Waterford’s drinking water comes from Waterford Township (EPA system MI0006910), which pumps groundwater from wells and treats it before distribution for about 73,441 people. This page translates that system’s official EPA record — lead and copper results, violation history, and what the data does and does not say — into plain English.
This page is built entirely from the U.S. EPA’s Safe Drinking Water Information System (SDWIS), the same records state regulators use. We did not test Waterford’s water, and system-level data describes the utility’s water as a whole — not what comes out of one specific home’s tap. Where the record is silent, we say so rather than guess.
Key takeaways
- Waterford Township supplies Waterford (Groundwater); it serves about 73,441 people across its service area.
- Waterford Township’s most recent reported 90th-percentile lead result is 1 ppb, below the EPA action level of 15 ppb.
- 1 health-based violation in the last 10 years — details below, with dates and current status.
- EPA does not track hardness. If you’re shopping for a softener, test first and size from a real grains-per-gallon number.
The water system serving Waterford
Waterford Township is the community water system the EPA associates with Waterford, Michigan. It reports a population served of about 73,441.
| System | EPA ID | People served | Source water | Role |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Waterford Township | MI0006910 | 73,441 | Groundwater | Main system |
Not sure which system serves your address? Run your ZIP code through our What’s In My Water? lookup — it resolves the systems EPA lists for your ZIP and shows the same records in full.
Lead and copper
Lead: Waterford Township’s most recent reported 90th-percentile lead result is 1 ppb, below the EPA action level of 15 ppb.
Read those numbers carefully: a 90th percentile is a system-wide statistic from a sample of homes, not a test of your tap. Lead in drinking water comes mostly from a home’s own plumbing — service lines, solder and fixtures — so two houses on the same street can test very differently. Homes built before 1986 carry the highest risk, whatever the system average says.
Violation history — the last 10 years
EPA records show 1 health-based violation for Waterford Township in the last 10 years. Health-based means the serious kind — here is what it was:
- a regulated contaminant (EPA code 5000) — a required treatment technique step was not followed. Began January 2023; returned to compliance October 2023.
Separately, EPA lists 1 monitoring/reporting item for this system in the last 5 years — missed or late tests and paperwork. Those are compliance-process findings, not contamination findings, and we keep them in their own bucket on purpose.
What this means for your home
System data sets the background; your home’s plumbing writes the foreground. In practice:
- Lead is a plumbing question, not a system alarm, here. The system’s own result is low, so the remaining risk sits in your home’s pipes and fixtures. A filter certified to NSF/ANSI 53 for lead is cheap insurance for older homes; our water filter guides explain the certifications without the marketing.
- Hardness is not in this record — by design. The EPA doesn’t track it, so nobody can honestly tell you your grains-per-gallon from this page. Scale on fixtures and shower doors is a hint, not a measurement. Test (strips are a start; a lab test is better — see how to test your water at home), then size any softener with our softener sizing calculator and the softener hub.
- On a private well outside the city system instead? Nothing on this page applies to your water — start with our Michigan well water guide for testing and treatment that fits the state.
Water quality in nearby cities
Rochester Hills, MI · Shelby Township, MI · Southfield, MI · Flint, MI
This guide is one of our per-city water reports — see the full list on the Water Quality hub, alongside our contaminant explainers and testing guides.
Frequently asked questions
Is Waterford water safe to drink?
The honest answer is: largely yes today, with real entries on its record. Waterford Township has 1 health-based violation in the last 10 years (detailed in the violation section above); all of them now show as returned to compliance. A returned-to-compliance violation is history, not a current failure — and for lead, {lead_clause}. EPA data describes the system as a whole, not your tap; lead usually comes from a home’s own plumbing, so a certified home test is the only way to know your exact water.
Where does Waterford get its drinking water?
Waterford Township is the community water system the EPA associates with Waterford. It pumps groundwater from wells and treats it before distribution and serves about 73,441 people across its service area (EPA system ID MI0006910).
What is the lead level in Waterford’s water?
Waterford Township’s most recent reported 90th-percentile lead result is 1 ppb, below the EPA action level of 15 ppb. That figure is a system statistic from sampled homes, not a test of your tap — your own plumbing decides your exposure, and a certified home test is the only way to know it.
Has Waterford’s water system had violations?
Yes — 1 health-based violation in the last 10 years, listed with dates and status in the violation section above. All of them show as returned to compliance in EPA’s record.
Do I need a water filter in Waterford?
Base it on the record above, not on fear. The violations on this system’s history point at the contaminants worth filtering for; for everyday taste, a carbon filter does the job. Whatever you consider, match its NSF/ANSI certification to the specific job — and test your hardness before anyone sells you a softener.
Source: U.S. EPA SDWIS via Envirofacts, retrieved November 12, 2026. System-level data describes the utility’s water, not any individual tap. If your water bill names a different system, that system’s record is the one that applies to you.