Is West York Tap Water Safe to Drink?

Can You Drink Tap Water in West York?

Yes, West York's tap water is generally considered safe to drink as West York 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, West York's water utility, Dover Boro Water Sys, had 27 non-health-based violations of the Safe Drinking Water Act. For more details on the violations, please see our violation history section below. The last violation for West York was resolved on March 31, 2022. This assessment is based on the Dover Boro Water Sys 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.

West York Tap Water Safe Drinking Water Act Violation History - Prior 10 Years

Below is a ten year history of violations for the water system named Dover Boro Water Sys for West York in Pennsylvania. For more details please see the "What do these Violations Mean?" section below.

From Jan. 1, 2022 to March 31, 2022, West York 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, Regular which falls into the Chemicals rule code group, and the Radionuclides rule code family for the following contaminant code: Gross Alpha, Excl. Radon and U.

From Oct. 1, 2021 to Dec. 31, 2021, West York 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, Regular which falls into the Chemicals rule code group, and the Radionuclides rule code family for the following contaminant code: Gross Alpha, Excl. Radon and U.

From April 1, 2021 to June 30, 2021, West York 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, Regular which falls into the Chemicals rule code group, and the Radionuclides rule code family for the following contaminant code: Gross Alpha, Excl. Radon and U.

From Oct. 1, 2020 to Dec. 31, 2020, West York 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, Regular which falls into the Chemicals rule code group, and the Radionuclides rule code family for the following contaminant code: Gross Alpha, Excl. Radon and U.

From Jan. 1, 2020 to March 31, 2020, West York 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, Regular which falls into the Chemicals rule code group, and the Radionuclides rule code family for the following contaminant code: Gross Alpha, Excl. Radon and U.

From Jan. 1, 2020 to Dec. 31, 2020, West York had 20 non-health based Safe Drinking Water Act violations with the violation category being Monitoring and Reporting, more specifically, the violation code was Monitoring, Regular which falls into the Chemicals rule code group, and the Volatile Organic Chemicals rule code family for the following contaminant codes: cis-1,2-Dichloroethylene, Xylenes, Total, DICHLOROMETHANE, p-Dichlorobenzene, 1,2-Dichloroethane, Carbon tetrachloride, 1,2-Dichloropropane, Trichloroethylene, 1,1,2-Trichloroethane, CHLOROBENZENE, Ethylbenzene, Styrene, trans-1,2-Dichloroethylene, 1,1,1-Trichloroethane, Benzene, 1,2,4-Trichlorobenzene, Toluene, o-Dichlorobenzene, Tetrachloroethylene, 1,1-Dichloroethylene.

For the compliance period beginning Oct. 1, 2019, West York had 1 non-health based Safe Drinking Water Act violation with the violation category being Monitoring and Reporting, more specifically, the violation code was Follow-up Or Routine LCR Tap M/R which falls into the Chemicals rule code group, and the Lead and Copper Rule rule code family for the following contaminant code: Lead and Copper Rule.

For the compliance period beginning June 11, 2019, West York had 1 non-health based Safe Drinking Water Act violation with the violation category being Other Violation, more specifically, the violation code was Public Notification Violation for NPDWR Violation which falls into the Other rule code group, and the Public Notice Rule rule code family for the following contaminant code: Public Notice.

From April 1, 2018 to June 30, 2018, West York 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 and Reporting (DBP) which falls into the Disinfectants and Disinfection Byproducts Rule rule code group, and the Stage 1 Disinfectants and Disinfection Byproducts Rule rule code family for the following contaminant code: Chlorine.

From April 1, 2015 to June 30, 2015, West York had 20 non-health based Safe Drinking Water Act violations with the violation category being Monitoring and Reporting, more specifically, the violation code was Monitoring, Regular which falls into the Chemicals rule code group, and the Volatile Organic Chemicals rule code family for the following contaminant codes: 1,2,4-Trichlorobenzene, cis-1,2-Dichloroethylene, DICHLOROMETHANE, o-Dichlorobenzene, p-Dichlorobenzene, 1,1-Dichloroethylene, trans-1,2-Dichloroethylene, 1,1,1-Trichloroethane, Carbon tetrachloride, 1,2-Dichloropropane, Trichloroethylene, 1,1,2-Trichloroethane, CHLOROBENZENE, Toluene, Xylenes, Total, Ethylbenzene, Styrene, Benzene, Tetrachloroethylene, 1,2-Dichloroethane.

From Jan. 1, 2015 to March 31, 2015, West York had 20 non-health based Safe Drinking Water Act violations with the violation category being Monitoring and Reporting, more specifically, the violation code was Monitoring, Regular which falls into the Chemicals rule code group, and the Volatile Organic Chemicals rule code family for the following contaminant codes: 1,2,4-Trichlorobenzene, cis-1,2-Dichloroethylene, Xylenes, Total, DICHLOROMETHANE, p-Dichlorobenzene, 1,1-Dichloroethylene, trans-1,2-Dichloroethylene, 1,2-Dichloroethane, Carbon tetrachloride, 1,2-Dichloropropane, Tetrachloroethylene, CHLOROBENZENE, Benzene, Ethylbenzene, Styrene, 1,1,2-Trichloroethane, Trichloroethylene, Toluene, o-Dichlorobenzene, 1,1,1-Trichloroethane.

From Jan. 1, 2014 to Dec. 31, 2014, West York 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, Regular which falls into the Chemicals rule code group, and the Synthetic Organic Chemicals rule code family for the following contaminant code: Glyphosate.

From Oct. 1, 2011 to Dec. 31, 2011, West York had 2 non-health based Safe Drinking Water Act violations with the violation category being Monitoring and Reporting, more specifically, the violation code was Monitoring, Regular which falls into the Chemicals rule code group, and the Synthetic Organic Chemicals rule code family for the following contaminant codes: 2,3,7,8-TCDD, 2,3,7,8-TCDD.

Are there PFAS in West York 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 no military bases near West York 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 West York 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.

West York SDWA Violation History Table - Prior 10 Years

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

1. Maximum contaminant levels (MCLs) - maximum allowed contaminant level was exceeded.
2. Maximum residual disinfectant levels (MRDLs) - maximum allowed disinfectant level was exceeded.
3. Other violations (Other) - the exact required process to reduce the amounts of contaminants in drinking water was not followed.

Non-Health Based Violations

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. Other violations (Other) - miscellaneous violations, such as failure to issue annual consumer confidence reports or maintain required records.

SDWA Table Key

For more clarification please visit the EPA's data dictionary.