Broward County, Florida: drinking water report. Broward County – Fort Lauderdale and its surrounding communities – serves about 1.9 million residents.
Broward County – Fort Lauderdale and its surrounding communities – serves about 1.9 million residents. Like Miami-Dade to the south, Broward draws almost exclusively from the Biscayne Aquifer, a shallow, porous limestone formation that is highly productive but equally vulnerable to contamination from the surface. The county operates multiple wellfields and treatment plants, with different areas receiving water from different facilities.
Saltwater intrusion is an escalating threat in Broward County. The Biscayne Aquifer sits at sea level in a county where the highest natural elevation is about 24 feet. The USGS has documented the saltwater interface moving westward across southeastern Florida, and Broward's eastern wellfields are on the front line of this advance. Several wells have already been relocated or had their capacity reduced.
PFAS detections have also appeared in the county's UCMR5 data. Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport and former military facilities contribute to localized contamination. According to a 2024 Florida Department of Environmental Protection report, 11 public water systems in Broward County detected at least one PFAS compound above federal reporting thresholds.
With a shallow aquifer and rising seas, water quality in Broward County is a moving target. Conditions can shift year to year as the saltwater front advances and seasonal pumping patterns change.
Check your water regularly to stay current on monitoring data for your area. For PFAS, reverse osmosis is the most effective household filter type. For taste issues related to mineral content and saltwater influence, RO also helps. Our water filter guide explains the tradeoffs. Pull your detailed report for trends, and visit our Florida page for the statewide picture.
Drinking water is one exposure route. These federal datasets also cover Broward County, FL.
The EPA places Broward County, FL in Zone 3 - the EPA's lowest-risk category, with a predicted average indoor radon level below 2 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.
51% of homes in Broward County, FL were built before 1980, and 2% 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 Broward 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