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To find out whether PFAS have been detected in your drinking water, check your water provider’s latest Consumer Confidence Report (CCR), search the system in EPA’s UCMR 5 Data Finder, and ask the utility what it tested and found. For a private well—or an answer about water from your own tap—contact your state health or environmental agency or use a state-certified drinking-water laboratory that uses EPA-developed PFAS testing methods.
How do I know if there are PFAS in my public water?
- Identify your water provider. Check your water bill, ask your landlord, or contact the local public works department if you are unsure which system serves your address.
- Read the latest Consumer Confidence Report. EPA describes the CCR as the annual drinking-water quality report. Find it through your supplier or EPA’s CCR information and finder. Search for names such as PFOA, PFOS, PFHxS, PFNA, and GenX/HFPO-DA. Reports may not present monitoring results in the same layout, so a compound’s absence from an easy-to-find section is not conclusive.
- Search EPA’s UCMR 5 Data Finder. The UCMR 5 Data Finder lets you look up systems and filter by state, contaminant, and results relative to reporting levels. EPA released the final dataset in August 2026.
- Ask the utility for specifics. If records are missing, unclear, old, or do not address a compound you care about, contact the provider. EPA recommends asking what contaminants may be present, whether it monitors for PFAS, what levels were found, and whether it is taking action. Useful follow-up questions include which PFAS were tested, the results and units, the reporting limits, and whether more testing is planned.
UCMR 5 required monitoring for 29 PFAS and lithium from 2023 through 2025. It covered qualifying public water systems serving 3,300 or more people and a nationally representative subset of smaller systems. Community water systems must provide public notification of UCMR results no later than 12 months after they know the results. These records describe system monitoring; they do not show that every home tap was sampled or establish conditions at a particular tap indefinitely. A blank entry means the information is not available in that record, not that the water has zero PFAS.
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How do I test my well water or get a result for my own tap?
- Ask your state agency where to test. Contact your state environmental or health agency for PFAS guidance and its list of certified drinking-water laboratories. EPA also advises private-well owners that they may contact a certified laboratory directly.
- Verify the laboratory and method. Confirm that the lab is state-certified for drinking-water analysis and uses EPA-developed PFAS testing methods. Ask which compounds its panel includes and what reporting limits apply.
- Get the lab’s sampling instructions before collecting water. Ask whether it provides the sample container and follow its directions for collection, preservation, shipping, and timing. Correct handling matters; do not substitute an unverified home strip for laboratory analysis.
- Keep the report with its context. Record the sample location and date. A utility’s system-level result and a sample from your own tap answer different questions.
When comparing laboratory services, check the analyte panel, reporting limits, sampling requirements, turnaround, and cost—not just whether the offer is called a “PFAS drinking-water test kit.” A kit is useful only if the submitted sample is analyzed by a suitably certified lab using an appropriate method. EPA’s drinking-water laboratory certification information can help you find relevant guidance.
What does a PFAS water test result mean?
Read the full report rather than relying on a simple “pass” or “fail” label. For each result, note the specific PFAS compound (the analyte), concentration, units, reporting limit, method, sample location, and collection date. Results are meaningful only in that context.
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- Detected: The report lists a concentration for that compound under the method used.
- Not detected or below the reporting limit: This does not prove absolute absence. It means the lab did not report a concentration at or above its limit under that method.
- UCMR minimum reporting level: This describes laboratory reporting capability; it is not a health-based threshold.
Keep three questions separate: what public-system monitoring detected, whether a utility meets an applicable regulatory requirement, and what a test of one home’s tap or well found. They are related but not interchangeable. For health implications, use current EPA and state information and consult an appropriate public-health professional rather than treating an old system result as a personal health assessment.
What if PFAS are detected?
Ask the laboratory to explain the reported compounds, units, and limits, and contact your state or local health agency for guidance on interpreting the result against current applicable standards. Rules and implementation details can change, so avoid relying on a generic threshold or an older result without checking current guidance.
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- TESTS FOR: 18 PFAS compounds including PFOS (Perfluorooctanesulfonic acid), PFOA (Perfluorooctanoic acid), Perfluorohexanesulfonic acid, Perfluoroheptanoic acid, Perfluorononanoic acid, Perfluorobutanesulfonic acid, Perfluoroundecanoic acid, Perfluorododecanoic acid, Perfluorodecanoic acid, Perfluorohexanoic acid, NEtFOSAA, NMeFOSAA, Perfluorotetradecanoic acid, Perfluorotridecanoic acid, GenX, 11-Chloroeicosafluoro-3-oxaundecane-1-sulfonic acid, 9-Chlorohexadecafluoro-3-oxanonane-1-sulfonic acid, and 4,8-Dioxa-3H-perfluorononanoic acid
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If you are considering treatment, EPA’s private-well fact sheet advises considering an in-home water treatment system or filtered pitcher certified to lower PFAS. As of April 2024, EPA said existing 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 certification and compound-specific performance claims before choosing a product; a general “PFAS removal” label alone does not establish performance for your water or a particular level of removal.
Sources: EPA UCMR 5 program and Data Finder; EPA Consumer Confidence Reports; EPA drinking-water laboratory certification; EPA PFAS drinking-water information.
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