← All Colorado water providers

Town of Cheraw

The Town of Cheraw is the public water system serving 254 people in Otero County, from groundwater. EPA modelled this service area rather than tracing it from a utility map, so treat the edge as approximate.
Community system · EPA id CO0145090 · filed with EPA as “CHERAW TOWN OF”

Serves Cheraw.

People served
254
Service connections
131
Primary source
Groundwater
Owner
Local government
Counties served
Otero
Water district

Modelled boundary. EPA estimated this service area (Random Forest) rather than tracing a utility-supplied map; treat the edge as approximate. About 0 km².

Where the water comes from

FacilityKindWater
WELL NO 1 NORTH WELLWellGroundwater
WELL NO 2 MIDDLE WEST WELLWellGroundwater
WELL NO 3 SW WELLWellGroundwater

These are EPA's facility records, not DWR structures. Which decreed rights sit behind an intake is the next phase; nothing here is inferred.

DWR structures that name this system

Source Probable join · fetched 2026-11-06 · matched on DWR's recorded contact or an EPA intake name; verify on the dossier

No DWR structure on file records this system as its contact, and none of its EPA intakes matches a structure name in its districts. DWR records a contact on only a fraction of structures, and only for districts fetched from its live service, so this is absence of a record, not evidence of no rights.

Compliance record

Source Register of another agency · fetched 2026-11-07 · verify at EPA ECHO ↗

EPA lists this system as a serious violator. What that means for anyone drinking the water depends on the contaminant and the dose; read EPA's own report and the system's Consumer Confidence Report rather than anything inferred here.

EPA's own summary: violations in 12 of the last 12 quarters, significant non-compliance in 3. In violation for, in EPA's words: 4000=Gross Alpha, Excl. Radon and U; 4006=Combined Uranium; 4010=Combined Radium (-226 and -228); 5000=Lead and Copper Rule; 7500=Public Notice. Currently: 4010=Combined Radium (-226 and -228); 5000=Lead and Copper Rule; 7500=Public Notice.

What happened

All 53 violation records on file, grouped into the 7 distinct things EPA's codes describe. Dates are the compliance period the violation is filed against.

Follow-up Or Routine LCR Tap M/R — Lead and Copper Rule monitoring and reporting 4 open
A required sample was not taken, or the result was not reported on time. 4 records, 2025-01-01 to 2026-07-01.
Rule: Lead and Copper Rule -- corrosion of household plumbing.
PN Violation for NPDWR Violation — Public Notice other 2 open
A requirement other than a limit, a sample or a notice was not met. 2 records, 2026-01-31 to 2026-05-02.
Rule: Public Notice Rule -- telling customers about a problem.
Lead Consumer Notice — Lead and Copper Rule monitoring and reporting 1 open
A required sample was not taken, or the result was not reported on time. 1 record, 2024-10-01.
Rule: Lead and Copper Rule -- corrosion of household plumbing.
MCL, Average — Combined Radium (-226 and -228) health-based
A measured contaminant level went over the federal limit. 36 records, 2009-07-01 to 2026-04-01. Highest measured: 12.5 PCI/L against a limit of 5.0.
Rule: Radionuclides -- radium, uranium and gross alpha.
MCL, Average — Gross Alpha, Excl. Radon and U health-based
A measured contaminant level went over the federal limit. 8 records, 2016-07-01 to 2023-10-01. Highest measured: 19.47 PCI/L against a limit of 15.0.
Rule: Radionuclides -- radium, uranium and gross alpha.
Treatment Technique No Certif. Operator — DBP Stage 1 health-based
A required treatment step was not carried out or not proved. 1 record, 2022-06-01.
Rule: Stage 1 Disinfectants and Disinfection Byproducts Rule.
MCL, Single Sample — Combined Radium (-226 and -228) health-based
A measured contaminant level went over the federal limit. 1 record, 2012-01-01. Highest measured: 8.0 PCI/L against a limit of 5.0.
Rule: Radionuclides -- radium, uranium and gross alpha.
Every violation record, as filed (12 of 53)
Compliance periodWhatAboutKindStatusMeasured
2026-07-01 Follow-up Or Routine LCR Tap M/R Lead and Copper Rule monitoring and reporting open
2026-05-02 PN Violation for NPDWR Violation Public Notice other open
2026-04-01 – 2026-06-30 MCL, Average Combined Radium (-226 and -228) health-based known, archived 6.0 PCI/L (limit 5.0)
2026-01-31 PN Violation for NPDWR Violation Public Notice other open
2026-01-01 – 2026-03-31 MCL, Average Combined Radium (-226 and -228) health-based known, archived 6.0 PCI/L (limit 5.0)
2026-01-01 Follow-up Or Routine LCR Tap M/R Lead and Copper Rule monitoring and reporting open
2025-10-01 – 2025-12-31 MCL, Average Combined Radium (-226 and -228) health-based known, archived 6.0 PCI/L (limit 5.0)
2025-07-01 Follow-up Or Routine LCR Tap M/R Lead and Copper Rule monitoring and reporting open
2025-01-01 Follow-up Or Routine LCR Tap M/R Lead and Copper Rule monitoring and reporting open
2024-10-01 Lead Consumer Notice Lead and Copper Rule monitoring and reporting open
2024-01-01 – 2024-03-31 MCL, Average Combined Radium (-226 and -228) health-based returned to compliance (2024-05-29) 7.5 PCI/L (limit 5.0)
2023-10-01 – 2023-12-31 MCL, Average Combined Radium (-226 and -228) health-based returned to compliance (2024-05-29) 9.85 PCI/L (limit 5.0)

The remaining 41 are on the ECHO report.

What the regulator did about it

160 enforcement actions on this system's federal record. In Colorado the state is the primacy agency, so most actions are the state's; EPA acts directly on tribal systems and when it steps in.

DateActionBy
2026-07-14 St Violation/Reminder Notice state
2026-07-14 St Public Notif requested state
2026-07-01 St Violation/Reminder Notice state
2026-07-01 St Public Notif requested state
2026-06-15 St Violation/Reminder Notice state
2026-04-01 St Violation/Reminder Notice state
2026-04-01 St Public Notif requested state
2026-02-10 St Violation/Reminder Notice state
2026-01-19 St Violation/Reminder Notice state
2026-01-19 St Public Notif requested state
2025-12-31 St Violation/Reminder Notice state
2025-12-31 St Public Notif requested state
2025-12-29 St Compliance achieved
System appropriately sampled for combined radium, combined uranium, and gross alpha in 4Q2025 RNK 1.2.26
state
2025-10-16 St Violation/Reminder Notice state
2025-10-16 St Public Notif requested state
2025-10-16 St Violation/Reminder Notice state
2025-10-16 St Public Notif requested state
2025-10-16 St Violation/Reminder Notice state
2025-10-16 St Public Notif requested state
2025-07-30 St Violation/Reminder Notice state

20 most recent of 160; the rest are on the ECHO report.

Lead and copper

The latest 90th-percentile lead result is 0.009 mg/L (sampling period ending 2026-06-30) against an action level of 0.015 mg/L, below it. 9 results on file.

The action level is not a health limit: it is the level at which the rule requires a system to act (corrosion control, public education, and in some cases replacing lead service lines). Lead mostly enters water from household plumbing, so a system-wide percentile does not tell you what comes out of one tap.

Violation, enforcement and lead/copper records are EPA SDWIS federal reporting, fetched monthly; the summary is EPA ECHO. Code names come from EPA's own REF_CODE_VALUE table. SDWIS carries violations, not routine sample results — nitrate, disinfection by-product and PFAS values are not in it, and a clean record here means nothing was reported as a violation, not that nothing was ever detected. For what was measured, ask the system for its Consumer Confidence Report.

PFAS and lithium: EPA's UCMR 5 monitoring, 2023–2025

Source Register of another agency · fetched 2026-10-09 · verify at EPA UCMR occurrence data ↗

EPA did not sample this system under UCMR 5 (the rule covered every system serving more than 3,300 people and a drawn sample of smaller ones).

What changed recently

Differences EPA's monthly federal record showed against the month before. A date in brackets is EPA's own; otherwise it is when this site first saw the change.

  • Enforcement action: St Violation/Reminder Notice (2026-07-14)
  • Enforcement action: St Public Notif requested (2026-07-14)
  • New violation: Follow-up Or Routine LCR Tap M/R — Lead and Copper Rule (2026-07-01)
  • Enforcement action: St Violation/Reminder Notice (2026-07-01)
  • Enforcement action: St Public Notif requested (2026-07-01)
  • Enforcement action: St Violation/Reminder Notice (2026-06-15)
  • New violation: PN Violation for NPDWR Violation — Public Notice (2026-05-02)
  • New violation: MCL, Average — Combined Radium (-226 and -228) (2026-04-01)

Save this system to My Water and these changes appear there each time you visit.

Common questions

Who provides drinking water in Cheraw, Colorado?

The Town of Cheraw is the public water system serving 254 people in Otero County, from groundwater. Its EPA public water system id is CO0145090.

Where does the Town of Cheraw get its water?

The Town of Cheraw reports groundwater as its primary source. EPA lists its source facilities as WELL NO 1 NORTH WELL, WELL NO 2 MIDDLE WEST WELL, WELL NO 3 SW WELL.

Does the Town of Cheraw have any drinking water violations?

EPA's compliance record shows no open health-based violations for the Town of Cheraw at the last monthly fetch. Older and non-health-based entries, if any, are listed on this page.

Places this system serves

Census places its EPA service-area boundary substantially covers. Each page lists every system serving that place.

Every provider in Otero County.

The record

EPA SDWIS federal reporting as of 2026-11-06; the compliance record above is EPA's own, fetched monthly, and the ECHO report carries the rest. Report a problem →