Forsyth County, North Carolina: drinking water report. Forsyth County – Winston-Salem – serves about 380,000 residents.
Forsyth County – Winston-Salem – serves about 380,000 residents. Winston-Salem draws from the Yadkin River at Salem Lake and from the Tom A. Walters Water Treatment Plant on the Yadkin River. The Yadkin flows through the Piedmont region, collecting agricultural and urban runoff along its course.
Winston-Salem's water system has maintained solid compliance records. UCMR5 data shows low-level PFAS detections. The county does not host major military installations, and PFAS sources are primarily diffuse.
According to NC DEQ's 2024 monitoring data, the system met all federal standards. The Yadkin River's quality is affected by upstream agriculture and the legacy of textile manufacturing that historically dominated the Piedmont economy. While most mills have closed, residual contamination in some river sediments persists.
Forsyth County's water quality is generally good. The Piedmont setting provides a stable supply with manageable treatment challenges.
Check your water for current data. A carbon filter improves taste and reduces chlorine. For PFAS, reverse osmosis is more effective. Our water filter guide covers both. Pull your detailed report, and visit our North Carolina page for statewide data.
Drinking water is one exposure route. These federal datasets also cover Forsyth County, NC.
The EPA places Forsyth County, NC in Zone 2 - a moderate-risk category, with a predicted average indoor radon level between 2 and 4 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.
47% of homes in Forsyth County, NC were built before 1980, and 10% 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 Forsyth County, NC averages 8.1 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
9 public water systems serving Forsyth County, NC have EPA lead testing on record. The reported lead sample skews toward systems that already flagged a problem, so its exceedance rate is not directly comparable with other areas. 4 water systems serving Forsyth County, NC carry a health-based EPA Safe Drinking Water Act violation.
| Most-cited violation type | Systems affected |
|---|---|
| Surface Water Treatment Rule | 1 |
| Total Trihalomethanes (TTHM) | 1 |
| Lead and Copper Rule Revisions | 1 |
| Lead and Copper Rule | 1 |
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.