County water report

Dodge County Water Report

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

Water grade

Water score

31.9

State rank

#46

of 71

Health violations

EPA SDWIS, 5-year lookback

Watershed impaired

13.1%

413 water bodies assessed

Monitoring sites

13,863 recent measurements

Live streamflow

No gauge

ROCK RIVER NEAR LEBANON, WI

Water at a glance

Key Water Indicators for Dodge County

EPA SDWIS

Safety Grade

Score: 31.9 / 100

EPA SDWIS

Active Violations

5-year health-based lookback

EPA ATTAINS

Watershed Health

13% impaired

413 bodies assessed

USGS NWIS

Streamflow Snapshot

No gauge

ROCK RIVER NEAR LEBANON, WI

EPA WQP

Monitoring Sites

13,863 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.

31.9/100

Health violations

Health-based violations

Violations per 100K served

57.5

Population-normalized SDWIS rate

Data center water stress

Dodge County has 1 facility in the DCWSI dataset.

ByCounty's DCWSI ranks this county #2096 nationally by combining its water score with mapped data center density.

DCWSI

19.1

0-100 index

Facility count

0.0 density percentile

Discharge estimate

Not reported

EPA CWA fields where available

Water vs median

-18.1

Compared with US county median

Named operators

Data Center Water Budget Calculator

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

Facility size: 100 MW

1 MW1,000 MW

Cooling type

Utilization: 70%

40%100%

799K gallons/dayHigh Impact

Your facility would use 24.0% of this county's industrial water baseline. Verify water rights and long-term drought projections before committing.

24.0% of county industrial baseline2.53 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 Dodge County’s Water

Drinking Water Quality Overview

EPA SDWIS

Dodge County's water systems carry a failing grade, scoring 31.9 out of 100. Over the past five years, EPA SDWIS records 30 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 13.1% of assessed waterways carry an impairment designation (54 of 413 water bodies) across Dodge 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. Dodge County has extensive coverage with 69 active monitoring sites with 13,863 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 Dodge County

Water Verdict

Dodge County receives a poor water quality assessment with a grade of F and a score of 31.9 out of 100. The water supply has documented quality issues. Residents are strongly encouraged to use filtered or bottled water for drinking and to stay informed about utility improvement plans.

Violation Context

Dodge County has recorded 30 health-based violations, indicating multiple instances where federal contaminant limits or treatment requirements were not met. At 57.5 violations per 100,000 people served, this rate is high and signals significant water quality management issues.

Consumer Guidance

Dodge County has a Grade F compliance record with 30 health-based violations — among the highest levels in the country. Dodge County's drinking-water compliance score is 31.9 out of 100. The violation rate for Dodge County is 57.5 per 100,000 people served. Residents are strongly advised to use a certified NSF 58 reverse-osmosis filter or bottled water for all drinking and cooking until violations are corrected. Contacting the Wisconsin Department of Environmental Quality or Health can expedite utility compliance action. Phosphorus, Total is the leading impairment cause in Dodge County's watershed. With 69 active water-quality monitoring sites in Dodge County, data coverage is strong. A pipeline streamflow snapshot from the ROCK RIVER gauge is also available on this page.

Regional Context

Dodge County has poorer water quality than the average county in Wisconsin. Its water score is 7.6 points lower than the state average, suggesting more challenges with contamination control or infrastructure than 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 Dodge 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
Ammonia, Un-Ionized
Impairment cause per EPA Clean Water Act §303(d) assessment

Source: EPA ATTAINS · Reporting cycle 2022

Official EPA Resources for Dodge County

EPA How's My Waterway

Interactive watershed health data for Dodge County

EPA ECHO: Drinking Water Systems

Search water utilities and violation records for Dodge County

Consumer Confidence Reports (WI)

Annual water quality reports from utilities in Wisconsin

Clean Water Act §303(d)

Watershed Health

Impaired Water Bodies

13.1%

54 of 413 assessed

Some impairment

Top Impairment Causes

1
PHOSPHORUS, TOTAL
2
TOTAL SUSPENDED SOLIDS (TSS)
3
AMMONIA, UN-IONIZED

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

14K

13,863 total readings

Most Measured

Physical
Organics, Pesticide
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

803cfs

May 14, 7:00 PM UTC

vs Long-Term Average

Long-term average not yet available.

Primary Streamgage

ROCK RIVER NEAR LEBANON, WI

USGS site: 05424157
Drainage area: 656 sq mi

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 Dodge 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 →

Improve your water quality at home

Berkey filters remove 99.9%+ of contaminants from tap water.

Shop Berkey →

Test your tap water

Tap Score provides professional mail-in water testing.

Get Tested →

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the water quality in Dodge County, Wisconsin?

Dodge County, Wisconsin has a drinking-water quality grade of F with a score of 31.9/100, based on EPA SDWIS compliance data. The county has 30 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 Dodge County?

Dodge County has 30 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 Dodge County?

EPA ATTAINS assessments under Clean Water Act §303(d) indicate 13.1% of Dodge County's 413 assessed water bodies are classified as impaired (54 impaired). The top reported causes are PHOSPHORUS, TOTAL, TOTAL SUSPENDED SOLIDS (TSS), AMMONIA, UN-IONIZED. 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 Dodge County?

EPA's Water Quality Portal records 13,863 measurements from 69 monitoring sites in Dodge County over the past five years. The most frequently measured characteristic groups are Physical, Organics, Pesticide, 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 Dodge County right now?

Dodge County's primary USGS streamgage on the ROCK RIVER has a pipeline snapshot of 803 cubic feet per second. Flow is within typical range for this gauge. For the latest gauge feed, visit waterdata.usgs.gov.

How does Dodge County water compare to the Wisconsin average?

Dodge County's SDWIS water quality score of 31.9/100 is lower 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 Dodge County?

Based on EPA SDWIS data, Dodge County has a water quality grade of F (31.9/100). 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 Dodge County have so many water violations?

Dodge County has 30 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 Dodge County rank for water quality in Wisconsin?

Dodge County ranks #46 out of 71 counties in Wisconsin by SDWIS water quality score (1 = best). With a score of 31.9/100, 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

Oconto County

Wisconsin

31.7

Water score

Richland County

Wisconsin

32.2

Water score

Washburn County

Wisconsin

31.1

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 May 14, 2026Reviewed by Evan Brooks, Data Editor

Explore more data for Dodge County

Property Tax Cost of Living Crime Rate Income Health Schools Disaster Risk Weather County Score