Is CITY OF BALTIMORE's water safe to drink?
CITY OF BALTIMORE had a health-based violation within the last five years. The required corrective action was reported, but it happened recently enough to matter. 1,600,000 people get their water from it, across 424,600 connections.
CITY OF BALTIMORE's record against the rest of the country
CITY OF BALTIMORE has 37 violations on record in total, 7 of thems health-based - ranking it 2,647th of 12,903 systems by violation count, the 79th percentile nationally.
How CITY OF BALTIMORE compares within MD
MD's 93 covered systems average 3.3 health-based violations each; CITY OF BALTIMORE carries 7, more than typical for the state. The filter guide explains what a violation like this actually calls for.
Most recent violation on record
The last violation EPA has on record for CITY OF BALTIMORE is from 2026-01-01 (health-based: 2026-01-01). Last reported to EPA: 05/18/2026.
What kind of problem, specifically
CITY OF BALTIMORE's flagged contaminants and rule violations, grouped by what they actually mean for a filter choice rather than left as EPA's raw code list:
- Microbial contamination / treatment technique - flagged from: Interim Enhanced Surface Water Treatment Rule; Revised Total Coliform Rule; Surface Water Treatment Rule
- Disinfection byproducts - flagged from: TTHM; Total Haloacetic Acids (HAA5)
The most severe category on record is microbial contamination / treatment technique, which points toward a microbial-class filter if you want to address it directly.
What this data is and is not
CITY OF BALTIMORE's numbers here come from its own required reporting to EPA under the Safe Drinking Water Act, not from an independent test of your glass of water. Between the utility's meter and CITY OF BALTIMORE's customers' taps is household plumbing, invisible to a system-level record ranked 2,647th of 12,903 by violation count. The guide to what this data misses covers that gap.