Jackson County, Florida: drinking water report. Jackson County sits in the rural Florida Panhandle, home to about 48,000 residents.
Jackson County sits in the rural Florida Panhandle, home to about 48,000 residents. Small community water systems draw from the Floridan Aquifer, which in this part of Florida is relatively close to the surface and produces clean, abundant water. Marianna, the county seat, operates the largest system.
Jackson County's rural setting means fewer industrial and military contamination sources than coastal Panhandle counties. UCMR5 data shows minimal PFAS detections in county systems. The Floridan Aquifer here provides naturally clean water with typical Florida hardness.
According to the Florida DEP's 2024 monitoring data, county systems met federal standards. The primary challenge for small systems is maintaining treatment infrastructure and meeting monitoring requirements with limited budgets and staff.
Jackson County's water quality is generally good. Small system variability is the main factor.
Check your water for data specific to your provider. A basic water softener addresses hardness. Our water filter guide covers options for different needs. Pull your detailed report, and visit our Florida page for statewide data.
Drinking water is one exposure route. These federal datasets also cover Jackson County, FL.
The EPA places Jackson County, FL 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.
46% of homes in Jackson County, FL 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 Jackson County, FL averages 8.8 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
12 public water systems serving Jackson County, FL 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. 3 water systems serving Jackson County, FL carry a health-based EPA Safe Drinking Water Act violation.
| Most-cited violation type | Systems affected |
|---|---|
| Nitrate | 1 |
| Total Coliform Rule | 1 |
| Revised Total Coliform 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.