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Federal water data

County water report

Park County Water Report

Drinking-water compliance, watershed health, monitoring records, and river conditions for Park County, Montana.

Water grade

D

Water score

47.9

State rank

#27

of 55

Health violations

2

EPA SDWIS, 5-year lookback

Watershed impaired

0.0%

49 water bodies assessed

Monitoring sites

27

4,870 recent measurements

Live streamflow

350%

Yellowstone River near Livingston, MT

Water at a glance

Key Water Indicators for Park County

EPA SDWIS

Safety Grade

D

Score: 47.9 / 100

EPA SDWIS

Active Violations

2

5-year health-based lookback

EPA ATTAINS

Watershed Health

0% impaired

49 bodies assessed

USGS NWIS

Streamflow Snapshot

350% of mean

Yellowstone River near Livingston, MT

EPA WQP

Monitoring Sites

27

4,870 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.

47.9/100

Health violations

2

Health-based violations

Violations per 100K served

19.3

Population-normalized SDWIS rate

Editorial analysis

Understanding Park County’s Water

Drinking Water Quality Overview

EPA SDWIS

Park County's drinking water received a D grade, scoring 47.9 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). None of the assessed waterways are listed as impaired (0 of 49 water bodies) across Park 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 2026-05-14T12:00:00.000-06:00) puts Yellowstone River at 13.2k cfs — running significantly above its long-term average at 350% of mean flow. 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. Park County has moderate coverage with 27 active monitoring sites with 4,870 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 Park County

Water Verdict

Park County, Montana receives a below-average water quality assessment with a grade of D and a score of 47.9 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 track 49 water bodies in the county's watershed, none of which are currently listed as impaired under the Clean Water Act. At the most recent USGS reading, local streamflow was running above its historical mean at 350.2%.

Violation Context

EPA SDWIS records for Park County, Montana show 2 health-based violations, indicating multiple instances where federal contaminant limits or treatment requirements were not met. At 19.3 violations per 100,000 people served, this rate is high and signals significant water quality management issues. For independent context, 4,870 water-quality monitoring results have been recorded across the county in the EPA Water Quality Portal over the past five years.

Consumer Guidance

Park County's drinking-water compliance is below average with a Grade D, indicating repeated or unresolved violations in the recent record. Park County's drinking-water compliance score is 47.9 out of 100. The violation rate for Park County is 19.3 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. With 27 active water-quality monitoring sites in Park County, data coverage is strong. A pipeline streamflow snapshot from the Yellowstone River gauge is also available on this page.

Regional Context

Park County has water quality close to the average county in Montana. Its water score is within 1 points of the state average, meaning its overall water system performance is broadly representative of Montana as a whole.

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 Park County's water environment

Official EPA Resources for Park County

EPA How's My Waterway

Interactive watershed health data for Park County

EPA ECHO: Drinking Water Systems

Search water utilities and violation records for Park County

Consumer Confidence Reports (MT)

Annual water quality reports from utilities in Montana

Clean Water Act §303(d)

Watershed Health

Impaired Water Bodies

0.0%

0 of 49 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

27

Active in the past 5 years

Measurements Recorded

4.9K

4,870 total readings

Most Measured

  • Physical
  • Inorganics, Minor, Metals
  • 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

13.2Kcfs

May 14, 6:00 PM UTC

vs Long-Term Average

350%

Well above typical

Primary Streamgage

Yellowstone River near Livingston, MT

USGS site
06192500
Drainage area
3,551 sq mi
Long-term mean
3,769 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 Park 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 Park County, Montana?
Park County, Montana has a drinking-water quality grade of D with a score of 47.9/100, 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 Park County?
Park 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 Park County?
EPA ATTAINS assessments under Clean Water Act §303(d) indicate 0.0% of Park County's 49 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 Park County?
EPA's Water Quality Portal records 4,870 measurements from 27 monitoring sites in Park County over the past five years. The most frequently measured characteristic groups are Physical, Inorganics, Minor, Metals, 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 Park County right now?
Park County's primary USGS streamgage on the Yellowstone River has a pipeline snapshot of 13,200 cubic feet per second — 350% of the long-term mean of 3,768.97 cfs. This is well above typical — often a signal of recent precipitation or storm runoff. For the latest gauge feed, visit waterdata.usgs.gov.
How does Park County water compare to the Montana average?
Park County's SDWIS water quality score of 47.9/100 is lower than the Montana state average of 48.9. The average water quality grade across Montana is D, based on data from 55 counties with available SDWIS data.
Is tap water safe to drink in Park County?
Based on EPA SDWIS data, Park County has a water quality grade of D (47.9/100). 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 Park County have clean drinking water?
Park County has 2 health-based drinking water violations according to EPA records. With a water quality score of 47.9/100 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 Park County rank for water quality in Montana?
Park County ranks #27 out of 55 counties in Montana by SDWIS water quality score (1 = best). With a score of 47.9/100, 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

Yellowstone County

Montana

D

42.1

Water score

Cascade County

Montana

C

54.3

Water score

Gallatin County

Montana

C

54.3

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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