States with the Most Violations Per Capita
Violations per 100,000 residents normalizes for population size, revealing which states have the highest rate of drinking water problems relative to the people they serve. This can highlight smaller states with disproportionately high violation rates that may be masked in raw totals.
| # | State | Per 100K People | Total Violations | Population |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alaska | 10512.34 | 73,527 | 699,435 |
| 2 | West Virginia | 5276.33 | 81,622 | 1,546,947 |
| 3 | Oklahoma | 3516.1 | 128,472 | 3,653,817 |
| 4 | Vermont | 2647.42 | 12,362 | 466,945 |
| 5 | Wyoming | 2569.78 | 13,783 | 536,350 |
| 6 | Montana | 2559.88 | 20,202 | 789,179 |
| 7 | South Dakota | 2110.23 | 19,565 | 927,151 |
| 8 | Utah | 1935.57 | 71,655 | 3,702,006 |
| 9 | New Mexico | 1929.45 | 37,115 | 1,923,604 |
| 10 | Pennsylvania | 1737.43 | 199,265 | 11,468,960 |
| 11 | Idaho | 1666.28 | 26,078 | 1,565,041 |
| 12 | North Dakota | 1134.62 | 8,431 | 743,065 |
| 13 | Connecticut | 1056.39 | 28,800 | 2,726,278 |
| 14 | Maine | 988.37 | 6,830 | 691,040 |
| 15 | Arizona | 851.71 | 60,414 | 7,093,233 |
| 16 | Texas | 812.12 | 263,180 | 32,406,355 |
| 17 | Mississippi | 790.35 | 25,296 | 3,200,594 |
| 18 | New Hampshire | 757.37 | 6,968 | 920,024 |
| 19 | Kansas | 678.82 | 19,480 | 2,869,691 |
| 20 | Louisiana | 613.11 | 32,039 | 5,225,688 |
| 21 | Colorado | 593.64 | 42,596 | 7,175,420 |
| 22 | Washington | 592.41 | 54,459 | 9,192,864 |
| 23 | Ohio | 589.85 | 61,604 | 10,443,946 |
| 24 | North Carolina | 570.29 | 54,399 | 9,538,792 |
| 25 | Arkansas | 564.08 | 17,031 | 3,019,237 |
| 26 | New York | 513.65 | 93,834 | 18,268,008 |
| 27 | Missouri | 449.03 | 25,377 | 5,651,462 |
| 28 | Wisconsin | 438.1 | 18,533 | 4,230,296 |
| 29 | Indiana | 349.04 | 18,261 | 5,231,741 |
| 30 | Iowa | 312.93 | 9,389 | 3,000,306 |
| 31 | Georgia | 304.48 | 32,159 | 10,561,974 |
| 32 | Nebraska | 300.8 | 5,134 | 1,706,785 |
| 33 | South Carolina | 281.64 | 13,045 | 4,631,800 |
| 34 | Tennessee | 262.11 | 20,607 | 7,862,060 |
| 35 | Nevada | 261.84 | 8,167 | 3,119,117 |
| 36 | Illinois | 251.95 | 30,544 | 12,123,082 |
| 37 | Alabama | 226.5 | 13,972 | 6,168,671 |
| 38 | New Jersey | 217.65 | 19,332 | 8,881,952 |
| 39 | Michigan | 210.66 | 15,820 | 7,509,650 |
| 40 | Kentucky | 206.88 | 9,427 | 4,556,638 |
| 41 | Virginia | 205.68 | 15,298 | 7,437,928 |
| 42 | Florida | 165.43 | 36,335 | 21,963,405 |
| 43 | Delaware | 121.98 | 1,242 | 1,018,198 |
| 44 | Massachusetts | 105.08 | 10,561 | 10,050,324 |
| 45 | California | 97.96 | 39,276 | 40,093,669 |
| 46 | Maryland | 96.34 | 5,321 | 5,523,173 |
| 47 | Minnesota | 81.03 | 3,784 | 4,670,079 |
| 48 | District of Columbia | 17.23 | 115 | 667,325 |
| 49 | Hawaii | 12.08 | 182 | 1,507,224 |
Key Takeaways
- Per-capita rankings can differ significantly from total violation rankings, surfacing smaller states with systemic issues.
- Rural states with many small water systems often have higher per-capita violation rates.
- Population figures reflect the total population served by tracked water systems, not total state population.
Methodology
Data is sourced from the EPA Safe Drinking Water Information System (SDWIS) via the Envirofacts API. Rankings include community water systems serving 100 or more people. Violation counts reflect historical records in the SDWIS database and include both resolved and unresolved violations. Health-based violations include Maximum Contaminant Level (MCL) violations and Treatment Technique violations. Per-capita calculations use the total population served by tracked water systems in each state.