Is the Water Safe in Baltimore, MD?
The 1 public water system serving Baltimore, Maryland (population 1,600,000) average a Water Safety Score of 44/100, with a worst grade of F. These systems have 3 health-based violations and 1 contaminant exceedance on record.
Safety & Violations
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Average Safety Score | 44/100 (F worst) |
| Public Water Systems | 1 |
| Population Served | 1,600,000 |
| Health Violations | 3 |
| Monitoring Violations | 0 |
| Contaminant Exceedances | 1 |
| Enforcement Actions | 38 |
Contaminants Detected in Baltimore
| Contaminant | Detected | EPA Limit (MCL) | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Haloacetic Acids (HAA5) | 63 ug/l | 60 ug/l | Exceeds limit |
| Nitrate | 5 ppm | 10 ppm | Within limit |
| E. coli (RTCR) | 0 presence | 0 presence | Within limit |
Detected levels are the highest reported across Baltimore systems for each contaminant. MCL = EPA Maximum Contaminant Level, the legal safety ceiling. Source: EPA SDWIS monitoring data.
Frequently Asked Questions
The 1 public water system serving Baltimore, Maryland (population 1,600,000) average a Water Safety Score of 44/100, with a worst grade of F. These systems have 3 health-based violations and 1 contaminant exceedance on record.
Monitoring data for Baltimore, Maryland shows 3 distinct contaminants detected in the public water supply — Haloacetic Acids (HAA5), Nitrate, E. coli (RTCR). Of these, 1 exceeded the EPA Maximum Contaminant Level.
Baltimore, Maryland is served by 1 public water system, together supplying water to roughly 1,600,000 people. The worst safety grade among them is F.
Yes. 1 contaminant exceeded the EPA Maximum Contaminant Level (MCL) in Baltimore: Haloacetic Acids (HAA5). An exceedance means a detected level was higher than the legal safety limit at least once during monitoring.
The Water Safety Score (0-100, graded A-F) weighs health-based violations (40%), contaminant exceedances (30%), enforcement history (20%), and monitoring violations (10%), using EPA Safe Drinking Water Information System (SDWIS) data from the last 10 years.
Request your utility's annual Consumer Confidence Report (CCR), consider an independent test from a state-certified lab, and use an NSF-certified filter targeting any contaminant of concern. For lead specifically, run cold water 30 seconds before drinking.
More about Baltimore
The 1 public water system serving Baltimore, Maryland (population 1,600,000) average a Water Safety Score of 44/100, with a worst grade of F. These systems have 3 health-based violations and 1 contaminant exceedance on record.
This answer pulls from the EPA Safe Drinking Water Information System (SDWIS), the authoritative federal source for U.S. public drinking-water safety. The headline number above is the direct answer; what follows is the additional context most readers need to use the answer for a real decision rather than just a fact lookup.
For readers turning this answer into action: cross-reference against the underlying the EPA Safe Drinking Water Information System (SDWIS) record before acting on time-sensitive decisions. The site renders the data as it was published; subsequent revisions can shift the picture, and the live federal data is always the authoritative current reference.
Source: EPA Ground Water and Drinking Water, 2026.