Lake County, Florida: drinking water report. Lake County in central Florida has about 383,000 residents in a rapidly growing corridor between Orlando and…
Lake County in central Florida has about 383,000 residents in a rapidly growing corridor between Orlando and Ocala. The county draws from the Floridan Aquifer, with numerous small and mid-size utilities serving different communities. The county takes its name from its more than 1,000 lakes, and the aquifer beneath supplies both drinking water and the springs and lakes that define the landscape.
Lake County's position in the transition zone between the sandy Central Florida ridge and the karst terrain to the north creates variable aquifer conditions. According to the St. Johns River Water Management District's 2024 groundwater monitoring, nitrate concentrations in the surficial aquifer have been increasing in the county's agricultural and developing areas, particularly near Leesburg and Eustis.
The former Leesburg Municipal Airport and other small airfields in the county have documented limited AFFF use. Florida DEP's 2024 PFAS screening found PFOS at 5 ppt in one monitoring well. The more widespread concern is the legacy of citrus grove chemical use – millions of acres of Florida citrus groves were treated with copper-based fungicides and various pesticides for decades, and their residues persist in soil and groundwater.
Lake County's aquifer quality reflects both the county's citrus heritage and its rapid suburbanization. Former grove land now hosting subdivisions may have elevated copper and legacy pesticides in the shallow groundwater.
Check your water for data at your address. For the range of concerns in Lake County, reverse osmosis at the kitchen tap provides comprehensive protection. Our water filter guide covers systems suited to central Florida groundwater. Get your detailed report for local data, and visit our Florida page for statewide data.
Drinking water is one exposure route. These federal datasets also cover Lake County, FL.
The EPA places Lake 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.
24% of homes in Lake County, FL were built before 1980, and 3% 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 Lake County, FL averages 7.5 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 63 public water systems serving Lake County, FL with EPA lead testing on record, 5 (7.9%) reported a 90th-percentile lead result above the EPA's 15 ppb action level, and the median is 2.2 ppb. 20 water systems serving Lake County, FL carry a health-based EPA Safe Drinking Water Act violation.
| Most-cited violation type | Systems affected |
|---|---|
| Lead and Copper Rule Revisions | 12 |
| Total Trihalomethanes (TTHM) | 5 |
| Haloacetic Acids (HAA5) | 3 |
| Di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP) | 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.