

Water Quality Monitoring

Monitoring Sites

7

Active in the past 5 years

Measurements Recorded

4.0K

4,048 total readings

Most Measured

  • Inorganics, Minor, Metals
  • Physical
  • Nutrient

Categories measured most frequently

Data from the EPA Water Quality Portal (WQP), aggregating monitoring records from federal, state, and tribal sources. Each measurement represents a single sample analyzed for a specific characteristic (e.g., E. coli, pH, dissolved oxygen, nitrogen).

Live USGS Streamgage

River & Stream Conditions

Current Discharge

1,700cfs

May 14, 6:00 PM UTC

vs Long-Term Average

145%

Well above typical

Primary Streamgage

LAnguille River at Palestine, AR

USGS site
07047950
Drainage area
786 sq mi
Long-term mean
1,175 cfs

One representative streamgage (the one with the largest drainage area in the county). Many counties have multiple gauges; this view summarizes the primary one. The long-term mean is the full-record annual average; the percent-of-typical value compares the latest reading against that average.

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Estimate Your Water Costs

Water Cost Estimate

3

3 people  ·  ~225 gal/day

Annual Total

$558

Monthly

$47

Water Bill

$558/yr

Filter Cost

$0/yr

Safety Grade for St. Francis County:B — Good

Minor violations; waterways mostly healthy.

Estimates use the national average residential water rate ($0.0068/gal, EPA/AWWA 2023) and EPA WaterSense per-person consumption baseline (75 gal/person/day). Actual bills vary by utility, usage tier, and local infrastructure fees. For informational purposes only.

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St. Francis County has good water quality

Learn about water restrictions and conservation in your area.

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Frequently Asked Questions

What is the water quality in St. Francis County, Arkansas?
St. Francis County, Arkansas has a drinking-water quality grade of A with a score of 86.0/100, based on EPA SDWIS compliance data. The county has 0 health-based drinking water violations over the past 5 years. Watershed health, monitoring records, and streamflow snapshots are reported separately on this page.
Are there any water violations in St. Francis County?
St. Francis County has 0 health-based drinking water violations recorded by the EPA over the past 5 years. Health-based violations indicate instances where contaminant levels exceeded EPA Maximum Contaminant Levels (MCLs). Zero violations is an excellent record indicating consistent compliance with federal drinking water standards.
How healthy are the watersheds in St. Francis County?
EPA ATTAINS assessments under Clean Water Act §303(d) indicate 17.5% of St. Francis County's 446 assessed water bodies are classified as impaired (78 impaired). The top reported causes are DISSOLVED OXYGEN - CRITICAL, TURBIDITY - BASE FLOWS, DISSOLVED OXYGEN - PRIMARY. Impairment means the water body fails to meet state quality standards for at least one designated use — drinking water source, recreation, aquatic life, or fish consumption. Note: watershed impairment doesn't always translate to tap-water issues; treatment plants can remove most regulated contaminants.
How much water-quality monitoring happens in St. Francis County?
EPA's Water Quality Portal records 4,048 measurements from 7 monitoring sites in St. Francis County over the past five years. The most frequently measured characteristic groups are Inorganics, Minor, Metals, Physical, Nutrient. Each measurement is a single sample analyzed for one characteristic (E. coli, pH, dissolved oxygen, etc.). High monitoring density means more scientific evidence behind any reported signal — it does not by itself indicate water quality.
What's happening with rivers in St. Francis County right now?
St. Francis County's primary USGS streamgage on the LAnguille River has a pipeline snapshot of 1,700 cubic feet per second — 145% of the long-term mean of 1,174.76 cfs. This is well above typical — often a signal of recent precipitation or storm runoff. For the latest gauge feed, visit waterdata.usgs.gov.
How does St. Francis County water compare to the Arkansas average?
St. Francis County's SDWIS water quality score of 86.0/100 is higher than the Arkansas state average of 47.6. The average water quality grade across Arkansas is D, based on data from 75 counties with available SDWIS data.
Is tap water safe to drink in St. Francis County?
Based on EPA SDWIS data, St. Francis County has a water quality grade of A (86.0/100). This indicates good to excellent water quality with strong SDWIS compliance. The grade speaks to the public water system, not the watershed — for watershed-level concerns, see the Watershed Health zone. For the most up-to-date information, contact your local water utility or review your Consumer Confidence Report (CCR).
Does St. Francis County have clean drinking water?
St. Francis County has 0 health-based drinking water violations according to EPA records. With a water quality score of 86.0/100 and grade A, the county's drinking water meets EPA standards with no recorded health violations. Note: drinking-water compliance speaks to the public water system, not necessarily to the watershed itself — check the Watershed Health zone for ATTAINS §303(d) data.
How does St. Francis County rank for water quality in Arkansas?
St. Francis County ranks #27 out of 75 counties in Arkansas by SDWIS water quality score (1 = best). With a score of 86.0/100, it falls in the middle third of counties statewide. The ranking reflects EPA SDWIS compliance only — not watershed impairment, monitoring density, or streamflow, which are tracked separately on this page.

Counties with Similar Water Quality

Bradley County

Arkansas

A

86.0

Water score

Calhoun County

Arkansas

A

86.0

Water score

Clay County

Arkansas

A

86.0

Water score

Data Sources

Drinking-water compliance data from the EPA Safe Drinking Water Information System (SDWIS) via the ECHO enforcement database. Scores reflect compliance history and health-based violation counts.

Watershed health and impaired-waterway data from the EPA ATTAINS Clean Water Act §303(d) assessments, state-reported and EPA-finalized.

Water-quality monitoring counts from the EPA Water Quality Portal (WQP), federated USGS, EPA, and state agency sampling records over a rolling 5-year window.

Live streamflow from the USGS National Water Information System (NWIS), continuous discharge measurements from the largest-drainage gauge in each county, compared against the full-record long-term annual mean.

Disclaimer: This data is informational only. It is not health, legal, or professional advice. For concerns about your specific water supply, contact your local water utility.

By Evan Brooks, Data EditorUpdated Reviewed by Evan Brooks, Data Editor

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