To find out whether PFAS have been detected in your drinking water, check your water provider’s latest Consumer Confidence Report (CCR), search the provider in EPA’s UCMR 5 Data Finder, and contact the utility about any missing details. For a private well—or a result from your own household tap—request testing from a state-certified drinking-water laboratory that uses EPA-developed PFAS methods. Public-system records are useful, but they do not show that every household tap was tested.
How do I know if there are PFAS in my public water?
- Identify your water provider. Check a water bill, ask your landlord, or contact the local public works department if you are unsure which system serves your address.
- Find the latest CCR. The EPA’s Consumer Confidence Report information explains these annual drinking-water quality reports and provides a finder. Search the report for PFAS names such as PFOA, PFOS, PFHxS, PFNA, and GenX (HFPO-DA). Reports may present monitoring results in different ways, so a search that finds nothing is not conclusive.
- Search EPA’s UCMR 5 Data Finder. Use the UCMR 5 occurrence data and Data Finder to look up your public water system and filter by state or contaminant. EPA released the final dataset in August 2026.
- Ask the utility what the records do not tell you. EPA recommends contacting your local water utility for information about what contaminants may be present, whether it monitors for PFAS, the levels found, and any actions being taken. Ask which PFAS were tested, the results and units, the reporting limits, whether additional tests are planned, and what the utility is doing about detections. EPA’s UCMR 5 questions and answers describe notification requirements.
UCMR 5 required monitoring for 29 PFAS and lithium from 2023 through 2025. It applied to specified public water systems, including all qualifying systems serving 3,300 or more people and a representative sample of smaller systems. Community water systems must notify customers of UCMR results within 12 months after the system knows them. These are system-level monitoring results—not a test of every home tap or a guarantee that a past result describes current water indefinitely.
How do I test my well water or get a household-specific result?
- Ask your state environmental or health agency for guidance. Request its list of certified drinking-water laboratories and ask whether it has PFAS-specific instructions. EPA’s private-well guidance also points well owners toward certified laboratories.
- Confirm the lab and method before ordering. EPA advises using a state-certified laboratory with EPA-developed testing methods. Ask which PFAS compounds are included, the reporting limits, whether the lab supplies the sample container, and the cost and turnaround time. A kit is only as useful as the laboratory analysis behind it; do not treat an unverified home strip as a substitute.
- Follow the lab’s sampling instructions exactly. Use its specified container and directions for collection, preservation, shipping, and timing. Ask how to avoid contaminating the sample. Do not improvise, because collection and handling can affect the result.
- Keep the report with its context. Record the sample location and date and retain the laboratory report. A sample from a specific tap or well answers a different question from a result for the public water system as a whole.
- Ask for help interpreting a detection. If PFAS are reported, discuss the listed compounds and concentrations with the laboratory and your state or local health agency. Consult current EPA or state standards and guidance rather than treating an old result or a generic “passed” label as a personal health assessment.
How should I read a PFAS result?
Read the result compound by compound. Check the exact analyte, concentration and units, reporting limit, laboratory method, sample location, and date. A result reported below a method’s reporting limit does not prove that the compound is completely absent; it means the lab did not report a concentration at or above that limit using that method.
UCMR 5 minimum reporting levels describe laboratory reporting capability; EPA says they are not health-based thresholds. Do not confuse three different things: a monitoring result for a public water system, the system’s compliance status under an applicable rule, and a laboratory test of water from one household tap or well. For health implications, use current EPA or state information and consult an appropriate public-health professional.
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What if the report or database has no result?
Treat a blank entry as missing information, not proof of zero PFAS. UCMR 5 monitoring covered specified systems and a defined 2023–2025 period; it did not test every public system, every compound in existence, or every home tap. Contact the utility to ask what was monitored and whether it has newer information. If you need to know about your own well or tap, arrange a suitable test through a state-certified laboratory.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Should I buy a PFAS test kit or a filter?
If you choose a commercial sample-and-analysis kit, verify that the laboratory performing the analysis is state-certified for drinking-water testing and uses EPA-developed methods. Compare the compounds in its panel, reporting limits, sampling instructions, turnaround, and cost. Do not assume a kit is accurate simply because it is marketed for PFAS, or that EPA has approved a particular product.
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If a result leads you to explore treatment, EPA advises considering an in-home treatment system or filtered pitcher certified to lower PFAS. EPA’s private-well fact sheet notes that, as of April 2024, filter certification standards did not indicate that filters would remove PFAS down to the levels EPA had set for a drinking-water standard. Check current certifications and compound-specific performance claims before choosing a product; a generic “PFAS removal” label does not establish performance for every compound or concentration.
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