Vanderburgh County, Indiana: drinking water report. Vanderburgh County in southwestern Indiana has a population of about 182,000, centered on Evansville.
Vanderburgh County in southwestern Indiana has a population of about 182,000, centered on Evansville. The Evansville Water & Sewer Utility draws from the Ohio River – the largest tributary of the Mississippi, carrying the accumulated discharges of Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Louisville, and hundreds of communities and industrial facilities along its 981-mile path. The Ohio River at Evansville has traveled farther and collected more than at most upstream intakes.
The Ohio River Valley Water Sanitation Commission (ORSANCO) monitors the river from Pittsburgh to Cairo, Illinois. According to ORSANCO's 2024 assessment, the Ohio River at Evansville carries detectable levels of over 40 contaminants including PFAS, pharmaceuticals, and industrial chemicals. The river also receives coal ash pond leachate from power plants along its banks, introducing heavy metals and selenium.
The EPA's UCMR5 data shows PFAS detections in the Evansville system. Dress Regional Airport has used AFFF foam, and industrial facilities along the Ohio River contribute additional PFAS through wastewater discharges. A 2024 IDEM report documented PFAS at low levels across two monitoring points in the county's system.
Drinking Ohio River water at Evansville means drinking the downstream product of everything the river has encountered along its entire path. The treatment plant handles it, but the source water is among the most chemically complex in the country.
Check your water for monitoring data at your address. For the range of contaminants in Ohio River water, reverse osmosis at the kitchen tap provides the most comprehensive household protection. Our water filter guide covers systems for river-sourced water. Pull your detailed report for trends, and visit our Indiana page for statewide context.
Drinking water is one exposure route. These federal datasets also cover Vanderburgh County, IN.
The EPA places Vanderburgh County, IN 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.
64% of homes in Vanderburgh County, IN were built before 1980, and 27% 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 Vanderburgh County, IN averages 9.2 µg/m³, above 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