Alachua County, Florida: drinking water report. Alachua County – Gainesville – serves about 280,000 residents.
Alachua County – Gainesville – serves about 280,000 residents. Gainesville Regional Utilities draws from the Floridan Aquifer, one of the most productive aquifer systems in the world. The University of Florida, the county's largest employer, operates its own campus water system connected to the city supply.
Gainesville's deep Floridan Aquifer wells produce water that is naturally clean by Florida standards. UCMR5 data shows minimal PFAS detections. The county does not host major military installations or heavy industrial PFAS sources.
According to the Florida DEP's 2024 monitoring data, Alachua County systems met all federal standards. The Cabot-Koppers Superfund site in Gainesville – a former wood treatment facility – is a localized contamination source, but it affects shallow groundwater and soils rather than the deep aquifer wells used for drinking water.
Alachua County benefits from a deep, clean aquifer. Water quality is generally good, with hardness being the primary aesthetic concern.
Check your water for data in your area. A water softener or reverse osmosis system handles hardness. Our water filter guide covers options. Pull your detailed report, and visit our Florida page for statewide data.
Drinking water is one exposure route. These federal datasets also cover Alachua County, FL.
The EPA places Alachua County, FL in Zone 2 - a moderate-risk category, with a predicted average indoor radon level between 2 and 4 pCi/L. Zone maps predict an area's radon potential from geology and existing indoor readings; they say nothing about a specific house. Testing is the only way to know your own level.
37% of homes in Alachua County, FL were built before 1980, and 5% before 1950. Residential lead paint was banned in 1978, so housing age is the strongest available proxy for lead-paint exposure. This describes the county's housing stock, not any one home.
Modelled annual fine-particle pollution (PM2.5) in Alachua County, FL averages 7.4 µg/m³, within the EPA's annual standard of 9 µg/m³. These are CDC modelled county estimates rather than readings from a specific monitor.
How radon zones work · Air quality by county · Lead exposure guide