County water report

Polk County Water Report

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

Water grade

Water score

50.8

State rank

#43

of 66

Health violations

EPA SDWIS, 5-year lookback

Watershed impaired

41.1%

2,877 water bodies assessed

Monitoring sites

659

148,072 recent measurements

Live streamflow

PEACE RIVER AT FORT MEADE FL

Water at a glance

Key Water Indicators for Polk County

EPA SDWIS

Safety Grade

Score: 50.8 / 100

EPA SDWIS

Active Violations

5-year health-based lookback

EPA ATTAINS

Watershed Health

41% impaired

2,877 bodies assessed

USGS NWIS

Streamflow Snapshot

2% of mean

PEACE RIVER AT FORT MEADE FL

EPA WQP

Monitoring Sites

659

148,072 recent readings

Source: EPA SDWIS · Safe Drinking Water Information System

Drinking Water Compliance

Compliance grade

Based on EPA SDWIS compliance history.

Water score

Higher scores indicate cleaner recent compliance records.

50.8/100

Health violations

Health-based violations

Violations per 100K served

15.0

Population-normalized SDWIS rate

Data center water stress

Polk County has 1 facility in the DCWSI dataset.

ByCounty's DCWSI ranks this county #1535 nationally by combining its water score with mapped data center density.

DCWSI

30.5

0-100 index

Facility count

0.0 density percentile

Discharge estimate

Not reported

EPA CWA fields where available

Water vs median

+0.8

Compared with US county median

Mapped facilities

OpenStreetMap data center 1034230196
Polk City
OSM

See the Polk County data-center report Review methodology

Data Center Water Budget Calculator

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

Facility size: 100 MW

1 MW1,000 MW

Cooling type

Utilization: 70%

40%100%

799K gallons/dayHigh Impact

Your facility would use 28.7% of this county's industrial water baseline. Verify water rights and long-term drought projections before committing.

28.7% of county industrial baseline1.98 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 Polk County’s Water

Drinking Water Quality Overview

EPA SDWIS

Polk County's drinking water earned a C grade, scoring 50.8 out of 100. Over the past five years, EPA SDWIS records 97 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 41.1% of assessed waterways are impaired (1,183 of 2,877 water bodies) across Polk County's watersheds. The leading impairment causes are mercury in fish tissue and dissolved oxygen. 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 PEACE RIVER at 4.0 cfs — well below its long-term average at 2% 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. Polk County has extensive coverage with 659 active monitoring sites with 148,072 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 Polk County

Water Verdict

Polk County, Florida receives a below-average water quality assessment with a grade of C and a score of 50.8 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 2,877 water bodies in the county's watershed, with 41.1% 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 1.9% — worth watching in drier seasons.

Violation Context

EPA SDWIS records for Polk County, Florida show 97 health-based violations, indicating multiple instances where federal contaminant limits or treatment requirements were not met. At 15.0 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: 148,072 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 Polk County meets baseline standards but the compliance record shows room for improvement, with a Grade C rating. Polk County's drinking-water compliance score is 50.8 out of 100. The violation rate for Polk County is 15.0 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. Mercury in Fish Tissue is the leading impairment cause in Polk County's watershed. With 659 active water-quality monitoring sites in Polk County, data coverage is strong. A pipeline streamflow snapshot from the PEACE RIVER gauge is also available on this page.

Regional Context

Polk County has poorer water quality than the average county in Florida. Its water score is 5.2 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 Polk County's water environment

Watershed Impairment Causes (EPA ATTAINS)

1
Mercury (fish tissue)
Impairment cause per EPA Clean Water Act §303(d) assessment
2
Low dissolved oxygen
Impairment cause per EPA Clean Water Act §303(d) assessment
3
Chlorophyll-a (algae indicator)
Impairment cause per EPA Clean Water Act §303(d) assessment

Source: EPA ATTAINS · Reporting cycle 2022

Official EPA Resources for Polk County

EPA How's My Waterway

Interactive watershed health data for Polk County

EPA ECHO: Drinking Water Systems

Search water utilities and violation records for Polk County

Consumer Confidence Reports (FL)

Annual water quality reports from utilities in Florida

Clean Water Act §303(d)

Watershed Health

Impaired Water Bodies

41.1%

1,183 of 2,877 assessed

Moderate concern

Top Impairment Causes

1
MERCURY IN FISH TISSUE
2
DISSOLVED OXYGEN
3
CHLOROPHYLL-A

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

659

Active in the past 5 years

Measurements Recorded

148K

148,072 total readings

Most Measured

Physical
Nutrient
Organics, Pesticide

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

3.98cfs

May 14, 6:15 PM UTC

vs Long-Term Average

Well below typical

Primary Streamgage

PEACE RIVER AT FORT MEADE FL

USGS site: 02294898
Drainage area: 480 sq mi
Long-term mean: 208 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

Household size

3 people · ~225 gal/day

Filter type

Annual Total

$558

Monthly

$47

Water Bill

$558/yr

Filter Cost

$0/yr

Safety Grade for Polk 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 Polk County, Florida?

Polk County, Florida has a drinking-water quality grade of C with a score of 50.8/100, based on EPA SDWIS compliance data. The county has 97 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 Polk County?

Polk County has 97 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 Polk County?

EPA ATTAINS assessments under Clean Water Act §303(d) indicate 41.1% of Polk County's 2,877 assessed water bodies are classified as impaired (1,183 impaired). The top reported causes are MERCURY IN FISH TISSUE, DISSOLVED OXYGEN, CHLOROPHYLL-A. 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 Polk County?

EPA's Water Quality Portal records 148,072 measurements from 659 monitoring sites in Polk County over the past five years. The most frequently measured characteristic groups are Physical, Nutrient, Organics, Pesticide. 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 Polk County right now?

Polk County's primary USGS streamgage on the PEACE RIVER has a pipeline snapshot of 3.98 cubic feet per second — 2% of the long-term mean of 207.77 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 Polk County water compare to the Florida average?

Polk County's SDWIS water quality score of 50.8/100 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 Polk County?

Based on EPA SDWIS data, Polk County has a water quality grade of C (50.8/100). 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 Polk County have so many water violations?

Polk County has 97 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 Polk County rank for water quality in Florida?

Polk County ranks #43 out of 66 counties in Florida by SDWIS water quality score (1 = best). With a score of 50.8/100, 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

Osceola County

Florida

50.1

Water score

Bay County

Florida

49.7

Water score

Okeechobee County

Florida

52.7

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 May 14, 2026Reviewed by Evan Brooks, Data Editor

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