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Virginia water profile

Nitrate in Virginia community water systems

Virginia's nitrate risk tracks its geology from east to west: layered Coastal Plain aquifers, a variable Piedmont, and the karst limestone of the Shenandoah Valley. See where higher public-system results concentrate and what each reporting system measured in the three years from August 9, 2023 to August 9, 2026.

Browse all 1,031 Virginia systems →

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

97%
of the state’s 1,059 active community water systems have a current result here
1,031
systems with a current nitrate result
7,079,973
people served by those reporting systems
1.8%
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 Virginia's systems fall across the five bands

Most systems report below 3 mg/L

Natural background
0.00–0.99 mg/L as N
830 systems · 6,776,796 served
Human impact likely
1.00–2.99 mg/L as N
121 systems · 233,441 served
Human impact clear
3.00–4.99 mg/L as N
61 systems · 58,708 served
Health-study range
5.00–9.99 mg/L as N
19 systems · 11,028 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 19 systems reporting 5 mg/L or more, 7 stayed at or above 5 across the whole three-year range; the other 12 reached it only on a high sample and otherwise ran lower.

Most recent reading Jun 2026; the typical system was last tested around Jan 2026. 840 systems sampled their own water; 191 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
Skyline Court Apartments8.08 mg/LMay 2026a high point — runs lowerHealth-study range12 samples50
Dayton, Town Of8.06 mg/LAug 2025a high point — runs lowerHealth-study range4 samples1,700
Tavenner Park7.64 mg/LJun 2026a high point — runs lowerHealth-study range7 samples228
Cascade Mobile Estates7.41 mg/LDec 2025a high point — runs lowerHealth-study range9 samples100
Pleasant Grove Subdivision7.00 mg/LFeb 2026Health-study range8 samples85
Twin Oaks Mobile Home Park6.91 mg/LJul 2025Health-study range3 samples50
Plains, The6.76 mg/LMar 2026a high point — runs lowerHealth-study range7 samples566
Harrisonburg Men`S Diversion Center6.60 mg/LJul 2025Health-study range3 samples140
Largest systems
SystemMost recent resultBandBased onPeople served
Fairfax County Water Authority0.86 mg/LMar 2026Natural background10 samples1,121,613
Virginia Beach, City Of0.03 mg/LFeb 2026Natural backgroundinherited from supplier437,994
Newport News, City Of0.05 mg/LNov 2024Natural background2 samples407,300
Chesterfield Co Central Water System0.03 mg/LApr 2026Natural background18 samples389,897
Loudoun Water - Central System0.86 mg/LMay 2025Natural background*1 sample334,808

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

Higher results track the Valley and Ridge and the farmed Piedmont

Human impact is clear on drinking water served in 29 of Virginia’s 133 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.

VA 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.Scott County — 1 system at 3.00–4.99 mg/L as N; 0 systems at 5.00 mg/L as N or aboveBotetourt County — 4 systems at 3.00–4.99 mg/L as N; 0 systems at 5.00 mg/L as N or aboveGreene County — 1 system at 3.00–4.99 mg/L as N; 0 systems at 5.00 mg/L as N or aboveLoudoun County — 5 systems at 3.00–4.99 mg/L as N; 0 systems at 5.00 mg/L as N or aboveHenry County — 1 system at 3.00–4.99 mg/L as N; 0 systems at 5.00 mg/L as N or aboveMontgomery County — 0 systems at 3.00–4.99 mg/L as N; 1 system at 5.00 mg/L as N or aboveAlbemarle County — 1 system at 3.00–4.99 mg/L as N; 1 system at 5.00 mg/L as N or aboveHalifax County — 1 system at 3.00–4.99 mg/L as N; 0 systems at 5.00 mg/L as N or aboveWarren County — 2 systems at 3.00–4.99 mg/L as N; 1 system at 5.00 mg/L as N or aboveMecklenburg County — 1 system at 3.00–4.99 mg/L as N; 0 systems at 5.00 mg/L as N or aboveShenandoah County — 4 systems at 3.00–4.99 mg/L as N; 1 system at 5.00 mg/L as N or aboveFloyd County — 1 system at 3.00–4.99 mg/L as N; 0 systems at 5.00 mg/L as N or aboveGiles County — 14 systems at 3.00–4.99 mg/L as N; 0 systems at 5.00 mg/L as N or aboveFranklin County — 1 system at 3.00–4.99 mg/L as N; 0 systems at 5.00 mg/L as N or abovePittsylvania County — 1 system at 3.00–4.99 mg/L as N; 1 system at 5.00 mg/L as N or aboveCulpeper County — 3 systems at 3.00–4.99 mg/L as N; 3 systems at 5.00 mg/L as N or aboveFauquier County — 3 systems at 3.00–4.99 mg/L as N; 3 systems at 5.00 mg/L as N or aboveCampbell County — 2 systems at 3.00–4.99 mg/L as N; 0 systems at 5.00 mg/L as N or aboveFrederick County — 0 systems at 3.00–4.99 mg/L as N; 1 system at 5.00 mg/L as N or aboveSpotsylvania County — 1 system at 3.00–4.99 mg/L as N; 0 systems at 5.00 mg/L as N or aboveAccomack County — 0 systems at 3.00–4.99 mg/L as N; 1 system at 5.00 mg/L as N or aboveRockingham County — 5 systems at 3.00–4.99 mg/L as N; 3 systems at 5.00 mg/L as N or aboveBrunswick County — 0 systems at 3.00–4.99 mg/L as N; 1 system at 5.00 mg/L as N or aboveRussell County — 2 systems at 3.00–4.99 mg/L as N; 0 systems at 5.00 mg/L as N or aboveAugusta County — 1 system at 3.00–4.99 mg/L as N; 0 systems at 5.00 mg/L as N or aboveMadison County — 2 systems at 3.00–4.99 mg/L as N; 0 systems at 5.00 mg/L as N or aboveLancaster County — 1 system at 3.00–4.99 mg/L as N; 0 systems at 5.00 mg/L as N or aboveBedford County — 2 systems at 3.00–4.99 mg/L as N; 2 systems at 5.00 mg/L as N or aboveNelson 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

Culpeper leads this layer with 3 reporting systems, followed by Fauquier, Rockingham, Bedford. Higher results track the Valley and Ridge and the farmed Piedmont. Coverage note: the map places 95% of Virginia’s reporting systems. Of the rest, 20 carry a supplier’s result measured elsewhere and belong off this map; 31 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
Giles14014
Rockingham538
Culpeper336
Fauquier336
Loudoun505

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 95% of Virginia’s reporting systems. Of the rest, 20 carry a supplier’s result measured elsewhere and belong off this map; 31 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 Virginia system

What the statewide pattern says

Four Virginias for nitrate

Virginia's higher nitrate follows the geology: shallow Coastal Plain water-table wells under farming, a variable crystalline Piedmont, the Delmarva Eastern Shore, and — the setting to watch — the Shenandoah Valley's agricultural karst.

In the Coastal Plain east of the Fall Line, shallow water-table wells under farming can carry nitrate while the deeper confined aquifers generally run lower. The central Piedmont's fractured crystalline rock is variable and mostly moderate-to-low (Nolan and Hitt, 2006). Virginia's Eastern Shore — Accomack and Northampton — is the Delmarva story: oxic surficial sand under poultry and row crops (Ator and Denver, 2015).

The setting to watch is the west: the Valley and Ridge, where the Shenandoah Valley's carbonate karst — sinkholes and springs over agricultural valleys — gives surface nitrogen rapid access to groundwater, the Appalachian karst vulnerability. The public-system map bears it out: Rockingham and Shenandoah counties in the valley carry higher-band systems, as does Giles County southwest along the same belt.

The supported source reading is agricultural, at zone level — poultry-heavy on the Shore, mixed farm nitrogen in the karst valleys — not a certified source at any individual system. As everywhere, the ground answers on a slow clock (Dubrovsky and others, 2010).

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 Virginia pattern does—and does not—say

Where does nitrate concentrate in Virginia community water systems?

Culpeper leads this layer with 3 reporting systems, followed by Fauquier, Rockingham, Bedford. Higher results track the Valley and Ridge and the farmed Piedmont.

Which Virginia settings carry the nitrate risk?

The Shenandoah Valley's agricultural karst is the one to watch — rapid pathways from surface to groundwater — along with shallow Coastal Plain water-table wells under farming and the Delmarva Eastern Shore. The crystalline Piedmont is variable and mostly moderate-to-low.

Can this page say the source is agriculture?

At the zone level, yes — carefully: poultry-heavy on the Eastern Shore, mixed farm nitrogen in the karst valleys. The evidence does not certify a source at each individual system.

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: 1,031 Virginia 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. Ator SW, Denver JM (2015). Understanding nutrients in the Chesapeake Bay watershed and implications for management and restoration — the Eastern Shore. USGS Circular 1406 — covers Virginia’s Delmarva counties.