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Federal water data

County water report

Caldwell County Water Report

Drinking-water compliance, watershed health, monitoring records, and river conditions for Caldwell County, North Carolina.

Water grade

C

Water score

57.7

State rank

#37

of 100

Health violations

6

EPA SDWIS, 5-year lookback

Watershed impaired

Not reported

EPA ATTAINS coverage varies by state

Monitoring sites

11

7,174 recent measurements

Live streamflow

20%

UPPER LITTLE R AT SR1740 AT PETRA MILLS, NC

Water at a glance

Key Water Indicators for Caldwell County

EPA SDWIS

Safety Grade

C

Score: 57.7 / 100

EPA SDWIS

Active Violations

6

5-year health-based lookback

EPA ATTAINS

Watershed Health

Not reported

Coverage varies by state

USGS NWIS

Streamflow Snapshot

20% of mean

UPPER LITTLE R AT SR1740 AT PETRA MILLS, NC

EPA WQP

Monitoring Sites

11

7,174 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.

57.7/100

Health violations

6

Health-based violations

Violations per 100K served

8.3

Population-normalized SDWIS rate

Data center water stress

Caldwell County has 2 facilities in the DCWSI dataset.

ByCounty's DCWSI ranks this county #149 nationally by combining its water score with mapped data center density.

DCWSIThe Data Center Water Stress Index: 60% the county's water-system stress plus 40% how concentrated data centers already are, scored 0-100. Higher means data-center density and water pressure overlap more here.

52.6

0-100 index

Facility count

2

45.0 density percentile

Discharge estimate

Not reported

EPA CWA fields where available

Water vs median

+7.7

Compared with US county median

Named operators

Google

Mapped facilities

  • Google Data Center

    Google

    OSM

  • TAPAHA DYNAMICS LLC

    LENOIR

    EPA ECHO
See the Caldwell County data-center reportReview methodology

Data Center Water Budget Calculator

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

1 MW1,000 MW
40%100%
799K gallons/dayHigh Impact

Your facility would use 16.3% of this county's industrial water baseline. Verify water rights and long-term drought projections before committing.

16.3% of county industrial baseline4.11 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 Caldwell County’s Water

Drinking Water Quality Overview

EPA SDWIS

Caldwell County's drinking water earned a C grade, scoring 57.7 out of 100. Over the past five years, EPA SDWIS records 6 health-based violations — a pattern that public water utilities are required to disclose and correct.

River & Streamflow Status

USGS NWIS

USGS NWIS gauge data (as of 2026-05-14T15:00:00.000-04:00) puts UPPER LITTLE R at 10.7 cfs — well below its long-term average at 20% 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. Caldwell County has moderate coverage with 11 active monitoring sites with 7,174 recent measurements on record. Predominant monitoring categories include organics, other and organics, pesticide. 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 Caldwell County

Water Verdict

Caldwell County receives a fair water quality assessment with a grade of C and a score of 57.7 out of 100. The water supply meets baseline federal standards, but there may be periods of elevated contaminant levels or infrastructure concerns worth monitoring.

Violation Context

Caldwell County has recorded 6 health-based violations, indicating multiple instances where federal contaminant limits or treatment requirements were not met. At 8.3 violations per 100,000 people served, this rate is high and signals significant water quality management issues.

Consumer Guidance

Tap water in Caldwell County meets baseline standards but the compliance record shows room for improvement, with a Grade C rating. Caldwell County's drinking-water compliance score is 57.7 out of 100. The violation rate for Caldwell County is 8.3 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. With 11 active water-quality monitoring sites in Caldwell County, data coverage is strong. A pipeline streamflow snapshot from the UPPER LITTLE R gauge is also available on this page.

Regional Context

Caldwell County has water quality close to the average county in North Carolina. Its water score is within 4.7 points of the state average, meaning its overall water system performance is broadly representative of North Carolina 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 Caldwell County's water environment

Official EPA Resources for Caldwell County

EPA How's My Waterway

Interactive watershed health data for Caldwell County

EPA ECHO: Drinking Water Systems

Search water utilities and violation records for Caldwell County

Consumer Confidence Reports (NC)

Annual water quality reports from utilities in North Carolina

Past 5 years

Water Quality Monitoring

Monitoring Sites

11

Active in the past 5 years

Measurements Recorded

7.2K

7,174 total readings

Most Measured

  • Organics, Other
  • Organics, Pesticide
  • Inorganics, Minor, 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

10.7cfs

May 14, 7:00 PM UTC

vs Long-Term Average

20%

Well below typical

Primary Streamgage

UPPER LITTLE R AT SR1740 AT PETRA MILLS, NC

USGS site
0214183365
Drainage area
33.9 sq mi
Long-term mean
53.7 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

3

3 people  ·  ~225 gal/day

Annual Total

$558

Monthly

$47

Water Bill

$558/yr

Filter Cost

$0/yr

Safety Grade for Caldwell County:D — Poor

Elevated violations or significant watershed impairment.

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 Caldwell County, North Carolina?
Caldwell County, North Carolina has a drinking-water quality grade of C with a score of 57.7/100, based on EPA SDWIS compliance data. The county has 6 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 Caldwell County?
Caldwell County has 6 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 much water-quality monitoring happens in Caldwell County?
EPA's Water Quality Portal records 7,174 measurements from 11 monitoring sites in Caldwell County over the past five years. The most frequently measured characteristic groups are Organics, Other, Organics, Pesticide, Inorganics, Minor, 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 Caldwell County right now?
Caldwell County's primary USGS streamgage on the UPPER LITTLE R has a pipeline snapshot of 10.7 cubic feet per second — 20% of the long-term mean of 53.68 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 Caldwell County water compare to the North Carolina average?
Caldwell County's SDWIS water quality score of 57.7/100 is higher than the North Carolina state average of 53.0. The average water quality grade across North Carolina is D, based on data from 100 counties with available SDWIS data.
Is tap water safe to drink in Caldwell County?
Based on EPA SDWIS data, Caldwell County has a water quality grade of C (57.7/100). 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 Caldwell County have so many water violations?
Caldwell County has 6 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 Caldwell County rank for water quality in North Carolina?
Caldwell County ranks #37 out of 100 counties in North Carolina by SDWIS water quality score (1 = best). With a score of 57.7/100, 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

Surry County

North Carolina

C

57.5

Water score

Cleveland County

North Carolina

C

58.5

Water score

Halifax County

North Carolina

C

56.6

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.

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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