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Las Animas County Water Report

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

Water grade

C

Water score

51.8

State rank

#21

of 64

Health violations

2

EPA SDWIS, 5-year lookback

Watershed impaired

35.0%

80 water bodies assessed

Monitoring sites

44

14,199 recent measurements

Live streamflow

1%

PURGATOIRE RIVER AT ROCK CROSSING NR TIMPAS, CO.

Water at a glance

Key Water Indicators for Las Animas County

EPA SDWIS

Safety Grade

C

Score: 51.8 / 100

EPA SDWIS

Active Violations

2

5-year health-based lookback

EPA ATTAINS

Watershed Health

35% impaired

80 bodies assessed

USGS NWIS

Streamflow Snapshot

1% of mean

PURGATOIRE RIVER AT ROCK CROSSING NR TIMPAS, CO.

EPA WQP

Monitoring Sites

44

14,199 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.

51.8/100

Health violations

2

Health-based violations

Violations per 100K served

14.0

Population-normalized SDWIS rate

Editorial analysis

Understanding Las Animas County’s Water

Drinking Water Quality Overview

EPA SDWIS

Las Animas County's drinking water earned a C grade, scoring 51.8 out of 100. Over the past five years, EPA SDWIS records 2 health-based violations — a small cluster that warrants attention.

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 35.0% of assessed waterways are impaired (28 of 80 water bodies) across Las Animas County's watersheds. The leading impairment causes are arsenic and selenium. 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 2026-05-14T12:40:00.000-06:00) puts PURGATOIRE RIVER at 0.6 cfs — well below its long-term average at 1% 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. Las Animas County has moderate coverage with 44 active monitoring sites with 14,199 recent measurements on record. Predominant monitoring categories include physical 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 Las Animas County

Water Verdict

Las Animas County, Colorado receives a below-average water quality assessment with a grade of C and a score of 51.8 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 80 water bodies in the county's watershed, with 35.0% 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 1.2% — worth watching in drier seasons.

Violation Context

EPA SDWIS records for Las Animas County, Colorado show 2 health-based violations, indicating multiple instances where federal contaminant limits or treatment requirements were not met. At 14.0 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: 14,199 water-quality results have been logged across the county in the EPA Water Quality Portal over the past five years.

Consumer Guidance

Residents of Las Animas County should be aware that arsenic has been identified as a watershed impairment cause, and drinking-water compliance is at a C-grade level. Las Animas County's drinking-water compliance score is 51.8 out of 100. Long-term low-level arsenic exposure is a health concern; an NSF 58-certified reverse-osmosis filter is the most effective point-of-use option for arsenic removal. Reviewing your utility's Consumer Confidence Report will show whether treated water meets the EPA's 10 ppb MCL. The violation rate for Las Animas County is 14.0 per 100,000 people served. With 44 active water-quality monitoring sites in Las Animas County, data coverage is strong. A pipeline streamflow snapshot from the PURGATOIRE RIVER gauge is also available on this page.

Regional Context

Las Animas County has better water quality than the average county in Colorado. Its water score is 13.1 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 Las Animas County's water environment

Watershed Impairment Causes (EPA ATTAINS)

  • 1

    Arsenic

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

  • 2

    Selenium

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

  • 3

    Benthic Macroinvertebrates

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

Source: EPA ATTAINS · Reporting cycle 2022

Official EPA Resources for Las Animas County

EPA How's My Waterway

Interactive watershed health data for Las Animas County

EPA ECHO: Drinking Water Systems

Search water utilities and violation records for Las Animas County

Consumer Confidence Reports (CO)

Annual water quality reports from utilities in Colorado

Clean Water Act §303(d)

Watershed Health

Impaired Water Bodies

35.0%

28 of 80 assessed

Moderate concern

Top Impairment Causes

  • 1

    ARSENIC

  • 2

    SELENIUM

  • 3

    BENTHIC MACROINVERTEBRATES

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

44

Active in the past 5 years

Measurements Recorded

14K

14,199 total readings

Most Measured

  • Physical
  • Inorganics, Minor, Metals
  • 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

0.63cfs

May 14, 6:40 PM UTC

vs Long-Term Average

1%

Well below typical

Primary Streamgage

PURGATOIRE RIVER AT ROCK CROSSING NR TIMPAS, CO.

USGS site
07126485
Drainage area
2,758 sq mi
Long-term mean
54.0 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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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 Las Animas 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 Las Animas County, Colorado?
Las Animas County, Colorado has a drinking-water quality grade of C with a score of 51.8/100, based on EPA SDWIS compliance data. The county has 2 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 Las Animas County?
Las Animas County has 2 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 Las Animas County?
EPA ATTAINS assessments under Clean Water Act §303(d) indicate 35.0% of Las Animas County's 80 assessed water bodies are classified as impaired (28 impaired). The top reported causes are ARSENIC, SELENIUM, BENTHIC MACROINVERTEBRATES. 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 Las Animas County?
EPA's Water Quality Portal records 14,199 measurements from 44 monitoring sites in Las Animas County over the past five years. The most frequently measured characteristic groups are Physical, Inorganics, Minor, Metals, 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 Las Animas County right now?
Las Animas County's primary USGS streamgage on the PURGATOIRE RIVER has a pipeline snapshot of 0.63 cubic feet per second — 1% of the long-term mean of 53.95 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 Las Animas County water compare to the Colorado average?
Las Animas County's SDWIS water quality score of 51.8/100 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 Las Animas County?
Based on EPA SDWIS data, Las Animas County has a water quality grade of C (51.8/100). 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).
Does Las Animas County have clean drinking water?
Las Animas County has 2 health-based drinking water violations according to EPA records. With a water quality score of 51.8/100 and grade C, the county's drinking water has had some compliance issues but continues to be monitored. 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 Las Animas County rank for water quality in Colorado?
Las Animas County ranks #21 out of 64 counties in Colorado by SDWIS water quality score (1 = best). With a score of 51.8/100, 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

El Paso County

Colorado

C

51.3

Water score

Douglas County

Colorado

C

52.5

Water score

Eagle County

Colorado

D

49.9

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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