County water report

Calumet County Water Report

Drinking-water compliance, watershed health, monitoring records, and river conditions for Calumet County, Wisconsin.

Water grade

Water score

45.5

State rank

#27

of 71

Health violations

EPA SDWIS, 5-year lookback

Watershed impaired

25.0%

104 water bodies assessed

Monitoring sites

26,118 recent measurements

Live streamflow

No gauge

Primary USGS station not mapped

Water at a glance

Key Water Indicators for Calumet County

EPA SDWIS

Safety Grade

Score: 45.5 / 100

EPA SDWIS

Active Violations

5-year health-based lookback

EPA ATTAINS

Watershed Health

25% impaired

104 bodies assessed

USGS NWIS

Streamflow Snapshot

No gauge

Primary USGS gauge not mapped

EPA WQP

Monitoring Sites

26,118 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.

45.5/100

Health violations

Health-based violations

Violations per 100K served

23.1

Population-normalized SDWIS rate

Data center water stress

Calumet County has 1 facility in the DCWSI dataset.

ByCounty's DCWSI ranks this county #1694 nationally by combining its water score with mapped data center density.

DCWSI

27.3

0-100 index

Facility count

0.0 density percentile

Discharge estimate

Not reported

EPA CWA fields where available

Water vs median

-4.5

Compared with US county median

Named operators

Involta

Mapped facilities

OpenStreetMap data center 766768556
Involta
OSM

See the Calumet County data-center report Review methodology

Data Center Water Budget Calculator

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

Facility size: 100 MW

1 MW1,000 MW

Cooling type

Utilization: 70%

40%100%

799K gallons/dayHigh Impact

Your facility would use 104.9% of this county's industrial water baseline. Verify water rights and long-term drought projections before committing.

104.9% 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 Calumet County’s Water

Drinking Water Quality Overview

EPA SDWIS

Calumet County's drinking water received a D grade, scoring 45.5 out of 100. Over the past five years, EPA SDWIS records 5 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). A notable 25.0% of assessed waterways carry an impairment designation (26 of 104 water bodies) across Calumet County's watersheds. The leading impairment causes are phosphorus, total and total suspended solids (tss). Impairment does not mean tap water is unsafe — it measures ambient waterway conditions upstream of treatment, not finished drinking water.

Monitoring Network

EPA WQP

EPA's Water Quality Portal (WQP) aggregates monitoring data from federal, state, and tribal agencies. Calumet County has moderate coverage with 21 active monitoring sites with 26,118 recent measurements on record. Predominant monitoring categories include physical 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 Calumet County

Water Verdict

Calumet County receives a below-average water quality assessment with a grade of D and a score of 45.5 out of 100. Residents should review their utility's Consumer Confidence Report and may want to consider additional water filtration for drinking.

Violation Context

Calumet County has recorded 5 health-based violations, indicating multiple instances where federal contaminant limits or treatment requirements were not met. At 23.1 violations per 100,000 people served, this rate is high and signals significant water quality management issues.

Consumer Guidance

Calumet County's drinking-water compliance is below average with a Grade D, indicating repeated or unresolved violations in the recent record. Calumet County's drinking-water compliance score is 45.5 out of 100. The violation rate for Calumet County is 23.1 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. Phosphorus, Total is the leading impairment cause in Calumet County's watershed. With 21 active water-quality monitoring sites in Calumet County, data coverage is strong.

Regional Context

Calumet County has better water quality than the average county in Wisconsin. Its water score is 6 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 Calumet County's water environment

Watershed Impairment Causes (EPA ATTAINS)

1
Phosphorus (excess nutrients)
Impairment cause per EPA Clean Water Act §303(d) assessment
2
Total Suspended Solids (Tss)
Impairment cause per EPA Clean Water Act §303(d) assessment
3
Polychlorinated Biphenyls (Pcbs)
Impairment cause per EPA Clean Water Act §303(d) assessment

Source: EPA ATTAINS · Reporting cycle 2022

Official EPA Resources for Calumet County

EPA How's My Waterway

Interactive watershed health data for Calumet County

EPA ECHO: Drinking Water Systems

Search water utilities and violation records for Calumet County

Consumer Confidence Reports (WI)

Annual water quality reports from utilities in Wisconsin

Clean Water Act §303(d)

Watershed Health

Impaired Water Bodies

25.0%

26 of 104 assessed

Some impairment

Top Impairment Causes

1
PHOSPHORUS, TOTAL
2
TOTAL SUSPENDED SOLIDS (TSS)
3
POLYCHLORINATED BIPHENYLS (PCBS)

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

Active in the past 5 years

Measurements Recorded

26K

26,118 total readings

Most Measured

Physical
Organics, Pesticide
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).

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 Calumet 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.

Try the full calculator →

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Frequently Asked Questions

What is the water quality in Calumet County, Wisconsin?

Calumet County, Wisconsin has a drinking-water quality grade of D with a score of 45.5/100, based on EPA SDWIS compliance data. The county has 5 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 Calumet County?

Calumet County has 5 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 Calumet County?

EPA ATTAINS assessments under Clean Water Act §303(d) indicate 25.0% of Calumet County's 104 assessed water bodies are classified as impaired (26 impaired). The top reported causes are PHOSPHORUS, TOTAL, TOTAL SUSPENDED SOLIDS (TSS), POLYCHLORINATED BIPHENYLS (PCBS). 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 Calumet County?

EPA's Water Quality Portal records 26,118 measurements from 21 monitoring sites in Calumet County over the past five years. The most frequently measured characteristic groups are Physical, Organics, Pesticide, 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.

How does Calumet County water compare to the Wisconsin average?

Calumet County's SDWIS water quality score of 45.5/100 is higher than the Wisconsin state average of 39.5. The average water quality grade across Wisconsin is F, based on data from 71 counties with available SDWIS data.

Is tap water safe to drink in Calumet County?

Based on EPA SDWIS data, Calumet County has a water quality grade of D (45.5/100). 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).

Does Calumet County have clean drinking water?

Calumet County has 5 health-based drinking water violations according to EPA records. With a water quality score of 45.5/100 and grade D, the county's drinking water has had some compliance issues but continues to be monitored. 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 Calumet County rank for water quality in Wisconsin?

Calumet County ranks #27 out of 71 counties in Wisconsin by SDWIS water quality score (1 = best). With a score of 45.5/100, 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

Ozaukee County

Wisconsin

45.2

Water score

Barron County

Wisconsin

45.1

Water score

Kewaunee County

Wisconsin

45.9

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.

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.

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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