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County water report

Highlands County Water Report

Drinking-water compliance, watershed health, monitoring records, and river conditions for Highlands County, Florida.

Water grade

F

Water score

25.8

State rank

#58

of 66

Health violations

83

EPA SDWIS, 5-year lookback

Watershed impaired

42.7%

914 water bodies assessed

Monitoring sites

404

82,268 recent measurements

Live streamflow

15%

ARBUCKLE CREEK NEAR DE SOTO CITY, FL

Water at a glance

Key Water Indicators for Highlands County

EPA SDWIS

Safety Grade

F

Score: 25.8 / 100

EPA SDWIS

Active Violations

83

5-year health-based lookback

EPA ATTAINS

Watershed Health

43% impaired

914 bodies assessed

USGS NWIS

Streamflow Snapshot

15% of mean

ARBUCKLE CREEK NEAR DE SOTO CITY, FL

EPA WQP

Monitoring Sites

404

82,268 recent readings

Source: EPA SDWIS · Safe Drinking Water Information System

Drinking Water Compliance

Compliance grade

F

Based on EPA SDWIS compliance history.

Water score

Higher scores indicate cleaner recent compliance records.

25.8/100

Health violations

83

Health-based violations

Violations per 100K served

85.7

Population-normalized SDWIS rate

Editorial analysis

Understanding Highlands County’s Water

Drinking Water Quality Overview

EPA SDWIS

Highlands County's water systems carry a failing grade, scoring 25.8 out of 100. Over the past five years, EPA SDWIS records 83 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 42.7% of assessed waterways are impaired (390 of 914 water bodies) across Highlands County's watersheds. The leading impairment causes are mercury in fish tissue and chlorophyll-a. 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 2026-05-14T14:15:00.000-04:00) puts ARBUCKLE CREEK at 44.4 cfs — well below its long-term average at 15% 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. Highlands County has extensive coverage with 404 active monitoring sites with 82,268 recent measurements on record. Predominant monitoring categories include physical and nutrient. 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 Highlands County

Water Verdict

Highlands County, Florida receives a poor water quality assessment with a grade of F and a score of 25.8 out of 100. The water supply has documented quality issues. Residents are strongly encouraged to use filtered or bottled water for drinking and to stay informed about utility improvement plans. Separately, EPA ATTAINS assessments cover 914 water bodies in the county's watershed, with 42.7% 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 14.5% — worth watching in drier seasons.

Violation Context

EPA SDWIS records for Highlands County, Florida show 83 health-based violations, indicating multiple instances where federal contaminant limits or treatment requirements were not met. At 85.7 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: 82,268 water-quality results have been logged across the county in the EPA Water Quality Portal over the past five years.

Consumer Guidance

Highlands County has a Grade F compliance record with 83 health-based violations — among the highest levels in the country. Highlands County's drinking-water compliance score is 25.8 out of 100. The violation rate for Highlands County is 85.7 per 100,000 people served. Residents are strongly advised to use a certified NSF 58 reverse-osmosis filter or bottled water for all drinking and cooking until violations are corrected. Contacting the Florida Department of Environmental Quality or Health can expedite utility compliance action. Mercury in Fish Tissue is the leading impairment cause in Highlands County's watershed. With 404 active water-quality monitoring sites in Highlands County, data coverage is strong. A pipeline streamflow snapshot from the ARBUCKLE CREEK gauge is also available on this page.

Regional Context

Highlands County has poorer water quality than the average county in Florida. Its water score is 30.2 points lower than the state average, suggesting more challenges with contamination control or infrastructure than 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 Highlands County's water environment

Watershed Impairment Causes (EPA ATTAINS)

  • 1

    Mercury (fish tissue)

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

  • 2

    Chlorophyll-a (algae indicator)

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

  • 3

    Nitrogen, Total

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

Source: EPA ATTAINS · Reporting cycle 2022

Official EPA Resources for Highlands County

EPA How's My Waterway

Interactive watershed health data for Highlands County

EPA ECHO: Drinking Water Systems

Search water utilities and violation records for Highlands County

Consumer Confidence Reports (FL)

Annual water quality reports from utilities in Florida

Clean Water Act §303(d)

Watershed Health

Impaired Water Bodies

42.7%

390 of 914 assessed

Moderate concern

Top Impairment Causes

  • 1

    MERCURY IN FISH TISSUE

  • 2

    CHLOROPHYLL-A

  • 3

    NITROGEN, TOTAL

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

404

Active in the past 5 years

Measurements Recorded

82K

82,268 total readings

Most Measured

  • Physical
  • Nutrient
  • Biological, Algae, Phytoplankton

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

44.4cfs

May 14, 6:15 PM UTC

vs Long-Term Average

15%

Well below typical

Primary Streamgage

ARBUCKLE CREEK NEAR DE SOTO CITY, FL

USGS site
02270500
Drainage area
379 sq mi
Long-term mean
307 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

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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 Highlands 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 Highlands County, Florida?
Highlands County, Florida has a drinking-water quality grade of F with a score of 25.8/100, based on EPA SDWIS compliance data. The county has 83 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 Highlands County?
Highlands County has 83 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 Highlands County?
EPA ATTAINS assessments under Clean Water Act §303(d) indicate 42.7% of Highlands County's 914 assessed water bodies are classified as impaired (390 impaired). The top reported causes are MERCURY IN FISH TISSUE, CHLOROPHYLL-A, NITROGEN, TOTAL. 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 Highlands County?
EPA's Water Quality Portal records 82,268 measurements from 404 monitoring sites in Highlands County over the past five years. The most frequently measured characteristic groups are Physical, Nutrient, Biological, Algae, Phytoplankton. 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 Highlands County right now?
Highlands County's primary USGS streamgage on the ARBUCKLE CREEK has a pipeline snapshot of 44.4 cubic feet per second — 15% of the long-term mean of 306.66 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 Highlands County water compare to the Florida average?
Highlands County's SDWIS water quality score of 25.8/100 is lower than the Florida state average of 56.0. The average water quality grade across Florida is D, based on data from 66 counties with available SDWIS data.
Is tap water safe to drink in Highlands County?
Based on EPA SDWIS data, Highlands County has a water quality grade of F (25.8/100). This indicates below-average compliance with significant violations. Residents may want to consider home water filtration or independent testing. 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 Highlands County have so many water violations?
Highlands County has 83 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 Highlands County rank for water quality in Florida?
Highlands County ranks #58 out of 66 counties in Florida by SDWIS water quality score (1 = best). With a score of 25.8/100, it falls in the bottom 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

Gulf County

Florida

F

24.4

Water score

Franklin County

Florida

F

27.4

Water score

Madison County

Florida

F

28.1

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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