County water report

Taylor County Water Report

Drinking-water compliance, watershed health, monitoring records, and river conditions for Taylor County, Texas.

Water grade

Water score

44.4

State rank

#76

of 254

Health violations

EPA SDWIS, 5-year lookback

Watershed impaired

Not reported

EPA ATTAINS coverage varies by state

Monitoring sites

1,057 recent measurements

Live streamflow

Elm Ck at Abilene, TX

Water at a glance

Key Water Indicators for Taylor County

EPA SDWIS

Safety Grade

Score: 44.4 / 100

EPA SDWIS

Active Violations

5-year health-based lookback

EPA ATTAINS

Watershed Health

Not reported

Coverage varies by state

USGS NWIS

Streamflow Snapshot

0% of mean

Elm Ck at Abilene, TX

EPA WQP

Monitoring Sites

1,057 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.

44.4/100

Health violations

Health-based violations

Violations per 100K served

24.8

Population-normalized SDWIS rate

Data center water stress

Taylor County has 1 facility in the DCWSI dataset.

ByCounty's DCWSI ranks this county #1727 nationally by combining its water score with mapped data center density.

DCWSI

26.6

0-100 index

Facility count

0.0 density percentile

Discharge estimate

Not reported

EPA CWA fields where available

Water vs median

-5.6

Compared with US county median

Mapped facilities

LONGHORN DATA CENTER
ABILENE
EPA ECHO

See the Taylor County data-center report Review methodology

Data Center Water Budget Calculator

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

Facility size: 100 MW

1 MW1,000 MW

Cooling type

Utilization: 70%

40%100%

799K gallons/dayHigh Impact

Your facility would use 781.9% of this county's industrial water baseline. Verify water rights and long-term drought projections before committing.

781.9% of county industrial baseline

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 Taylor County’s Water

Drinking Water Quality Overview

EPA SDWIS

Taylor County's drinking water received a D grade, scoring 44.4 out of 100. Over the past five years, EPA SDWIS records 41 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 2026-05-14T13:00:00.000-05:00) puts Elm Ck at 0.0 cfs — well below its long-term average at 0% 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. Taylor County has limited coverage with 3 active monitoring sites with 1,057 recent measurements on record. Predominant monitoring categories include physical and inorganics, major, non-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 Taylor County

Water Verdict

Taylor County, Texas receives a below-average water quality assessment with a grade of D and a score of 44.4 out of 100. Residents should review their utility's Consumer Confidence Report and may want to consider additional water filtration for drinking. The county's primary USGS gauge drains roughly 422 square miles of upstream watershed, giving local source waters a regional footprint. At the most recent USGS reading, local streamflow was below its historical mean at 0.2% — worth watching in drier seasons.

Violation Context

EPA SDWIS records for Taylor County, Texas show 41 health-based violations, indicating multiple instances where federal contaminant limits or treatment requirements were not met. At 24.8 violations per 100,000 people served, this rate is high and signals significant water quality management issues. For independent context, 1,057 water-quality monitoring results have been recorded across the county in the EPA Water Quality Portal over the past five years.

Consumer Guidance

Taylor County's drinking-water compliance is below average with a Grade D, indicating repeated or unresolved violations in the recent record. Taylor County's drinking-water compliance score is 44.4 out of 100. The violation rate for Taylor County is 24.8 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 Taylor County. A pipeline streamflow snapshot from the Elm Ck gauge is also available on this page.

Regional Context

Taylor County has better water quality than the average county in Texas. Its water score is 14 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 Taylor County's water environment

Official EPA Resources for Taylor County

EPA How's My Waterway

Interactive watershed health data for Taylor County

EPA ECHO: Drinking Water Systems

Search water utilities and violation records for Taylor County

Consumer Confidence Reports (TX)

Annual water quality reports from utilities in Texas

Past 5 years

Water Quality Monitoring

Monitoring Sites

Active in the past 5 years

Measurements Recorded

1.1K

1,057 total readings

Most Measured

Physical
Inorganics, Major, Non-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

0.04cfs

May 14, 6:00 PM UTC

vs Long-Term Average

Well below typical

Primary Streamgage

Elm Ck at Abilene, TX

USGS site: 08083430
Drainage area: 422 sq mi
Long-term mean: 19.2 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 Taylor 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 Taylor County, Texas?

Taylor County, Texas has a drinking-water quality grade of D with a score of 44.4/100, based on EPA SDWIS compliance data. The county has 41 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 Taylor County?

Taylor County has 41 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 Taylor County?

EPA's Water Quality Portal records 1,057 measurements from 3 monitoring sites in Taylor County over the past five years. The most frequently measured characteristic groups are Physical, Inorganics, Major, Non-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 Taylor County right now?

Taylor County's primary USGS streamgage on the Elm Ck has a pipeline snapshot of 0.04 cubic feet per second — 0% of the long-term mean of 19.19 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 Taylor County water compare to the Texas average?

Taylor County's SDWIS water quality score of 44.4/100 is higher than the Texas state average of 30.4. The average water quality grade across Texas is F, based on data from 254 counties with available SDWIS data.

Is tap water safe to drink in Taylor County?

Based on EPA SDWIS data, Taylor County has a water quality grade of D (44.4/100). 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).

Why does Taylor County have so many water violations?

Taylor County has 41 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 Taylor County rank for water quality in Texas?

Taylor County ranks #76 out of 254 counties in Texas by SDWIS water quality score (1 = best). With a score of 44.4/100, 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

Bastrop County

Texas

44.0

Water score

Jackson County

Texas

44.8

Water score

Liberty County

Texas

43.9

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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