Yes, by the federal measure. Of the 13 public water systems in Baldwin County that we profile, 12 have no health-based violations on their EPA record, and the one that did returned to compliance in December 2022. Safe in that sense means under every legal limit. It does not mean nothing was detected, and it says nothing about the plumbing inside your house.
The rest of this page is the evidence, system by system, and the parts of the question a compliance record cannot answer. Every system below links to its full profile on our Mobile and Baldwin County water-quality hub.
Is Baldwin County water safe to drink?
Yes, in the sense federal law uses the word. Twelve of the 13 systems profiled here have zero health-based violations on the EPA's record, and the thirteenth fixed its only problem in 2022. Every system still has detections, mostly naturally occurring or by-products of disinfection, and most sit well under their limits.
"Safe" in drinking-water law has a precise meaning. Each regulated substance has a Maximum Contaminant Level, set as close to the health goal as treatment and cost allow. A system is compliant when it stays under those levels and does its required monitoring.
Two things that definition leaves out are covered further down: your own plumbing, and substances with no federal limit at all.
What does the EPA record show for each Baldwin water system?
465 violation records across 13 systems, of which 4 are health-based, all at one system. The other 461 are monitoring and reporting failures, meaning a sample or report was late or missing rather than a limit being exceeded. Two systems, Gulf Shores and Loxley, have no records of any kind.
The table below is drawn from the EPA's Safe Drinking Water Information System (SDWIS), pulled on 23 September 2026. "People served" is the figure each system reports to the EPA. Each system name links to its profile on this site, which lists the contaminants detected and links to the EPA source.
| Water system | EPA ID | People served | Source (EPA) | Violation records | Health-based |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fairhope Public Utilities | AL0000035 | 59,850 | Groundwater | 34 | 0 |
| Riviera Utilities | AL0000036 | 50,919 | Groundwater | 30 | 0 |
| Gulf Shores Utilities | AL0000038 | 40,947 | Groundwater | 0 | 0 |
| Daphne Utilities | AL0000029 | 33,372 | Groundwater | 7 | 0 |
| North Baldwin Utilities | AL0000023 | 28,713 | Groundwater | 122 | 0 |
| Orange Beach Water Authority | AL0000053 | 17,796 | Groundwater | 99 | 0 |
| Belforest Water System | AL0000025 | 17,268 | Groundwater | 6 | 0 |
| Robertsdale Water Department | AL0000061 | 13,242 | Groundwater | 101 | 0 |
| Perdido Bay Water, Sewer & FPD | AL0001490 | 12,765 | Groundwater | 7 | 4 |
| Spanish Fort Water System | AL0000068 | 10,161 | Purchased surface water | 54 | 0 |
| Town of Loxley Water | AL0000048 | 10,104 | Groundwater | 0 | 0 |
| Silverhill Water | AL0000065 | 2,058 | Groundwater | 4 | 0 |
| Summerdale Water Works | AL0000073 | 1,800 | Groundwater | 1 | 0 |
A few notes on reading it:
- A high record count is usually a filing problem. North Baldwin's 122 and Robertsdale's 101 records are all monitoring and reporting. Here is why the distinction matters.
- Riviera Utilities appears in EPA records under its legal name, the Utilities Board of the City of Foley. It serves Foley and all or part of several nearby towns.
- Population figures are self-reported to the EPA and can differ from a utility's own count. Fairhope's website, for example, estimates about 40,000 residents on nearly 20,000 connections.
- Some smaller systems have no page yet. Park City Water Authority and East Central Baldwin County Water & Fire Protection Authority appear as rows on the water-quality hub, without full profiles, because we do not yet have independent contaminant readings for them.
You can check any row yourself. The EPA's ECHO database lists each system's record by ID, for example Perdido Bay's detailed report.
Which Baldwin system had a health-based violation, and what was it?
Perdido Bay Water, Sewer & Fire Protection District, for combined radium. EPA records show four consecutive quarters, from October 2021 through September 2022, when its running average of radium-226 and radium-228 was 6.21 to 7.22 pCi/L against a limit of 5. The record shows it returned to compliance on 9 December 2022.
Radium comes from the rock and sediment that aquifers pass through, not from anything added in treatment. It shows up at low levels across the region, which our radium post covers in more detail. Perdido Bay is the only Baldwin system where the running average crossed the limit. Its current profile is on the Perdido Bay page.
Where does Baldwin County's water come from?
Wells, for 12 of the 13 systems. The EPA classes Spanish Fort Water System as purchased surface water, meaning it buys treated river or reservoir water, and every other system here as groundwater. That split explains much of the difference in what shows up on each report.
Surface water carries more organic matter, and disinfectants react with organic matter to form by-products such as trihalomethanes. Groundwater systems generally run lower on those and higher on things the aquifer contributes, such as naturally occurring radium or low pH.
Two primary examples, both from utility reports on 2025 testing:
- Daphne Utilities pumps from the Miocene Aquifer through 13 wells, according to its website, and reported total trihalomethanes from not detected up to 14.0 ppb, against a limit of 80 (2026 report).
- Fairhope Public Utilities draws from 13 groundwater wells and reported total trihalomethanes of 1.3 to 7.9 ppb (2026 report, via the city's utilities page).
Neighbouring groundwater systems still differ. Daphne and Fairhope sit a few miles apart and their reports differ on pH and dissolved minerals, which is the subject of our Daphne and Fairhope comparison.
What does a clean compliance record not tell you?
It does not describe your tap, and it does not cover substances without a federal limit. Utility figures are system-wide. Lead and copper come mainly from household plumbing, and several compounds flagged by independent groups, such as hexavalent chromium, have no federal limit to be in violation of.
Three gaps worth knowing:
- Your plumbing. Daphne's 2026 report is typical in saying that lead in household water usually comes from the plumbing in the house, not the local supply. A system can have no lead service lines and a house can still have lead-bearing fixtures.
- Where you sit on the system. Disinfectant is highest near the plant, and by-products keep forming as water travels. That is why two houses on the same system can read differently.
- No-limit substances. Each utility profile on this site lists readings above the Environmental Working Group's health guidelines. Those guidelines are stricter than federal law and are a judgement about long-term risk, not a legal standard.
A utility's annual report is still the right place to start. It arrives by July 1 each year and covers the previous calendar year.
What about private wells in Baldwin County?
Private wells are outside all of this. Federal drinking water rules cover public systems, not household wells. No one is required to test a private well, so there is no compliance record to look up. The owner decides what gets tested and how often.
If you are on a well, start with our well water guide.
On the Eastern Shore, check which system actually serves your address before reading its report. A Daphne mailing address is not always on Daphne Utilities: Belforest, Park City and Riviera Utilities also serve parts of the Daphne area. Our Daphne service-area page covers what we see there.
For what is coming out of your own tap rather than the system average, the free in-home water screen reads hardness, chlorine and total dissolved solids and includes a soap test, with results on the spot. For a legal or health decision, such as a lead question for a young child, use a state-certified laboratory.
Compliance figures are from EPA SDWIS, pulled 23 September 2026. Daphne and Fairhope figures are from each utility's 2026 Consumer Confidence Report covering testing in 2025.