Water quality · Bastrop
What's in Bastrop water, by the numbers
Bastrop tap water is safe to drink and meets state and federal standards, with one recent exception the city has documented and is fixing (a disinfection byproduct exceedance in 2024). City water is hard, about 16 grains per gallon on average, and disinfected with free chlorine. Outside the city the picture changes fast. Here are the numbers, with sources.
Looking for service instead of data? Water treatment in Bastrop
The headline numbers
Hard in town, and a different story past the city line
These come from the City of Bastrop's own Consumer Confidence Report, the annual water quality disclosure every utility publishes.
16gpg
Average hardness on the city system (12 to 18 range)
2024 CCR
267mg/L
Same hardness, as labs report it (CaCO₃)
2024 CCR
1.02ppm
Average free chlorine residual at the tap
2024 CCR
4
New Simsboro Aquifer wells feeding the city's new treatment plant
2024 CCR
The Water Quality Association calls anything over 10.5 gpg (180 mg/L) “very hard,” and the city system's average sits past that line. Some neighboring systems run far softer, which is why your own tap is the number that matters here.
Where the water comes from
Homes inside Bastrop are mostly served by the City of Bastrop's system. Through 2024 it drew on six wells in the Colorado River alluvial aquifer and one in the Simsboro Aquifer. The city's latest report says 2025 water comes from four new Simsboro wells treated at a brand-new plant, built partly to fix the disinfection byproduct problem noted below. As that transition settles in, the numbers on this page will shift, and we'll update them.
Outside the city line, most of Bastrop County is served by Aqua Water Supply Corporation, which pumps entirely from the Carrizo-Wilcox Aquifer through more than 40 wells. State sampling shows Aqua's hardness varies enormously by well, from nearly soft to well past very hard. Two Aqua households a few miles apart can have completely different water.
Tahitian Village has its own system, Bastrop County WCID 2, with water that state samples show is soft to moderately hard. Its report also discloses naturally occurring fluoride high enough that the state requires a notice for children under nine. Your water bill says which system is yours, and the free test works the same on all of them.
From the reports
Notable readings, next to their limits
A CCR lists everything detected. These are the entries homeowners ask about, from the City of Bastrop's 2024 report.
| Substance | Reported | Limit | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total trihalomethanes (TTHM) | 90 ppb (highest running average) | 80 ppb (MCL) | Exceeded in 2024; city correcting |
| Haloacetic acids (HAA5) | 21 ppb (highest running average) | 60 ppb (MCL) | Within limit |
| Nitrate | 5 ppm (highest) | 10 ppm (MCL) | Within limit |
| Fluoride | 0.6 ppm | 4 ppm (MCL) | Within limit |
| Arsenic | 4 ppb (highest) | 10 ppb (MCL) | Within limit |
| Lead (90th percentile, 2024) | 0 (none detected) | 15 ppb (action level) | Within limit |
| Copper (90th percentile, 2024) | 0.702 ppm | 1.3 ppm (action level) | Within limit |
| Total dissolved solids (TDS) | 541 ppm average (358 to 781 range) | 1,000 ppm (secondary) | Within limit |
The one flag in the city's 2024 report is trihalomethanes, a disinfection byproduct. One monitoring location averaged slightly over the federal limit for three quarters, and the city was also late notifying customers about it. The same report lays out the fix in detail. New wells, new treatment, and flushing changes came online in 2025 specifically to pull that number down. We note it because it's in the public record, and we'll update this page as the new plant's results come in.
Also worth knowing: the city reports no lead service lines were found in its system. On PFAS, see the dedicated numbers below, covering all three systems that serve the Bastrop area.
PFAS and nitrate
What the testing shows for PFAS and nitrate
These are the two contaminants homeowners ask us about most. Results differ by system here more than anywhere else we serve, so here's each one.
Nitrate is regulated because too much of it is genuinely dangerous, specifically for infants. The EPA's limit is 10 milligrams per liter, in place since 1992, and it's tied to a real health outcome: water above that level can cause blue baby syndrome in infants under six months who drink formula mixed with it. It isn't a concern for anyone else. The city system's highest recent reading, 5 ppm, is half the limit.
PFAS results depend on which system serves your address here, so we'll take them one at a time. The City of Bastrop's own testing, done across two rounds in 2025 and early 2026, checked for all 29 compounds on the current federal testing panel and found none of them, including PFOA and PFOS. Aqua Water Supply Corporation, which serves most of the county, tested the same panel in 2024 and came back under the EPA's reporting threshold for everything. Bastrop County WCID 2, which serves Tahitian Village, hasn't published PFAS results anywhere we could find, and we're not going to guess at a number. We'll update this page the day that changes.
None of that is unusual. The EPA set its first enforceable PFAS drinking water limits in 2024, 4 parts per trillion each for PFOA and PFOS, after tightening its health guidance for those two compounds from 70 parts per trillion in 2016 to near zero by 2022 as more research came in. Nobody can promise trace amounts below today's limits are completely harmless, because the science on PFAS is still being written. That's a fair reason to want extra filtering even where water tests clean, and a fair reason not to. We wrote up what actually removes PFAS if you want the honest version.
Which numbers are about safety, and which aren't
The table above is the safety layer. It covers regulated substances with legal limits, monitored constantly and publicly reported. That system works. It caught the trihalomethane exceedance, required the city to disclose it, and required a fix, which is exactly what happened.
Hardness, chlorine taste, and TDS live in a different category. The EPA doesn't set health limits for them because they aren't health problems. They're quality-of-life items, and around Bastrop they vary more from one system to the next than anywhere else we serve. Scale on your fixtures and off-tastes in your glass are optional. The safety layer stays the utility's job either way.
One question we hear a lot
Does Bastrop's water have PFAS?
It depends which system serves your address. The City of Bastrop's testing, completed in 2025 and early 2026, found no PFAS at all, including PFOA and PFOS. Aqua Water Supply Corporation, which serves most of the county, came back under the EPA's reporting threshold in its 2024 testing. Bastrop County WCID 2, which serves Tahitian Village, hasn't published PFAS results that we could find. Your water bill tells you which system is yours.
What a free test adds to the utility reports
Around Bastrop the honest answer is that the system average may not describe your street at all. City water, Aqua water, and Tahitian Village water are three different waters, and Aqua's varies well to well. The free in-home test measures hardness, chlorine, iron, and TDS at your own tap, and you keep the results.
Book the free testSources
- City of Bastrop 2024 Consumer Confidence Report (CCR)
- Aqua Water Supply Corporation 2024 Annual Water Quality Report
- Bastrop County WCID 2, 2025 Water Quality Report (Tahitian Village)
- TCEQ Drinking Water Viewer (systems TX0110001, TX0110013, TX0110020)
- Water Quality Association: hardness and scale deposits
- City of Bastrop 2025 Consumer Confidence Report
- City of Bastrop UCMR5 PFAS lab results
- EPA: PFAS national drinking water regulation
- EPA UCMR5 PFAS testing data finder
- EPA: Table of Regulated Drinking Water Contaminants (nitrate)
Figures reflect the most recent official reports at the time of writing. CCRs update annually.
Get your tap's own numbers
The free test takes about 30 minutes at your kitchen sink. We measure hardness, chlorine, iron, and TDS, and we explain every number in plain English. The utility tests the system, and we test your house.
What you get
- Hardness, chlorine, iron, and TDS tested at your tap
- Results explained in plain English, yours to keep
- A recommendation sized to your home (only if you want one)