Madison County, North Carolina: drinking water report. Madison County sits north of Asheville along the Tennessee border, home to about 22,000 residents.
Madison County sits north of Asheville along the Tennessee border, home to about 22,000 residents. Small community water systems draw from mountain springs and streams in the French Broad River watershed. The rural, mountainous setting keeps water sources naturally clean.
Madison County's water sources are pristine mountain streams with minimal contamination risk. UCMR5 data shows no significant PFAS detections. According to NC DEQ's 2024 data, county systems met standards. Small system capacity and mountain infrastructure vulnerability are the main operational challenges.
Madison County's mountain water is clean. Infrastructure resilience is the primary concern.
Check your water for data in your area. 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 Madison County, NC.
The EPA places Madison 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.
41% of homes in Madison 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 Madison County, NC averages 6.2 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
4 public water systems serving Madison 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. 3 water systems serving Madison County, NC carry a health-based EPA Safe Drinking Water Act violation.
| Most-cited violation type | Systems affected |
|---|---|
| Lead and Copper Rule | 2 |
| 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.