Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania: drinking water report. Lackawanna County sits in northeastern Pennsylvania, anchored by Scranton, the state's
Lackawanna County sits in northeastern Pennsylvania, anchored by Scranton, the state's sixth-largest city, along with Carbondale, Dunmore, and Old Forge. The county draws its water from a mix of surface sources (the Lackawanna River, Roaring Brook, and several reservoirs) and groundwater wells serving smaller communities. Like much of the Wyoming Valley region, Lackawanna County's water infrastructure reflects both its industrial coal-mining past and ongoing efforts to modernize aging distribution systems.
Pennsylvania's most recent lead and copper testing shows that older northeastern cities face persistent challenges with service line replacement. Scranton began identifying lead service lines in recent years, and thousands remain in residential connections throughout the county. Homes built before 1986 (particularly those from the early 1900s boom period) are at highest risk. The state requires utilities to test at high-risk homes every three years, but spot testing doesn't capture every household's exposure level.
PFAS contamination follows patterns seen across Pennsylvania's former industrial corridors. The EPA's fifth Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Rule (UCMR5) found PFAS in public water systems statewide, though not all Lackawanna County utilities have completed testing yet. Military sites, airports, and manufacturing facilities historically used PFAS-containing firefighting foam, and these chemicals persist in groundwater for decades. Communities near Scranton's industrial zones or drawing from shallow aquifers tend to show detectable levels, though concentrations vary widely by source and treatment capacity.
The county's coal mining legacy presents additional concerns. Abandoned mine drainage affects tributaries feeding into major water sources, introducing metals and lowering pH levels in some surface waters. While modern treatment plants handle much of this contamination, older distribution pipes can leach metals when water chemistry shifts. Disinfection byproducts (trihalomethanes and haloacetic acids) also appear in systems using chlorine treatment, particularly during summer months when organic matter levels rise in reservoir sources.
Test your specific address through Check your water to see current contaminant data for your utility and ZIP code. If you live in a pre-1986 home or apartment, prioritize NSF-certified filters that remove both lead and PFAS until service line replacement reaches your street. Review filter options in our water filter guide, request your utility's most recent testing through a detailed report, and compare your county's results against broader trends on the Pennsylvania state page.
Drinking water is one exposure route. These federal datasets also cover Lackawanna County, PA.
The EPA places Lackawanna County, PA in Zone 1 - the EPA's highest-risk category, where the predicted average indoor radon level is above 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.
76% of homes in Lackawanna County, PA were built before 1980, and 45% 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 Lackawanna County, PA averages 7 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