Water quality · Buda
What's in Buda water, by the numbers
Buda tap water is safe to drink, meets state and federal standards, and reported no health-based violations in the city's latest annual report. It's also very hard, roughly 15 to 18 grains per gallon in state compliance samples, and disinfected with free chlorine. Here are the numbers, with sources.
Looking for service instead of data? Water treatment in Buda
The headline numbers
Very hard, chlorinated, and mostly Canyon Lake
These come from Buda's own Consumer Confidence Reports and TCEQ's compliance sampling records for the city system.
18gpg
Top of the latest range (15 to 18 gpg)
TCEQ, 2026
312mg/L
Highest recent sample (as CaCO₃)
TCEQ, 2026
1.0ppm
Average free chlorine residual at the tap
2025 CCR
70%
Canyon Lake surface water, with the rest from Edwards Aquifer wells
2025 CCR
The Water Quality Association calls anything over 10.5 gpg (180 mg/L) “very hard,” the top of its scale. Every hardness sample on record for Buda's system since 2012 lands past that line.
Where the water comes from
Most Buda homes are served by the City of Buda's system. About 70 percent of the supply is Canyon Lake water that travels down the Guadalupe River and gets treated at the San Marcos surface water plant, which GBRA operates. The other 30 percent comes from five city wells in the Edwards Aquifer, treated at each well site.
A third source is plumbed in and waiting: the Alliance Regional Water Authority pipeline, carrying Carrizo-Wilcox Aquifer water, has been available to Buda since early 2025. The city's latest report says it hasn't taken water from it yet. When it does, the blend (and the numbers on this page) will shift.
One caveat: some addresses in and around Buda are served by other utilities, like Goforth Water Supply or Monarch Water, rather than the city. Your water bill says which system is yours, and the free test works the same either way.
From the reports
Notable readings, next to their limits
A CCR lists everything detected. These are the entries homeowners ask about, from Buda's 2025 report.
| Substance | Reported | Limit | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nitrate | 2.05 ppm (highest) | 10 ppm (MCL) | Within limit |
| Fluoride (naturally occurring) | 0.2 ppm | 4 ppm (MCL) | Within limit |
| Total trihalomethanes (TTHM) | 63 ppb (highest running average) | 80 ppb (MCL) | Within limit |
| Haloacetic acids (HAA5) | 25 ppb (highest running average) | 60 ppb (MCL) | Within limit |
| Lead (90th percentile, 2025) | 1.46 ppb | 15 ppb (action level) | Within limit |
| Copper (90th percentile, 2025) | 0.2 ppm | 1.3 ppm (action level) | Within limit |
Buda's system reported no health-based violations in recent years. TCEQ's records do show three paperwork items under the lead and copper rules (a sampling count that came up one short in 2024 and two late notifications in 2025), each corrected and back in compliance per the city's reports. We note them because they're in the public record. None of them involved the water itself.
Also worth knowing: 2024 federal PFAS sampling found no PFOA or PFOS in Buda's water, and the small fluoride reading is naturally occurring (the city doesn't add it).
PFAS and nitrate
What the testing shows for PFAS and nitrate
These are the two contaminants homeowners ask us about most. Here's what Buda's own testing found, and what the numbers mean.
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. Buda's highest recent reading, 2.05 ppm, is about a fifth of the limit.
PFAS, often called forever chemicals, are a newer and less settled story. They're manufactured compounds used for decades in things like nonstick coatings and firefighting foam, and they break down very slowly. The EPA set its first enforceable drinking water limits for six of them in 2024, 4 parts per trillion each for PFOA and PFOS, the two studied longest. Those numbers have moved before: EPA's health guidance for PFOA and PFOS was 70 parts per trillion in 2016 and near zero by 2022, tightening as more research came in. Buda's required testing found no PFOA or PFOS at any sampling point. Two other compounds turned up in trace amounts, neither with a federal limit yet. 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 the water passes every current test, 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, and Buda's water passes it.
Hardness and chlorine taste 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. In fact, Buda's annual report doesn't publish a hardness number at all, so the figures up top come from TCEQ's own sampling of the city's treated water. They're also what you actually notice every day, and what treatment exists to fix. Scale on your fixtures and pool-taste in your glass are optional. The safety layer stays the utility's job either way.
One question we hear a lot
Does Buda's water have PFAS?
Buda's required federal testing in 2023 and 2024 found no PFOA or PFOS, the two PFAS compounds with the strictest federal limits, at any of the city's sampling points. Two other compounds, PFBA and PFPeA, showed up in trace amounts under 17 parts per trillion, neither of which has a federal limit. The city's own report and EPA's public testing data agree.
What a free test adds to the city's report
Buda's CCR doesn't publish hardness or TDS, and the state samples that do exist measure the system, not your house. The free in-home test measures hardness, chlorine, iron, and TDS at your own tap, at the end of your particular pipes, and you keep the results.
Book the free testSources
- City of Buda 2025 Annual Drinking Water Quality Report (CCR)
- City of Buda 2024 Annual Drinking Water Quality Report (CCR)
- TCEQ Drinking Water Viewer (system TX1050012)
- City of Buda Water Department
- Water Quality Association: hardness and scale deposits
- 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 city 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)