County water report

Rutherford County Water Report

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

Water grade

Water score

51.8

State rank

#51

of 100

Health violations

EPA SDWIS, 5-year lookback

Watershed impaired

Not reported

EPA ATTAINS coverage varies by state

Monitoring sites

5,254 recent measurements

Live streamflow

27%

SECOND BROAD RIVER NR LOGAN, NC

Water at a glance

Key Water Indicators for Rutherford County

EPA SDWIS

Safety Grade

Score: 51.8 / 100

EPA SDWIS

Active Violations

5-year health-based lookback

EPA ATTAINS

Watershed Health

Not reported

Coverage varies by state

USGS NWIS

Streamflow Snapshot

27% of mean

SECOND BROAD RIVER NR LOGAN, NC

EPA WQP

Monitoring Sites

5,254 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.

51.8/100

Health violations

Health-based violations

Violations per 100K served

14.0

Population-normalized SDWIS rate

Data center water stress

Rutherford County has 6 facilities in the DCWSI dataset.

ByCounty's DCWSI ranks this county #115 nationally by combining its water score with mapped data center density.

DCWSI

61.5

0-100 index

Facility count

76.0 density percentile

Discharge estimate

Not reported

EPA CWA fields where available

Water vs median

+1.8

Compared with US county median

Named operators

Data Center Water Budget Calculator

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

Facility size: 100 MW

1 MW1,000 MW

Cooling type

Utilization: 70%

40%100%

799K gallons/dayHigh Impact

Your facility would use 81.2% of this county's industrial water baseline. Verify water rights and long-term drought projections before committing.

81.2% of county industrial baseline0.18 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 Rutherford County’s Water

Drinking Water Quality Overview

EPA SDWIS

Rutherford County's drinking water earned a C grade, scoring 51.8 out of 100. Over the past five years, EPA SDWIS records 7 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 2026-05-14T14:45:00.000-04:00) puts SECOND BROAD RIVER at 31.0 cfs — well below its long-term average at 27% 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. Rutherford County has moderate coverage with 22 active monitoring sites with 5,254 recent measurements on record. Predominant monitoring categories include organics, other 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 Rutherford County

Water Verdict

Rutherford County receives a below-average water quality assessment with a grade of C and a score of 51.8 out of 100. Residents should review their utility's Consumer Confidence Report and may want to consider additional water filtration for drinking.

Violation Context

Rutherford County has recorded 7 health-based violations, indicating multiple instances where federal contaminant limits or treatment requirements were not met. At 14.0 violations per 100,000 people served, this rate is high and signals significant water quality management issues.

Consumer Guidance

Tap water in Rutherford County meets baseline standards but the compliance record shows room for improvement, with a Grade C rating. Rutherford County's drinking-water compliance score is 51.8 out of 100. The violation rate for Rutherford County is 14.0 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. With 22 active water-quality monitoring sites in Rutherford County, data coverage is strong. A pipeline streamflow snapshot from the SECOND BROAD RIVER gauge is also available on this page.

Regional Context

Rutherford County has water quality close to the average county in North Carolina. Its water score is within 1.2 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 Rutherford County's water environment

Official EPA Resources for Rutherford County

EPA How's My Waterway

Interactive watershed health data for Rutherford County

EPA ECHO: Drinking Water Systems

Search water utilities and violation records for Rutherford County

Consumer Confidence Reports (NC)

Annual water quality reports from utilities in North Carolina

Past 5 years

Water Quality Monitoring

Monitoring Sites

Active in the past 5 years

Measurements Recorded

5.3K

5,254 total readings

Most Measured

Organics, Other
Physical
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

31.0cfs

May 14, 6:45 PM UTC

vs Long-Term Average

27%

Well below typical

Primary Streamgage

SECOND BROAD RIVER NR LOGAN, NC

USGS site: 02150495
Drainage area: 86.2 sq mi
Long-term mean: 115 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 Rutherford 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 Rutherford County, North Carolina?

Rutherford County, North Carolina has a drinking-water quality grade of C with a score of 51.8/100, based on EPA SDWIS compliance data. The county has 7 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 Rutherford County?

Rutherford County has 7 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 Rutherford County?

EPA's Water Quality Portal records 5,254 measurements from 22 monitoring sites in Rutherford County over the past five years. The most frequently measured characteristic groups are Organics, Other, Physical, 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 Rutherford County right now?

Rutherford County's primary USGS streamgage on the SECOND BROAD RIVER has a pipeline snapshot of 31 cubic feet per second — 27% of the long-term mean of 115 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 Rutherford County water compare to the North Carolina average?

Rutherford County's SDWIS water quality score of 51.8/100 is lower 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 Rutherford County?

Based on EPA SDWIS data, Rutherford County has a water quality grade of C (51.8/100). 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 Rutherford County have so many water violations?

Rutherford County has 7 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 Rutherford County rank for water quality in North Carolina?

Rutherford County ranks #51 out of 100 counties in North Carolina by SDWIS water quality score (1 = best). With a score of 51.8/100, 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

Madison County

North Carolina

52.0

Water score

Henderson County

North Carolina

51.5

Water score

Duplin County

North Carolina

51.2

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 May 14, 2026Reviewed by Evan Brooks, Data Editor

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