Short answer: No measured result is above a legal limit; lithium sits above a screening level, and the water is moderately hard. Iowa City Water Department serves 68,753 residents.
This report uses the largest, IOWA CITY WATER DEPARTMENT. Your water bill or annual water quality report names your actual supplier.
Source: EPA SDWIS 2026Q2.
IOWA CITY WATER DEPARTMENT (EPA PWSID IA5225079) delivers surface water to 68,753 residents. This report reflects 29 individual PFAS result(s) from the source UCMR5 observations and the latest Lead & Copper Rule 90th-percentile result. The utility's 2025 CCR reports moderately hard water and chlorine disinfection.
0health-based violations in the last 10 years
From EPA SDWIS. A clean violation history means no enforcement action was recorded; it does not cover contaminants without a limit.
Plumbing inside a home can add lead that the system record can't show. A tap test tells you what reaches your glass.
lead 4 µg/L, below the 15 µg/L action level (detected below the limit); 2,758 lead service lines; 29 galvanized lines to replace (context, not a tap measurement)
Lithium 47 µg/L, above the 10.0 µg/L EPA health reference level
Screening tells you if something is worth a closer look; a lab result is the number you can act on.
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Screening: quick check, not lab-grade
Safe Home (EnviroTestKits)
Lead, read as one of three ranges: 0–4, 5–15 or 15+ ppb
What it can't tell you: It shows a lead range, not an exact level, and tests nothing else unless you pay extra for the optional lab test.
Lab-certified results
ETR Laboratories
50+ substances, including lead, copper, arsenic, nitrate, hardness and coliform bacteria
What it can't tell you: It does not test PFAS, and not every result on the panel falls under the lab's accredited scope.
Each card names which Iowa City findings its current certification covers, and which it doesn't.
As an Amazon Associate, PurityMap earns from qualifying purchases. A product appears here only when a current certification record covers at least one identified concern; every concern stays listed. The retail offer is looked up afterwards and never changes which products appear or their order. Affiliate disclosure.
PurityMap does not give a safe/unsafe verdict; it shows what the public records measured. For Iowa City, no regulated PFAS were detected in EPA's 2024 testing; the lead 90th-percentile result was 4 µg/L against the 15 µg/L action level. IOWA CITY WATER DEPARTMENT (PWSID IA5225079) has a Purity Score of 91/100 (confidence: high), assessed at the water-system level and computed only from contaminants that were measured. Water can change in your own pipes, so a certified test is the only way to know what comes out of your tap.
IOWA CITY WATER DEPARTMENT (PWS ID IA5225079) is the public water system on record for Iowa City, Iowa, serving about 68,753 people. Confirm the utility on your water bill before acting on a specific finding.
Surface water (primary source of record in EPA SDWIS).
None of the 29 PFAS in EPA's UCMR 5 testing (2023-03-09 to 2023-09-12) was detected. "Not detected" means below the lab's reporting limit, not proven zero.
IOWA CITY WATER DEPARTMENT's most recent lead 90th-percentile result (2021–2023) was 4 µg/L, below the 15 µg/L action level. That figure comes from sampled homes; lead usually enters from a building's own pipes and fixtures, so only a test at your tap tells you what you drink.
PurityMap's current record for Iowa City holds 34 findings: 1 above a reference, 4 detected within the reference and 29 not detected. Each finding links to its dated public record; a parameter that was never monitored is shown as pending, not as a pass.
Iowa City's water is recorded as 6.5 gpg, moderately hard. Hardness is an aesthetic and plumbing characteristic, not a health-based limit.
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| Contaminant | Result | Benchmark | Sampled | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lithium | 47 µg/L | 10 µg/L EPA health reference level (screening, not a legal limit)Screening level, not a legal limit | 2023-03-09 to 2023-12-11 | UCMR5 Analytical Results: IOWA CITY WATER DEPARTMENT (IA5225079) |
| Total trihalomethanes (TTHM) | 47 ppb | 80 ppb federal MCL | 2025 | Iowa City Water Division 2025 Consumer Confidence Report (CCR) |
| Lead (90th percentile) | 4 µg/L | 15 µg/L federal action level | 2021–2023 monitoring period | Lead & Copper Rule 90th-percentile: IOWA CITY WATER DEPARTMENT (IA5225079) |
| Haloacetic acids (HAA5) | 10 ppb | 60 ppb federal MCL | 2025 | Iowa City Water Division 2025 Consumer Confidence Report (CCR) |
| Water hardness | 6.5 gpg | Aesthetic, no federal health limit | 2025 | Iowa City Water Division 2025 Consumer Confidence Report (CCR) |
11-Chloroeicosafluoro-3-oxaundecane-1-sulfonic acid (11Cl-PF3OUdS)
1H, 1H, 2H, 2H-perfluorodecane sulfonic acid (8:2 FTS)
1H, 1H, 2H, 2H-perfluorohexane sulfonic acid (4:2 FTS)
1H, 1H, 2H, 2H-perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (6:2 FTS)
4,8-Dioxa-3H-perfluorononanoic acid (ADONA)
9-Chlorohexadecafluoro-3-oxanone-1-sulfonic acid (9Cl-PF3ONS)
Hexafluoropropylene oxide dimer acid (HFPO-DA) (GenX chemicals)
N-ethyl perfluorooctanesulfonamidoacetic acid (NEtFOSAA)
N-methyl perfluorooctanesulfonamidoacetic acid (NMeFOSAA)
Nonafluoro-3,6-dioxaheptanoic acid (NFDHA)
Perfluoro (2-ethoxyethane) sulfonic acid (PFEESA)
Perfluoro-3-methoxypropanoic acid (PFMPA)
Perfluoro-4-methoxybutanoic acid (PFMBA)
Perfluorobutanesulfonic acid (PFBS)
Perfluorododecanoic acid (PFDoA)
Perfluoroheptanesulfonic acid (PFHpS)
Perfluoroheptanoic acid (PFHpA)
Perfluorohexanesulfonic acid (PFHxS)
Perfluorohexanoic acid (PFHxA)
Perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS)
Perfluoropentanesulfonic acid (PFPeS)
Perfluoropentanoic acid (PFPeA)
Perfluorotetradecanoic acid (PFTA)
Perfluorotridecanoic acid (PFTrDA)
Perfluoroundecanoic acid (PFUnA)
Every value is the published result from the cited public record. A reporting limit is the lowest level the method could reliably quantify; a non-detect is not a guarantee of zero.
UCMR5 Analytical Results
UCMR5 Analytical Results: IOWA CITY WATER DEPARTMENT (IA5225079)
US EPA
State SDWIS Compliance Record
Lead & Copper Rule 90th-percentile: IOWA CITY WATER DEPARTMENT (IA5225079)
US EPA SDWIS
Consumer Confidence Report (CCR)
Iowa City Water Division 2025 Consumer Confidence Report (CCR)
Iowa City Water Division
Methodology: how we analyze water. Prepared with AI assistance and reviewed by the PurityMap Editorial Team before publication.
Start with the hot-or-cold tap check. Where Iowa City Water Department reported something related, it's shown below.
Iowa City disinfects with chlorine (utility water-quality report).
Lead at Iowa City Water Department: 4 µg/L (90th percentile, 2021–2023 monitoring period). Lead has no taste, so a taste neither shows nor rules it out.