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County water report

Humboldt County Water Report

Drinking-water compliance, watershed health, monitoring records, and river conditions for Humboldt County, California.

Water grade

C

Water score

54.8

State rank

#18

of 58

Health violations

13

EPA SDWIS, 5-year lookback

Watershed impaired

39.1%

69 water bodies assessed

Monitoring sites

134

54,247 recent measurements

Live streamflow

53%

KLAMATH R A ORLEANS

Water at a glance

Key Water Indicators for Humboldt County

EPA SDWIS

Safety Grade

C

Score: 54.8 / 100

EPA SDWIS

Active Violations

13

5-year health-based lookback

EPA ATTAINS

Watershed Health

39% impaired

69 bodies assessed

USGS NWIS

Streamflow Snapshot

53% of mean

KLAMATH R A ORLEANS

EPA WQP

Monitoring Sites

134

54,247 recent readings

Source: EPA SDWIS · Safe Drinking Water Information System

Drinking Water Compliance

Compliance grade

C

Based on EPA SDWIS compliance history.

Water score

Higher scores indicate cleaner recent compliance records.

54.8/100

Health violations

13

Health-based violations

Violations per 100K served

10.6

Population-normalized SDWIS rate

Editorial analysis

Understanding Humboldt County’s Water

Drinking Water Quality Overview

EPA SDWIS

Humboldt County's drinking water earned a C grade, scoring 54.8 out of 100. Over the past five years, EPA SDWIS records 13 health-based violations — a pattern that public water utilities are required to disclose and correct.

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 substantial 39.1% of assessed waterways are impaired (27 of 69 water bodies) across Humboldt County's watersheds. The leading impairment causes are aluminum and pathogens. 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 2026-05-14T11:30:00.000-07:00) puts KLAMATH R A ORLEANS at 4.2k cfs — well below its long-term average at 53% of mean — low-flow conditions worth noting for water-dependent ecosystems. 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. Humboldt County has extensive coverage with 134 active monitoring sites with 54,247 recent measurements on record. Predominant monitoring categories include physical and microbiological. 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 Humboldt County

Water Verdict

Humboldt County, California receives a below-average water quality assessment with a grade of C and a score of 54.8 out of 100. Residents should review their utility's Consumer Confidence Report and may want to consider additional water filtration for drinking. Separately, EPA ATTAINS assessments cover 69 water bodies in the county's watershed, with 39.1% 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 below its historical mean at 53.4% — worth watching in drier seasons.

Violation Context

EPA SDWIS records for Humboldt County, California show 13 health-based violations, indicating multiple instances where federal contaminant limits or treatment requirements were not met. At 10.6 violations per 100,000 people served, this rate is high and signals significant water quality management issues. This compliance record sits alongside an unusually deep monitoring archive: 54,247 water-quality results have been logged across the county in the EPA Water Quality Portal over the past five years.

Consumer Guidance

Tap water in Humboldt County meets baseline standards but the compliance record shows room for improvement, with a Grade C rating. Humboldt County's drinking-water compliance score is 54.8 out of 100. The violation rate for Humboldt County is 10.6 per 100,000 people served. Residents who are immunocompromised, pregnant, or have young children may benefit from using an NSF 53-certified filter. Contacting your local utility for the current Consumer Confidence Report will confirm which specific violations were recorded and whether they have been resolved. Aluminum is the leading impairment cause in Humboldt County's watershed. With 134 active water-quality monitoring sites in Humboldt County, data coverage is strong. A pipeline streamflow snapshot from the KLAMATH R A ORLEANS gauge is also available on this page.

Regional Context

Humboldt County has better water quality than the average county in California. Its water score is 10.2 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 Humboldt County's water environment

Watershed Impairment Causes (EPA ATTAINS)

  • 1

    Aluminum

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

  • 2

    Pathogens

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

  • 3

    Sedimentation and siltation

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

Source: EPA ATTAINS · Reporting cycle 2022

Official EPA Resources for Humboldt County

EPA How's My Waterway

Interactive watershed health data for Humboldt County

EPA ECHO: Drinking Water Systems

Search water utilities and violation records for Humboldt County

Consumer Confidence Reports (CA)

Annual water quality reports from utilities in California

Clean Water Act §303(d)

Watershed Health

Impaired Water Bodies

39.1%

27 of 69 assessed

Moderate concern

Top Impairment Causes

  • 1

    ALUMINUM

  • 2

    PATHOGENS

  • 3

    SEDIMENTATION/SILTATION

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

134

Active in the past 5 years

Measurements Recorded

54K

54,247 total readings

Most Measured

  • Physical
  • Microbiological
  • Organics, Other

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

4,210cfs

May 14, 6:30 PM UTC

vs Long-Term Average

53%

Well below typical

Primary Streamgage

KLAMATH R A ORLEANS

USGS site
11523000
Drainage area
8,475 sq mi
Long-term mean
7,891 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 Humboldt County:C — Moderate

Some violations or watershed impairment detected.

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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Frequently Asked Questions

What is the water quality in Humboldt County, California?
Humboldt County, California has a drinking-water quality grade of C with a score of 54.8/100, based on EPA SDWIS compliance data. The county has 13 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 Humboldt County?
Humboldt County has 13 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). Violations may have been resolved — check with your local water utility for current status.
How healthy are the watersheds in Humboldt County?
EPA ATTAINS assessments under Clean Water Act §303(d) indicate 39.1% of Humboldt County's 69 assessed water bodies are classified as impaired (27 impaired). The top reported causes are ALUMINUM, PATHOGENS, SEDIMENTATION/SILTATION. 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 Humboldt County?
EPA's Water Quality Portal records 54,247 measurements from 134 monitoring sites in Humboldt County over the past five years. The most frequently measured characteristic groups are Physical, Microbiological, Organics, Other. 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 Humboldt County right now?
Humboldt County's primary USGS streamgage on the KLAMATH R A ORLEANS has a pipeline snapshot of 4,210 cubic feet per second — 53% of the long-term mean of 7,891.07 cfs. This is well below typical — often a signal of drought stress on source water. For the latest gauge feed, visit waterdata.usgs.gov.
How does Humboldt County water compare to the California average?
Humboldt County's SDWIS water quality score of 54.8/100 is higher than the California state average of 44.6. The average water quality grade across California is D, based on data from 58 counties with available SDWIS data.
Is tap water safe to drink in Humboldt County?
Based on EPA SDWIS data, Humboldt County has a water quality grade of C (54.8/100). This indicates moderate compliance. Some violations have been recorded but overall standards are maintained. 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).
Why does Humboldt County have so many water violations?
Humboldt County has 13 health-based drinking water violations on record from the EPA SDWIS database. A higher violation count can result from aging infrastructure, underfunded water utilities, agricultural runoff contamination, or industrial pollution. Counties with more water systems may also see more violations simply due to scale. Residents concerned about water quality should consider independent water testing and home filtration systems.
How does Humboldt County rank for water quality in California?
Humboldt County ranks #18 out of 58 counties in California by SDWIS water quality score (1 = best). With a score of 54.8/100, it falls in the top 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

Lassen County

California

C

54.6

Water score

San Diego County

California

C

54.6

Water score

Fresno County

California

C

52.5

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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