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Federal water data

County water report

Douglas County Water Report

Drinking-water compliance, watershed health, monitoring records, and river conditions for Douglas County, Colorado.

Water grade

C

Water score

52.5

State rank

#20

of 64

Health violations

53

EPA SDWIS, 5-year lookback

Watershed impaired

43.2%

139 water bodies assessed

Monitoring sites

45

9,660 recent measurements

Live streamflow

86%

SOUTH PLATTE RIVER BLW BRUSH CRK NEAR TRUMBULL, CO

Water at a glance

Key Water Indicators for Douglas County

EPA SDWIS

Safety Grade

C

Score: 52.5 / 100

EPA SDWIS

Active Violations

53

5-year health-based lookback

EPA ATTAINS

Watershed Health

43% impaired

139 bodies assessed

USGS NWIS

Streamflow Snapshot

86% of mean

SOUTH PLATTE RIVER BLW BRUSH CRK NEAR TRUMBULL, CO

EPA WQP

Monitoring Sites

45

9,660 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.

52.5/100

Health violations

53

Health-based violations

Violations per 100K served

13.0

Population-normalized SDWIS rate

Data center water stress

Douglas County has 8 facilities in the DCWSI dataset.

ByCounty's DCWSI ranks this county #97 nationally by combining its water score with mapped data center density.

DCWSIThe Data Center Water Stress Index: 60% the county's water-system stress plus 40% how concentrated data centers already are, scored 0-100. Higher means data-center density and water pressure overlap more here.

64.8

0-100 index

Facility count

8

83.3 density percentile

Discharge estimate

Not reported

EPA CWA fields where available

Water vs median

+2.5

Compared with US county median

Named operators

EquinixFlexential

Mapped facilities

  • 9110-9180 - 9119-9180 COMMERCE CENTER

    LITTLETON

    EPA ECHO

  • EQUINIX LLC - DE2

    ENGLEWOOD · Equinix

    EPA ECHO

  • Flexential Denver - Englewood

    Englewood · Flexential

    OSM

  • ONENECK IT-DENVER DATA CENTER

    PARKER AREA

    EPA ECHO

  • OpenStreetMap data center 778989332

    Englewood

    OSM

  • QWEST CORP - ENGLEWOOD CYBER CENTER

    ENGLEWOOD

    EPA ECHO

2 more mapped facilities included in the county score.

See the Douglas County data-center reportReview methodology

Data Center Water Budget Calculator

Estimate daily water use for a hypothetical facility in Douglas County.

1 MW1,000 MW
40%100%
799K gallons/dayHigh Impact

Your facility would use 79.8% of this county's industrial water baseline. Verify water rights and long-term drought projections before committing.

79.8% of county industrial baseline0.20 Mgal/day remaining headroom

Based on USGS 2020 water-use data and EPA-standard cooling intensity constants. Not a substitute for site-specific water rights analysis.

Editorial analysis

Understanding Douglas County’s Water

Drinking Water Quality Overview

EPA SDWIS

Douglas County's drinking water earned a C grade, scoring 52.5 out of 100. Over the past five years, EPA SDWIS records 53 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 43.2% of assessed waterways are impaired (60 of 139 water bodies) across Douglas County's watersheds. The leading impairment causes are ph and arsenic. 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 2026-05-14T12:45:00.000-06:00) puts SOUTH PLATTE RIVER BLW BRUSH CRK at 184.0 cfs — running somewhat below its historical average at 86% 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. Douglas County has moderate coverage with 45 active monitoring sites with 9,660 recent measurements on record. Predominant monitoring categories include nutrient and inorganics, minor, metals. 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 Douglas County

Water Verdict

Douglas County, Colorado receives a below-average water quality assessment with a grade of C and a score of 52.5 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 139 water bodies in the county's watershed, with 43.2% 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 85.6% — worth watching in drier seasons.

Violation Context

EPA SDWIS records for Douglas County, Colorado show 53 health-based violations, indicating multiple instances where federal contaminant limits or treatment requirements were not met. At 13.0 violations per 100,000 people served, this rate is high and signals significant water quality management issues. For independent context, 9,660 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 Douglas County meets baseline standards but the compliance record shows room for improvement, with a Grade C rating. Douglas County's drinking-water compliance score is 52.5 out of 100. The violation rate for Douglas County is 13.0 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. pH is the leading impairment cause in Douglas County's watershed. With 45 active water-quality monitoring sites in Douglas County, data coverage is strong. A pipeline streamflow snapshot from the SOUTH PLATTE RIVER BLW BRUSH CRK gauge is also available on this page.

Regional Context

Douglas County has better water quality than the average county in Colorado. Its water score is 13.8 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 Douglas County's water environment

Watershed Impairment Causes (EPA ATTAINS)

  • 1

    pH imbalance

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

  • 2

    Arsenic

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

  • 3

    Low dissolved oxygen

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

Source: EPA ATTAINS · Reporting cycle 2022

Official EPA Resources for Douglas County

EPA How's My Waterway

Interactive watershed health data for Douglas County

EPA ECHO: Drinking Water Systems

Search water utilities and violation records for Douglas County

Consumer Confidence Reports (CO)

Annual water quality reports from utilities in Colorado

Clean Water Act §303(d)

Watershed Health

Impaired Water Bodies

43.2%

60 of 139 assessed

Moderate concern

Top Impairment Causes

  • 1

    PH

  • 2

    ARSENIC

  • 3

    DISSOLVED OXYGEN

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

45

Active in the past 5 years

Measurements Recorded

9.7K

9,660 total readings

Most Measured

  • Nutrient
  • Inorganics, Minor, Metals
  • Physical

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

184cfs

May 14, 6:45 PM UTC

vs Long-Term Average

86%

Below typical

Primary Streamgage

SOUTH PLATTE RIVER BLW BRUSH CRK NEAR TRUMBULL, CO

USGS site
06701900
Drainage area
2,028 sq mi
Long-term mean
215 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.

Free tool

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 Douglas 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 Douglas County, Colorado?
Douglas County, Colorado has a drinking-water quality grade of C with a score of 52.5/100, based on EPA SDWIS compliance data. The county has 53 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 Douglas County?
Douglas County has 53 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 Douglas County?
EPA ATTAINS assessments under Clean Water Act §303(d) indicate 43.2% of Douglas County's 139 assessed water bodies are classified as impaired (60 impaired). The top reported causes are PH, ARSENIC, DISSOLVED OXYGEN. 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 Douglas County?
EPA's Water Quality Portal records 9,660 measurements from 45 monitoring sites in Douglas County over the past five years. The most frequently measured characteristic groups are Nutrient, Inorganics, Minor, Metals, Physical. 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 Douglas County right now?
Douglas County's primary USGS streamgage on the SOUTH PLATTE RIVER BLW BRUSH CRK has a pipeline snapshot of 184 cubic feet per second — 86% of the long-term mean of 214.86 cfs. Flow is within typical range for this gauge. For the latest gauge feed, visit waterdata.usgs.gov.
How does Douglas County water compare to the Colorado average?
Douglas County's SDWIS water quality score of 52.5/100 is higher than the Colorado state average of 38.7. The average water quality grade across Colorado is F, based on data from 64 counties with available SDWIS data.
Is tap water safe to drink in Douglas County?
Based on EPA SDWIS data, Douglas County has a water quality grade of C (52.5/100). 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 Douglas County have so many water violations?
Douglas County has 53 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 Douglas County rank for water quality in Colorado?
Douglas County ranks #20 out of 64 counties in Colorado by SDWIS water quality score (1 = best). With a score of 52.5/100, 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

Las Animas County

Colorado

C

51.8

Water score

El Paso County

Colorado

C

51.3

Water score

Jefferson County

Colorado

C

54.0

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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