Gaston County, North Carolina: drinking water report. Gaston County borders Charlotte to the west, home to about 230,000 residents.
Gaston County borders Charlotte to the west, home to about 230,000 residents. The City of Gastonia draws from the Catawba River through Mountain Island Lake. The county's textile manufacturing history has left a legacy that shapes both the economy and the environmental landscape.
Gaston County draws from the same Catawba River system as Charlotte, sharing concerns about Duke Energy's coal ash ponds along the river. UCMR5 data shows low-level PFAS detections. The county's former textile mills used various industrial chemicals, some of which have been found in soil and groundwater at former mill sites.
According to NC DEQ's 2024 monitoring data, county systems met federal standards. The treatment system handles source water effectively.
Gaston County's water quality meets standards. Coal ash and textile legacy contamination are the long-term environmental concerns.
Check your water for current data. Reverse osmosis handles the broadest range of contaminants. 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 Gaston County, NC.
The EPA places Gaston 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.
49% of homes in Gaston County, NC were built before 1980, and 13% 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 Gaston County, NC averages 8.3 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
22 public water systems serving Gaston 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. 9 water systems serving Gaston County, NC carry a health-based EPA Safe Drinking Water Act violation.
| Most-cited violation type | Systems affected |
|---|---|
| Lead and Copper Rule Revisions | 6 |
| Total Trihalomethanes (TTHM) | 3 |
| Total Organic Carbon | 2 |
| Lead and Copper Rule | 1 |
| Interim Enhanced Surface Water Treatment 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.