Table of Contents
Can You Drink Tap Water in Jacksonville?
Yes, Jacksonville's tap water is generally considered safe to drink as Jacksonville has no active health based violations of the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) that we are aware of. Other factors such as lead piping in a home, or low levels of pollutants on immunocompromised individuals, should also be considered, however. To find more recent info we might have, you can check out our boil water notice page or the city's water provider website.
According the EPA’s ECHO database, from April 30, 2019 to June 30, 2022, Jacksonville's water utility, Jacksonville Beach Wtp, had 0 violations of the Safe Drinking Water Act. For more details on the violations, please see our violation history section below. The last violation for Jacksonville was resolved on March 31, 2016. This assessment is based on the Jacksonville Beach Wtp water system, other water systems in the city may have different results.
While tap water that meets the EPA health guidelines generally won’t make you sick to your stomach, it can still contain regulated and unregulated contaminants present in trace amounts that could potentially cause health issues over the long-run. These trace contaminants may also impact immunocompromised and vulnerable individuals.
The EPA is reviewing if it’s current regulations around pollutant levels in tap water are strict enough, and the health dangers posed by unregulated pollutants, like PFAS.
Jacksonville Tap Water Safe Drinking Water Act Violation History - Prior 10 Years
Below is a ten year history of violations for the water system named Jacksonville Beach Wtp for Jacksonville in Florida. For more details please see the "What do these Violations Mean?" section below.
For the compliance period beginning Sept. 1, 2016, Jacksonville had 1 non-health based Safe Drinking Water Act violation with the violation category being Monitoring and Reporting, more specifically, the violation code was Monitoring, Source Water (GWR) which falls into the Microbials rule code group, and the Groundwater Rule rule code family for the following contaminant code: E. COLI.
From Jan. 1, 2016 to March 31, 2016, Jacksonville had 1 health-based Safe Drinking Water Act violation with the violation category being Maximum Contaminant Level Violation, more specifically, the violation code was Maximum Contaminant Level Violation, Average which falls into the Disinfectants and Disinfection Byproducts Rule rule code group, and the Stage 2 Disinfectants and Disinfection Byproducts Rule rule code family for the following contaminant code: TTHM.
From April 1, 2014 to April 30, 2014, Jacksonville had 1 health-based Safe Drinking Water Act violation with the violation category being Maximum Contaminant Level Violation, more specifically, the violation code was Maximum Contaminant Level Violation, Monthly (TCR) which falls into the Microbials rule code group, and the Total Coliform Rules rule code family for the following contaminant code: Coliform (TCR).
Is there Lead in Jacksonville Water?
Based on the EPA’s ECHO Database, 90% of the samples taken from the Jacksonville water system, Jacksonville Beach Wtp, between sample start date and sample end date, were at or below, 0.0013 mg/L of lead in Jacksonville water. This is 8.7% of the 0.015 mg/L action level. This means 10% of the samples taken from Jacksonville contained more lead.
While Jacksonville water testing may have found 0.0013 mg/L of lead in its water, that does not mean your water source has the same amount. The amount of lead in water in a city can vary greatly from neighborhood to neighborhood, or even building to building. Many buildings, particularly older ones, have lead pipes or service lines which can be a source of contamination. To find out if your home has lead, we recommend getting you water tested.
No amount of lead in water is healthy, only less dangerous. As lead accumulates in our bodies over time, even exposure to relatively small amounts can have negative health effects. For more information, please check out our Lead FAQ page.
Are there PFAS in Jacksonville Tap Water?
Currently, testing tap water for PFAS isn’t mandated on a national level. We do have a list of military bases where there have been suspected or confirmed leaks. There appears to be at least one military base - Naval Air Station Jacksonville - near Jacksonville with suspected leaks.
With many potential sources of PFAS in tap water across the US, the best information we currently have about which cities have PFAS in their water is this ewg map, which you can check to see if Jacksonville has been evaluated for yet.
Our stance is better safe than sorry, and that it makes sense to try to purify the tap water just in case.
Jacksonville SDWA Violation History Table - Prior 10 Years
| Compliance Period | Status | Health-Based? | Category Code | Code | Rule Code | Contaminant Code | Rule Group Code | Rule Family Code |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 09/01/2016 - | Resolved | No | Monitoring and Reporting (MR) | Monitoring, Source Water (GWR) (34) | Ground Water Rule (140) | E. COLI (3014) | Microbials (100) | Groundwater Rule (140) |
| 01/01/2016 - 03/31/2016 | Resolved | Yes | Maximum Contaminant Level Violation (MCL) | Maximum Contaminant Level Violation, Average (02) | Stage 2 Disinfectants and Disinfection Byproducts Rule (220) | TTHM (2950) | Disinfectants and Disinfection Byproducts Rule (200) | Stage 2 Disinfectants and Disinfection Byproducts Rule (220) |
| 04/01/2014 - 04/30/2014 | Resolved | Yes | Maximum Contaminant Level Violation (MCL) | Maximum Contaminant Level Violation, Monthly (TCR) (22) | Total Coliform Rule (110) | Coliform (TCR) (3100) | Microbials (100) | Total Coliform Rules (110) |
What do these Violations Mean?
Safe Drinking Water Act Violations categories split into two groups, health based, and non-health based. Generally, health based violations are more serious, though non-health based violations can also be cause for concern.
Health Based Violations
- Maximum contaminant levels (MCLs) - maximum allowed contaminant level was exceeded.
- Maximum residual disinfectant levels (MRDLs) - maximum allowed disinfectant level was exceeded.
- Other violations (Other) - the exact required process to reduce the amounts of contaminants in drinking water was not followed.
Non-Health Based Violations
- Monitoring and reporting violations (MR, MON) - failure to conduct the required regular monitoring of drinking water quality, and/or to submit monitoring results on time.
- Public notice violations (Other) - failure to immediately alert consumers if there is a serious problem with their drinking water that may pose a risk to public health.
- Other violations (Other) - miscellaneous violations, such as failure to issue annual consumer confidence reports or maintain required records.
SDWA Table Key
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Compliance Period | Dates of the compliance period. |
| Status |
Current status of the violation.
|
| Health-Based? | Whether the violation is health based. |
| Category Code |
The category of violation that is reported.
|
| Code | A full description of violation codes can be accessed in the SDWA_REF_CODE_VALUES (CSV) table. |
| Contaminant Code | A code value that represents a contaminant for which a public water system has incurred a violation of a primary drinking water regulation. |
| Rule Code |
Code for a National Drinking Water rule.
|
| Rule Group Code |
Code that uniquely identifies a rule group.
|
| Rule Family Code |
Code for rule family.
|
For more clarification please visit the EPA's data dictionary.
Jacksonville Water - Frequently Asked Questions
| By Phone: | 904-247-6272 |
| By Mail: | 1460-A SHETTER AVE. JACKSONVILLE BEACH, FL, 32250 |
Existing customers can login to their Jacksonville Beach Wtp account to pay their Jacksonville water bill by clicking here.
If you want to pay your Jacksonville Beach Wtp bill online and haven't made an account yet, you can create an account online. Please click here to create your account to pay your Jacksonville water bill.
If you don't want to make an account, or can't remember your account, you can make a one-time payment towards your Jacksonville water bill without creating an account using a one time payment portal with your account number and credit or debit card. Click here to make a one time payment.
Moving to a new house or apartment in Jacksonville means you will often need to put the water in your name with Jacksonville Beach Wtp. In order to put the water in your name, please click the link to the start service form below. Start service requests for water bills typically take two business days.
Leaving your house or apartment in Jacksonville means you will likely need to take your name off of the water bill with Jacksonville Beach Wtp. In order to take your name off the water bill, please click the link to the stop service form below. Stop service for water bills requests typically take two business days.
The estimated price of bottled water
$1.73 in USD (1.5-liter)
USER SUBMITTED RATINGS
- Drinking Water Pollution and Inaccessibility
- Water Pollution
- Drinking Water Quality and Accessibility
- Water Quality
The above data is comprised of subjective, user submitted opinions about the water quality and pollution in Jacksonville, measured on a scale from 0% (lowest) to 100% (highest).
Related FAQS
Contaminants
Jacksonville Electric Authority (JEA Major Grid)
EWG's drinking water quality report shows results of tests conducted by the water utility and provided to the Environmental Working Group by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, as well as information from the U.S. EPA Enforcement and Compliance History database (ECHO). For the latest quarter assessed by the U.S. EPA (January 2019 - March 2019), tap water provided by this water utility was in compliance with federal health-based drinking water standards.
Utility details
- Serves: 703938
- Data available: 2012-2017
- Data Source: Groundwater
- Total: 23
Contaminants That Exceed Guidelines
- Radium%2C combined (-226 & -228)
- Total trihalomethanes (TTHMs)
Other Detected Contaminants
- Aluminum
- Antimony
- Barium
- Chlorate
- Chromium (hexavalent)
- Chromium (total)
- Di(2-ethylhexyl) adipate
- Di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate
- Dichloromethane (methylene chloride)
- Fluoride
- Haloacetic acids (HAA5)
- Manganese
- Molybdenum
- Nitrate
- Nitrite
- Selenium
- Strontium
- Testosterone
- Thallium
- Uranium
- Vanadium
Reminder
Always take extra precautions, the water may be safe to drink when it leaves the sewage treatment plant but it may pick up pollutants during its way to your tap. We advise that you ask locals or hotel staff about the water quality. Also, note that different cities have different water mineral contents.
Sources and Resources
Sources Cited
Additional Resources
One of the things that are often overlooked when traveling to different cities within your own country, is the quality of the tap water in the place you’ll be visiting. We assume that since we’re still in the same country, just a different state, that the quality of water will be just fine. In reality, the quality of water changes from place to place, sometimes changing within the city itself. One popular place of travel is Jacksonville, Florida, so let’s take a look at the tap water quality of that city.
Water Quality
Let’s start with the overall quality of the water in Jacksonville, Florida. The water itself comes from the Floridan aquifer. The Floridan aquifer has a Hawthorne Foundation. All this means is the base has a clay foundation that keeps pollutants and chemicals from seeping into the water. However, this does not protect from storm runoff. Storm runoff means that when it rains, the water hits the ground and takes all the chemicals and pollutants with it and runs into the aquifer. While the clay foundation protects from seepage, it does not protect against storm runoff, so some chemicals and pollutants can still enter the water.
According to hydroviv.com, their tap water is in compliance with the loose federal regulations for tap water. This means that while the tap water does comply with the regulations and you can drink it, there are still harmful things in the tap water that you may want to take into consideration.
Water Pollution and Contaminants
What kinds of things are polluting the water? There are several things to keep in mind when drinking tap water in Jacksonville, Florida. The biggest thing to remember is that water has pollutants and contaminants in it, so you want to be mindful of how much you are drinking of it.
In this specific city, there are various contaminants. These include, but are not limited to, lead, chlorate, hormones, fluoride, herbicides, pesticides, and even pharmaceuticals.
The lead comes from the pipes and surrounding buildings. While lead is not naturally occurring in the aquifer, it does get stirred up when there are storms and as mentioned earlier, the storm runoff does drain into the aquifer, allowing the lead to getting into the water. While the tap water still falls under the federally regulated guidelines, no amount of lead is good for ingestion, especially not for children with developing immune systems.
Chlorate comes from chlorine, which is used to help disinfect drinking water and eliminate any odors from it. However, sometimes there is too much or too much leftover and this can lead to higher levels of chlorate than you want to be consuming.
The hormones are hormones like estrogen and testosterone that accidentally get drained into the water. Usually, this occurs from nearby farms that are using hormones with the animals. When the hormones pass through the animals or are incorrectly disposed of, the hormones get lumped into the water runoff which can then drain into the aquifer, passing into the tap water that we drink.
Fluorides can be naturally occurring or chemically produced specifically for water. While these are added to the water, there is no known safety information about how they affect your body. Since they are chemically produced and the effects are unknown, it is a good idea to keep an eye on how much you are consuming.
Herbicides and pesticides come from the local farms. These get washed away when it rains or when the sprinklers turn on. As mentioned before, they are added to storm runoff or general water runoff and can drain right into the aquifer that supplies the drinking water.
Pharmaceuticals are very similar to the hormones mentioned earlier. They can come into contact with water runoff if they are not properly disposed of by pharmaceutical companies or drug manufacturing companies.
While none of these things are good for you to consume, and this is just a shortlist of what is in the Jacksonville, Florida tap water, it may help to know that the water still passes regulations. This means it is technically safe for consumption and you can drink it. It is just always a good idea to know what is in your water so you can make the most informed decision when you decide if you want to drink it.
Advisory For Travelers
You will be comforted to know that if you are visiting Jacksonville, Florida, you are perfectly safe to drink the tap water. Because it comes from the aquifer and then passes through treatment centers, the tap water passes the federal regulations. This means you can drink the tap water with minimal worry about pollutants and contaminants that may be in it.
Alternatives
If you are really worried about what is in the tap water, there are a couple of alternative options you can do.
One would be to buy bottled water from the grocery store. This is a choice many people make as they feel safer knowing exactly how the plants work that make that water. However, the treatment centers that the aquifer feeds into are very good at treating and cleaning the water that you will be drinking, so the water is actually fairly comparable.
You can also have your tap water tested by a professional. They can tell you exactly what is in it, how much of the substances are in the tap water, and if there is anything you can do to help purify the tap water. This may mean adding a home filtration system to your kitchen sink or even just added a water filter to your refrigerator.
Overall, the tap water in Jacksonville, Florida does contain some pollutants and contaminants, but the water still falls into the safe sides of all the regulations imposed on it. Therefore, it is safe for you to drink straight from your taps without worrying about what you are consuming. You can rest assured knowing that your water starts in a safe place in the aquifer and then is transferred to a treatment center where it is further cleaned before coming to your house for you to drink.