Durham County, North Carolina: drinking water report. Durham County serves about 330,000 residents.
Durham County serves about 330,000 residents. Durham's water comes from Lake Michie and Little River Reservoir, supplemented by an interconnection with the City of Raleigh's system. Duke University and the Research Triangle Park generate significant water demand.
Durham's reservoirs are small relative to the city's demand, but provide clean source water from protected Piedmont watersheds. UCMR5 data shows low-level PFAS detections. According to NC DEQ's 2024 monitoring data, Durham's system met all federal standards.
The city's biggest recent water infrastructure challenge has been distribution system breaks – aging mains have caused several significant water main breaks in recent years, leading to boil-water advisories and service interruptions. Durham is investing in a major infrastructure replacement program.
Durham's source water is clean. Distribution infrastructure age is the primary concern – water main breaks can temporarily affect quality.
Check your water for data in your area. A carbon filter improves taste and provides baseline protection. Our water filter guide covers options. Pull your detailed report, and visit our North Carolina page for statewide data.
Drinking water is one exposure route. These federal datasets also cover Durham County, NC.
The EPA places Durham County, NC in Zone 3 - the EPA's lowest-risk category, with a predicted average indoor radon level below 2 pCi/L. Zone maps predict an area's radon potential from geology and existing indoor readings; they say nothing about a specific house. Testing is the only way to know your own level.
33% of homes in Durham County, NC were built before 1980, and 8% before 1950. Residential lead paint was banned in 1978, so housing age is the strongest available proxy for lead-paint exposure. This describes the county's housing stock, not any one home.
Modelled annual fine-particle pollution (PM2.5) in Durham County, NC averages 7.4 µg/m³, within the EPA's annual standard of 9 µg/m³. These are CDC modelled county estimates rather than readings from a specific monitor.
How radon zones work · Air quality by county · Lead exposure guide
Across 32 public water systems serving Durham County, NC with EPA lead testing on record, 2 (6.3%) reported a 90th-percentile lead result above the EPA's 15 ppb action level, and the median is 1.4 ppb. 19 water systems serving Durham County, NC carry a health-based EPA Safe Drinking Water Act violation.
| Most-cited violation type | Systems affected |
|---|---|
| Revised Total Coliform Rule | 6 |
| Ground Water Rule | 5 |
| Lead and Copper Rule | 5 |
| Lead and Copper Rule Revisions | 4 |
| Gross Alpha (excl. radon & uranium) | 2 |
Source: EPA Lead and Copper Rule 90th-percentile tap sampling and EPA SDWIS Safe Drinking Water Act enforcement records, aggregated from the public water systems serving this county. Figures are counts of water systems, not a test of any individual home or tap.