Kern County tap water
4 of 28 water systems serving Kern County with full PFAS testing averaged above a 2024 federal PFAS level at one or more sampling points.
- 166 community water systems list this county as served; 25 serve 3,300+ people with full PFAS testing.
- 46 had a health-based violation since 2021-10-26.
Largest systems serving this county
| System | Source | People served (whole system) | PFAS above a 2024 level? | Violations since 2021-10-26 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CWS - Bakersfield | Surface water | 268,129 | Yes | 0 |
| Bakersfield, City of | Purchased surface water | 171,108 | Yes | 0 |
| Delano, City of | Groundwater | 51,428 | No | 0 |
| Oildale Mwc | Purchased surface water | 45,315 | No | 5 |
| Indian Wells Valley W.d. | Groundwater | 41,474 | No | 0 |
| Tejon Castac Wd - I5 & Laval Rd | Surface water | 38,125 | No | 0 |
| Vaughn Wc Inc | Groundwater | 37,189 | No | 0 |
| East Niles Csd | Purchased surface water | 32,517 | No | 3 |
| CWS - North Garden | Surface water | 27,634 | Yes | 0 |
| Wasco, City of | Groundwater | 22,757 | No | 0 |
| Shafter, City of | Groundwater | 21,915 | No | 0 |
| West Kern Water District | Groundwater | 20,585 | No | 0 |
Which one is yours? A county usually has several utilities. Your bill or your utility's annual water-quality report names yours. Population is for the whole system, which can cross county lines.
Not medical or legal advice. UCMR 5 results are screening data, not compliance determinations.
Sources and freshness
Public-water-system facts, violations and lead/copper results: EPA ECHO SDWA download (SDWIS snapshot 2026-10-13). PFAS and lithium results: EPA UCMR 5 final data (sampling 2023–2025). Both are U.S. government works, downloaded 2026-10-26. Numbers are computed by the published method; the same fields are in the open data files.