Arkansas Tap Water Quality Report

Drinking water quality in Arkansas is widely considered to be above the national average, maintaining an impressive composite safety score of 76.4/100 across its 706 monitored ZIP codes. Based on the latest records from the EPA's Safe Drinking Water Information System (SDWIS), a remarkable 37% of ZIP codes in Arkansas have earned an "A" grade. This reflects strong regulatory compliance, robust municipal water treatment infrastructure, and generally low levels of detected health-based contaminants across most communities in the state.

The state's water infrastructure has experienced significant compliance hurdles recently, logging a staggering 606 health-based violations over the past 5-year monitoring window out of 1,738 total violations. When a state registers this volume of health-based violations, it often points to systemic challenges such as aging distribution networks, agricultural runoff affecting groundwater, or underfunded rural water systems. Arkansas Department of Health is responsible for enforcing corrective actions and penalizing systems that repeatedly fail to meet safe drinking water standards.

One of the most pressing concerns for Arkansas residents is the elevated risk of lead exposure. EPA models and historical monitoring indicate that 43.6% of ZIP codes in Arkansas are classified as High or Very High risk for lead. This is frequently associated with older housing stock built before the 1986 federal ban on lead pipes and solder. Residents living in older homes should strongly consider having their tap water independently tested and utilizing a certified NSF/ANSI 53 water filter for drinking and cooking.