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County water report

Butler County Water Report

Drinking-water compliance, watershed health, monitoring records, and river conditions for Butler County, Pennsylvania.

Water grade

C

Water score

51.2

State rank

#18

of 67

Health violations

20

EPA SDWIS, 5-year lookback

Watershed impaired

0.0%

26,611 water bodies assessed

Monitoring sites

9

2,725 recent measurements

Live streamflow

148%

Muddy Creek near Portersville, PA

Water at a glance

Key Water Indicators for Butler County

EPA SDWIS

Safety Grade

C

Score: 51.2 / 100

EPA SDWIS

Active Violations

20

5-year health-based lookback

EPA ATTAINS

Watershed Health

0% impaired

26,611 bodies assessed

USGS NWIS

Streamflow Snapshot

148% of mean

Muddy Creek near Portersville, PA

EPA WQP

Monitoring Sites

9

2,725 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.

51.2/100

Health violations

20

Health-based violations

Violations per 100K served

14.5

Population-normalized SDWIS rate

Editorial analysis

Understanding Butler County’s Water

Drinking Water Quality Overview

EPA SDWIS

Butler County's drinking water earned a C grade, scoring 51.2 out of 100. Over the past five years, EPA SDWIS records 20 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). None of the assessed waterways are listed as impaired (0 of 26,611 water bodies) across Butler 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 2026-05-14T14:15:00.000-04:00) puts Muddy Creek at 104.0 cfs — flowing above its historical average at 148% of mean. 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. Butler County has limited coverage with 9 active monitoring sites with 2,725 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 Butler County

Water Verdict

Butler County, Pennsylvania receives a below-average water quality assessment with a grade of C and a score of 51.2 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 26,611 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 148.4%.

Violation Context

EPA SDWIS records for Butler County, Pennsylvania show 20 health-based violations, indicating multiple instances where federal contaminant limits or treatment requirements were not met. At 14.5 violations per 100,000 people served, this rate is high and signals significant water quality management issues. For independent context, 2,725 water-quality monitoring results have been recorded across the county in the EPA Water Quality Portal over the past five years.

Consumer Guidance

Tap water in Butler County meets baseline standards but the compliance record shows room for improvement, with a Grade C rating. Butler County's drinking-water compliance score is 51.2 out of 100. The violation rate for Butler County is 14.5 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. There are 9 active water-quality monitoring sites in Butler County. A pipeline streamflow snapshot from the Muddy Creek gauge is also available on this page.

Regional Context

Butler County has better water quality than the average county in Pennsylvania. Its water score is 12.3 points higher than the state average, indicating stronger water system performance relative to 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 Butler County's water environment

Official EPA Resources for Butler County

EPA How's My Waterway

Interactive watershed health data for Butler County

EPA ECHO: Drinking Water Systems

Search water utilities and violation records for Butler County

Consumer Confidence Reports (PA)

Annual water quality reports from utilities in Pennsylvania

Clean Water Act §303(d)

Watershed Health

Impaired Water Bodies

0.0%

0 of 26,611 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

9

Active in the past 5 years

Measurements Recorded

2.7K

2,725 total readings

Most Measured

  • Physical
  • Inorganics, Minor, Metals
  • Nutrient

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

104cfs

May 14, 6:15 PM UTC

vs Long-Term Average

148%

Well above typical

Primary Streamgage

Muddy Creek near Portersville, PA

USGS site
03106300
Drainage area
51.5 sq mi
Long-term mean
70.1 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

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Annual Total

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Monthly

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Water Bill

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Filter Cost

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Safety Grade for Butler 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 Butler County, Pennsylvania?
Butler County, Pennsylvania has a drinking-water quality grade of C with a score of 51.2/100, based on EPA SDWIS compliance data. The county has 20 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 Butler County?
Butler County has 20 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 Butler County?
EPA ATTAINS assessments under Clean Water Act §303(d) indicate 0.0% of Butler County's 26,611 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 Butler County?
EPA's Water Quality Portal records 2,725 measurements from 9 monitoring sites in Butler County over the past five years. The most frequently measured characteristic groups are Physical, Inorganics, Minor, Metals, Nutrient. 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 Butler County right now?
Butler County's primary USGS streamgage on the Muddy Creek has a pipeline snapshot of 104 cubic feet per second — 148% of the long-term mean of 70.07 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 Butler County water compare to the Pennsylvania average?
Butler County's SDWIS water quality score of 51.2/100 is higher than the Pennsylvania state average of 38.9. The average water quality grade across Pennsylvania is F, based on data from 67 counties with available SDWIS data.
Is tap water safe to drink in Butler County?
Based on EPA SDWIS data, Butler County has a water quality grade of C (51.2/100). 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 Butler County have so many water violations?
Butler County has 20 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 Butler County rank for water quality in Pennsylvania?
Butler County ranks #18 out of 67 counties in Pennsylvania by SDWIS water quality score (1 = best). With a score of 51.2/100, it falls in the top 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

Mifflin County

Pennsylvania

C

51.5

Water score

Northampton County

Pennsylvania

C

51.8

Water score

Berks County

Pennsylvania

C

52.0

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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