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Federal water data

County water report

Clay County Water Report

Drinking-water compliance, watershed health, monitoring records, and river conditions for Clay County, Kentucky.

Water grade

D

Water score

48.9

State rank

#81

of 118

Health violations

3

EPA SDWIS, 5-year lookback

Watershed impaired

0.0%

12 water bodies assessed

Monitoring sites

3

2,806 recent measurements

Live streamflow

10%

GOOSE CREEK AT MANCHESTER, KY

Water at a glance

Key Water Indicators for Clay County

EPA SDWIS

Safety Grade

D

Score: 48.9 / 100

EPA SDWIS

Active Violations

3

5-year health-based lookback

EPA ATTAINS

Watershed Health

0% impaired

12 bodies assessed

USGS NWIS

Streamflow Snapshot

10% of mean

GOOSE CREEK AT MANCHESTER, KY

EPA WQP

Monitoring Sites

3

2,806 recent readings

Source: EPA SDWIS · Safe Drinking Water Information System

Drinking Water Compliance

Compliance grade

D

Based on EPA SDWIS compliance history.

Water score

Higher scores indicate cleaner recent compliance records.

48.9/100

Health violations

3

Health-based violations

Violations per 100K served

18.0

Population-normalized SDWIS rate

Editorial analysis

Understanding Clay County’s Water

Drinking Water Quality Overview

EPA SDWIS

Clay County's drinking water received a D grade, scoring 48.9 out of 100. Over the past five years, EPA SDWIS records 3 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). None of the assessed waterways are listed as impaired (0 of 12 water bodies) across Clay County's watersheds. 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 2026-05-14T14:45:00.000-04:00) puts GOOSE CREEK at 26.6 cfs — well below its long-term average at 10% 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. Clay County has limited coverage with 3 active monitoring sites with 2,806 recent measurements on record. Predominant monitoring categories include inorganics, minor, metals and physical. 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 Clay County

Water Verdict

Clay County receives a below-average water quality assessment with a grade of D and a score of 48.9 out of 100. Residents should review their utility's Consumer Confidence Report and may want to consider additional water filtration for drinking.

Violation Context

Clay County has recorded 3 health-based violations, indicating multiple instances where federal contaminant limits or treatment requirements were not met. At 18.0 violations per 100,000 people served, this rate is high and signals significant water quality management issues.

Consumer Guidance

Clay County's drinking-water compliance is below average with a Grade D, indicating repeated or unresolved violations in the recent record. Clay County's drinking-water compliance score is 48.9 out of 100. The violation rate for Clay County is 18.0 per 100,000 people served. Residents are encouraged to use an NSF 53 or NSF 58-certified filter for drinking and cooking water until the underlying violations are resolved. Running tap water for 30 seconds before use and avoiding older lead-pipe connections can also reduce exposure risk. The current Consumer Confidence Report from your utility will specify the contaminants of concern. There are 3 active water-quality monitoring sites in Clay County. A pipeline streamflow snapshot from the GOOSE CREEK gauge is also available on this page.

Regional Context

Clay County has poorer water quality than the average county in Kentucky. Its water score is 15.3 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 Clay County's water environment

Official EPA Resources for Clay County

EPA How's My Waterway

Interactive watershed health data for Clay County

EPA ECHO: Drinking Water Systems

Search water utilities and violation records for Clay County

Consumer Confidence Reports (KY)

Annual water quality reports from utilities in Kentucky

Clean Water Act §303(d)

Watershed Health

Impaired Water Bodies

0.0%

0 of 12 assessed

Mostly healthy

Top Impairment Causes

No specific impairment causes reported for the assessed water bodies in this county.

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

3

Active in the past 5 years

Measurements Recorded

2.8K

2,806 total readings

Most Measured

  • Inorganics, Minor, Metals
  • Physical
  • Inorganics, Major, Metals

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

26.6cfs

May 14, 6:45 PM UTC

vs Long-Term Average

10%

Well below typical

Primary Streamgage

GOOSE CREEK AT MANCHESTER, KY

USGS site
03281100
Drainage area
163 sq mi
Long-term mean
266 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 Clay 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 Clay County, Kentucky?
Clay County, Kentucky has a drinking-water quality grade of D with a score of 48.9/100, based on EPA SDWIS compliance data. The county has 3 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 Clay County?
Clay County has 3 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 Clay County?
EPA ATTAINS assessments under Clean Water Act §303(d) indicate 0.0% of Clay County's 12 assessed water bodies are classified as impaired (0 impaired). 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 Clay County?
EPA's Water Quality Portal records 2,806 measurements from 3 monitoring sites in Clay County over the past five years. The most frequently measured characteristic groups are Inorganics, Minor, Metals, Physical, Inorganics, Major, Metals. 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 Clay County right now?
Clay County's primary USGS streamgage on the GOOSE CREEK has a pipeline snapshot of 26.6 cubic feet per second — 10% of the long-term mean of 266.45 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 Clay County water compare to the Kentucky average?
Clay County's SDWIS water quality score of 48.9/100 is lower than the Kentucky state average of 64.2. The average water quality grade across Kentucky is C, based on data from 118 counties with available SDWIS data.
Is tap water safe to drink in Clay County?
Based on EPA SDWIS data, Clay County has a water quality grade of D (48.9/100). 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).
Does Clay County have clean drinking water?
Clay County has 3 health-based drinking water violations according to EPA records. With a water quality score of 48.9/100 and grade D, 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 Clay County rank for water quality in Kentucky?
Clay County ranks #81 out of 118 counties in Kentucky by SDWIS water quality score (1 = best). With a score of 48.9/100, 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

Owsley County

Kentucky

D

48.2

Water score

Boyd County

Kentucky

D

47.8

Water score

Rowan County

Kentucky

C

51.1

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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