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County water report

Albemarle County Water Report

Drinking-water compliance, watershed health, monitoring records, and river conditions for Albemarle County, Virginia.

Water grade

A

Water score

86.0

State rank

#1

of 95

Health violations

0

EPA SDWIS, 5-year lookback

Watershed impaired

33.6%

229 water bodies assessed

Monitoring sites

63

13,955 recent measurements

Live streamflow

33%

JAMES RIVER AT SCOTTSVILLE, VA

Water at a glance

Key Water Indicators for Albemarle County

EPA SDWIS

Safety Grade

A

Score: 86.0 / 100

EPA SDWIS

Active Violations

0

5-year health-based lookback

EPA ATTAINS

Watershed Health

34% impaired

229 bodies assessed

USGS NWIS

Streamflow Snapshot

33% of mean

JAMES RIVER AT SCOTTSVILLE, VA

EPA WQP

Monitoring Sites

63

13,955 recent readings

Source: EPA SDWIS · Safe Drinking Water Information System

Drinking Water Compliance

Compliance grade

A

Based on EPA SDWIS compliance history.

Water score

Higher scores indicate cleaner recent compliance records.

86.0/100

Health violations

0

Health-based violations

Violations per 100K served

0.0

Population-normalized SDWIS rate

Editorial analysis

Understanding Albemarle County’s Water

Drinking Water Quality Overview

EPA SDWIS

Albemarle County earns an A grade for drinking water quality, scoring 86.0 out of 100. EPA's Safe Drinking Water Information System (SDWIS) records zero health-based violations over the past five years — a strong compliance signal for a large county.

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). A substantial 33.6% of assessed waterways are impaired (77 of 229 water bodies) across Albemarle County's watersheds. The leading impairment causes are benthic macroinvertebrates bioassessments and escherichia coli (e. coli). 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 JAMES RIVER at 1.8k cfs — well below its long-term average at 33% 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. Albemarle County has extensive coverage with 63 active monitoring sites with 13,955 recent measurements on record. Predominant monitoring categories include physical and nutrient. 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 Albemarle County

Water Verdict

Albemarle County, Virginia receives an excellent water quality assessment with a grade of A and a score of 86.0 out of 100. The water supply meets or exceeds federal safety standards, and residents can generally drink tap water with confidence. Separately, EPA ATTAINS assessments cover 229 water bodies in the county's watershed, with 33.6% listed as impaired under the Clean Water Act — a source-water measure that is tracked independently of tap-water compliance. At the most recent USGS reading, local streamflow was below its historical mean at 33.4% — worth watching in drier seasons.

Violation Context

EPA SDWIS records for Albemarle County, Virginia show zero health-based violations, indicating that the county's water systems met all federal safety standards during the reporting period. The violation rate is zero per 100,000 people served, which is the best possible outcome. This compliance record sits alongside an unusually deep monitoring archive: 13,955 water-quality results have been logged across the county in the EPA Water Quality Portal over the past five years.

Consumer Guidance

The EPA compliance record for Albemarle County shows no recent health-based violations. No health-based violations have been recorded, placing Albemarle County in the top tier for drinking-water safety. Albemarle County's drinking-water compliance score is 86.0 out of 100. As a routine precaution, requesting your utility's annual Consumer Confidence Report each July gives you a full list of detected contaminants and their treatment levels. With 63 active water-quality monitoring sites in Albemarle County, data coverage is strong. A pipeline streamflow snapshot from the JAMES RIVER gauge is also available on this page.

Regional Context

Albemarle County has better water quality than the average county in Virginia. Its water score is 28.3 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 Albemarle County's water environment

Watershed Impairment Causes (EPA ATTAINS)

  • 1

    Benthic Macroinvertebrates Bioassessments

    Impairment cause per EPA Clean Water Act §303(d) assessment

  • 2

    E. coli (bacteria)

    Impairment cause per EPA Clean Water Act §303(d) assessment

  • 3

    Pcbs in Fish Tissue

    Impairment cause per EPA Clean Water Act §303(d) assessment

Source: EPA ATTAINS · Reporting cycle 2022

Official EPA Resources for Albemarle County

EPA How's My Waterway

Interactive watershed health data for Albemarle County

EPA ECHO: Drinking Water Systems

Search water utilities and violation records for Albemarle County

Consumer Confidence Reports (VA)

Annual water quality reports from utilities in Virginia

Clean Water Act §303(d)

Watershed Health

Impaired Water Bodies

33.6%

77 of 229 assessed

Moderate concern

Top Impairment Causes

  • 1

    BENTHIC MACROINVERTEBRATES BIOASSESSMENTS

  • 2

    ESCHERICHIA COLI (E. COLI)

  • 3

    PCBS IN FISH TISSUE

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

63

Active in the past 5 years

Measurements Recorded

14K

13,955 total readings

Most Measured

  • Physical
  • Nutrient
  • Microbiological

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

1,770cfs

May 14, 6:15 PM UTC

vs Long-Term Average

33%

Well below typical

Primary Streamgage

JAMES RIVER AT SCOTTSVILLE, VA

USGS site
02029000
Drainage area
4,581 sq mi
Long-term mean
5,305 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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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 Albemarle 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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Albemarle County has good water quality

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Frequently Asked Questions

What is the water quality in Albemarle County, Virginia?
Albemarle County, Virginia has a drinking-water quality grade of A with a score of 86.0/100, based on EPA SDWIS compliance data. The county has 0 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 Albemarle County?
Albemarle County has 0 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). Zero violations is an excellent record indicating consistent compliance with federal drinking water standards.
How healthy are the watersheds in Albemarle County?
EPA ATTAINS assessments under Clean Water Act §303(d) indicate 33.6% of Albemarle County's 229 assessed water bodies are classified as impaired (77 impaired). The top reported causes are BENTHIC MACROINVERTEBRATES BIOASSESSMENTS, ESCHERICHIA COLI (E. COLI), PCBS IN FISH TISSUE. 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 Albemarle County?
EPA's Water Quality Portal records 13,955 measurements from 63 monitoring sites in Albemarle County over the past five years. The most frequently measured characteristic groups are Physical, Nutrient, Microbiological. 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 Albemarle County right now?
Albemarle County's primary USGS streamgage on the JAMES RIVER has a pipeline snapshot of 1,770 cubic feet per second — 33% of the long-term mean of 5,304.67 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 Albemarle County water compare to the Virginia average?
Albemarle County's SDWIS water quality score of 86.0/100 is higher than the Virginia state average of 57.7. The average water quality grade across Virginia is D, based on data from 95 counties with available SDWIS data.
Is tap water safe to drink in Albemarle County?
Based on EPA SDWIS data, Albemarle County has a water quality grade of A (86.0/100). This indicates good to excellent water quality with strong SDWIS compliance. 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 Albemarle County have clean drinking water?
Albemarle County has 0 health-based drinking water violations according to EPA records. With a water quality score of 86.0/100 and grade A, the county's drinking water meets EPA standards with no recorded health violations. 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 Albemarle County rank for water quality in Virginia?
Albemarle County ranks #1 out of 95 counties in Virginia by SDWIS water quality score (1 = best). With a score of 86.0/100, 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

Amelia County

Virginia

A

86.0

Water score

Appomattox County

Virginia

A

86.0

Water score

Arlington County

Virginia

A

86.0

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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