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Georgia water profile

Nitrate in Georgia community water systems

Georgia's nitrate map splits in two: a documented cluster in the southwest, where peanut-and-cotton country sits on the karst Upper Floridan aquifer, and a scatter of Piedmont systems the literature has not explained. See the pattern and what each reporting system measured in the three years from August 9, 2023 to August 9, 2026.

Browse all 1,723 Georgia systems →

Search by the utility or system name shown on a water bill. Example: City of Bainbridge. Private wells are not in this inventory.

99%
of the state’s 1,742 active community water systems have a current result here
1,723
systems with a current nitrate result
10,589,960
people served by those reporting systems
1.0%
of reporting systems at or above 5 mg/L
How to read these numbers Each system is placed into a band by its most recent reported result within a rolling three-year window. The bands describe how strongly human activity, read from nitrate, has marked a water source; they are not a safety verdict. Figures describe system reporting, not nitrate measured at an individual tap.

How Georgia's systems fall across the five bands

Most systems report below 3 mg/L

Natural background
0.00–0.99 mg/L as N
1,458 systems · 7,490,459 served
Human impact likely
1.00–2.99 mg/L as N
206 systems · 2,929,599 served
Human impact clear
3.00–4.99 mg/L as N
42 systems · 117,282 served
Health-study range
5.00–9.99 mg/L as N
17 systems · 52,620 served
Above the federal limit
10.00 mg/L and above
0 systems · 0 served

Each system appears in one band only, placed by its most recent reported result in the current three-year window. Counts sit beside people served so a small number of larger systems cannot hide behind a row of tiny ones. Of the 17 systems reporting 5 mg/L or more, 8 stayed at or above 5 across the whole three-year range; the other 9 reached it only on a high sample and otherwise ran lower.

Most recent reading May 2026; the typical system was last tested around Dec 2025. 1,633 systems sampled their own water; 90 systems carry a supplier’s result.

The named systems

Every reading here belongs to a utility with a name

Highest recent readings
SystemMost recent resultBandBased onPeople served
Rutledge Water System9.90 mg/LApr 2026a high point — runs lowerHealth-study range17 samples993
Federated Trust Subdivision Water Sys.9.00 mg/LApr 2026Health-study range14 samples130
Rbe Ii8.96 mg/LApr 2026Health-study range11 samples124
The Bridges Subdivision8.60 mg/LMar 2026Health-study range11 samples97
Athens Boat Club8.58 mg/LApr 2026a high point — runs lowerHealth-study range12 samples325
Buchanan6.63 mg/LApr 2026Health-study rangeinherited from supplier1,326
Tallapoosa6.63 mg/LApr 2026Health-study rangeinherited from supplier4,680
Haralson County Water Authority6.63 mg/LApr 2026Health-study range12 samples12,220
Largest systems
SystemMost recent resultBandBased onPeople served
Atlanta1.01 mg/LMar 2026Human impact likely6 samples1,089,893
Gwinnett Co. Dept. Of Water Resources0.86 mg/LApr 2026Natural background6 samples975,000
Dekalb County0.64 mg/LMar 2026Natural background3 samples743,000
Cobb County1.17 mg/LFeb 2026Human impact likelyinherited from supplier695,000
North Fulton County0.86 mg/LApr 2026Natural backgroundinherited from supplier434,517

Each result shows its date and what it rests on, so a lone sample is never taken for a settled measurement. A single high sample is not a complete account of what a household drinks.

Where higher nitrate concentrates

A southwest karst cluster and a Piedmont scatter

Human impact is clear on drinking water served in 23 of Georgia’s 159 counties. Each is shaded by how many of its systems reported 3.00 mg/L as N or above. Shading counts systems, not severity — a county with many small utilities can outrank one holding a single larger system that reads higher. The table beside the map splits the two bands so that difference stays visible.

GA counties shaded by number of community water systems reporting nitrate at or above 3.00 mg/L as NCounties are shaded by how many community water systems reported nitrate at or above 3.00 mg/L as N in the three years from August 9, 2023 to August 9, 2026. The same counts appear in the table below this map.Haralson County — 0 systems at 3.00–4.99 mg/L as N; 4 systems at 5.00 mg/L as N or aboveClarke County — 1 system at 3.00–4.99 mg/L as N; 0 systems at 5.00 mg/L as N or aboveBartow County — 2 systems at 3.00–4.99 mg/L as N; 0 systems at 5.00 mg/L as N or aboveDecatur County — 2 systems at 3.00–4.99 mg/L as N; 3 systems at 5.00 mg/L as N or aboveJones County — 1 system at 3.00–4.99 mg/L as N; 0 systems at 5.00 mg/L as N or aboveMorgan County — 0 systems at 3.00–4.99 mg/L as N; 1 system at 5.00 mg/L as N or aboveMadison County — 1 system at 3.00–4.99 mg/L as N; 0 systems at 5.00 mg/L as N or aboveButts County — 1 system at 3.00–4.99 mg/L as N; 0 systems at 5.00 mg/L as N or aboveRockdale County — 1 system at 3.00–4.99 mg/L as N; 1 system at 5.00 mg/L as N or aboveGlascock County — 2 systems at 3.00–4.99 mg/L as N; 0 systems at 5.00 mg/L as N or aboveMacon County — 1 system at 3.00–4.99 mg/L as N; 0 systems at 5.00 mg/L as N or aboveWalton County — 1 system at 3.00–4.99 mg/L as N; 0 systems at 5.00 mg/L as N or aboveDawson County — 0 systems at 3.00–4.99 mg/L as N; 1 system at 5.00 mg/L as N or aboveJefferson County — 0 systems at 3.00–4.99 mg/L as N; 1 system at 5.00 mg/L as N or aboveElbert County — 0 systems at 3.00–4.99 mg/L as N; 1 system at 5.00 mg/L as N or aboveLowndes County — 1 system at 3.00–4.99 mg/L as N; 0 systems at 5.00 mg/L as N or aboveTalbot County — 1 system at 3.00–4.99 mg/L as N; 0 systems at 5.00 mg/L as N or aboveOconee County — 1 system at 3.00–4.99 mg/L as N; 0 systems at 5.00 mg/L as N or aboveJasper County — 1 system at 3.00–4.99 mg/L as N; 0 systems at 5.00 mg/L as N or aboveFayette County — 1 system at 3.00–4.99 mg/L as N; 0 systems at 5.00 mg/L as N or aboveHabersham County — 1 system at 3.00–4.99 mg/L as N; 0 systems at 5.00 mg/L as N or aboveWilkes County — 2 systems at 3.00–4.99 mg/L as N; 0 systems at 5.00 mg/L as N or aboveOglethorpe County — 1 system at 3.00–4.99 mg/L as N; 0 systems at 5.00 mg/L as N or above
none1–23–56–1112–2526+Number of drinking water systems reporting ≥3.00 mg/L NO₃–N per county as of August 9, 2026

Haralson leads this layer with 4 reporting systems, followed by Decatur, Dawson, Elbert. A southwest karst cluster and a Piedmont scatter. Coverage note: the map places 52% of Georgia’s reporting systems. Of the rest, 32 carry a supplier’s result measured elsewhere and belong off this map; 788 sampled their own water and are missing a county in the records, so the map reads as a floor by at least that much.

Counties with the most systems at or above 3 mg/L as N
County3–4.99≥5Total ≥3
Decatur235
Haralson044
Bartow202
Glascock202
Rockdale112

Counts use each system's most recent reported result in the current three-year window. A system appears in only one of the two bands. Coverage note: the map places 52% of Georgia’s reporting systems. Of the rest, 32 carry a supplier’s result measured elsewhere and belong off this map; 788 sampled their own water and are missing a county in the records, so the map reads as a floor by at least that much.

Find a specific Georgia system

What the statewide pattern says

Where the limestone crops out, the crops reach the aquifer

Georgia's clearest nitrate signal sits in and around Decatur County and the Dougherty Plain — irrigated row crop on the thinly covered karst Upper Floridan aquifer, where USGS monitoring shows wells holding at or above the federal limit for years.

Georgia's 34 mapped systems above the natural-background band gather in two regions: the southwest, led by Decatur County on the Dougherty Plain, and a Piedmont scatter led by Haralson, Bartow and Rockdale counties. The southwest cluster has half a century of USGS documentation behind it; the Piedmont scatter, this page must say honestly, does not.

The Dougherty Plain is the mechanism made visible. The Upper Floridan aquifer's Ocala limestone crops out there under only a thin weathered residuum, in a karst landscape of sinkholes, and center-pivot irrigation since about 1975 has made it the primary source for an 18-county farm economy built on peanuts, cotton and vegetables (USGS SIR 2016-5161). Rainfall infiltration through that thin cover recharges the aquifer directly.

The monitoring record shows the result. USGS and Albany Utilities have sampled the aquifer since 1977; recent rounds found nitrate at 2.3 to 10.5 mg/L, with one Upper Floridan well above the 10 mg/L federal limit continuously since 2014 and a surficial well at 10.5 (USGS OFR 2024-1060). Springs feeding the lower Flint River tell the same story at lower amplitude: 1.74 to 3.30 mg/L, against a historical aquifer background of 0.26 to 1.52 (JAWRA, 2011).

The honest gap: no dedicated county-level study explains the Piedmont cluster — fractured crystalline rock under poultry and dairy country in north Georgia is the setting, but this page cannot cite the work that would confirm it. The supported source reading for the state is irrigated row-crop nitrogen on karst limestone in the southwest; setting-only in the Piedmont — not a certified source at any individual system (Nolan and Hitt, 2006).

The general science — how nitrate moves, why some ground is vulnerable, and why the legacy lingers — is laid out with its sources on Where nitrate comes from.

Questions this page answers

What the Georgia pattern does—and does not—say

Where does nitrate concentrate in Georgia community water systems?

Haralson leads this layer with 4 reporting systems, followed by Decatur, Dawson, Elbert. A southwest karst cluster and a Piedmont scatter.

Why is southwest Georgia's nitrate problem so well documented?

Because the setting demands it: the Upper Floridan aquifer crops out in karst terrain under intensive irrigated agriculture, and it supplies both the farms and the cities. USGS has monitored it with Albany Utilities since 1977, giving the region one of the longest continuous nitrate records in the Southeast — including a well above the federal limit every year since 2014.

Should a Georgia private well be tested for nitrate?

Yes, especially on the Dougherty Plain and in the karst counties of the southwest, where sinkholes and thin soils connect the surface to the aquifer directly. Piedmont wells on fractured crystalline rock near poultry or dairy operations carry the same untested share; radon argues for a broad panel there.

Does a high public-system result mean a nearby private well is high?

No. It is a local sentinel, not a well-specific result. It shows that nitrogen and a transport pathway have reached groundwater in the area; a certified-lab test is still the only way to know a specific private well.

Sources and provenance

What this page rests on

  1. NitrateSmart inventory: 1,723 Georgia community water systems with a current nitrate result in the three years from August 9, 2023 to August 9, 2026. Figures count people served by reporting systems, not measured tap exposure.
  2. Nolan BT, Hitt KJ (2006). Vulnerability of Shallow Groundwater and Drinking-Water Wells to Nitrate in the United States. Environmental Science & Technology 40(24):7834–7840.
  3. Dubrovsky NM, and others (2010). Nutrients in the Nation's Streams and Groundwater, 1992–2004. USGS Circular 1350.
  4. USGS (2024). Groundwater Quality and Groundwater Levels in Dougherty County, Georgia, April 2020 through January 2023. OFR 2024-1060 — Upper Floridan nitrate 2.3–10.5 mg/L; well 12L277 above the 10 mg/L MCL continuously since 2014.
  5. USGS (2016). Hydrology of the Upper Floridan Aquifer in Georgia (SIR 2016-5161) — Dougherty Plain karst outcrop, thin residuum, center-pivot irrigation since ~1975 makes the aquifer the primary farm and supply source.
  6. Carroll RW, and others (2011). Nitrate Concentrations in Springs Flowing into the Lower Flint River. JAWRA — spring nitrate 1.74–3.30 mg/L vs historical aquifer background 0.26–1.52 mg/L.