Table of Contents
Can You Drink Tap Water in Shelby?
Yes, Shelby's tap water is generally considered safe to drink as Shelby has no active health based violations of the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) that we are aware of. Other factors such as lead piping in a home, or low levels of pollutants on immunocompromised individuals, should also be considered, however. To find more recent info we might have, you can check out our boil water notice page or the city's water provider website.
According the EPA’s ECHO database, from April 30, 2019 to June 30, 2022, Shelby's water utility, City of Shelby, had 1 non-health-based violations of the Safe Drinking Water Act. For more details on the violations, please see our violation history section below. This assessment is based on the City of Shelby water system, other water systems in the city may have different results.
While tap water that meets the EPA health guidelines generally won’t make you sick to your stomach, it can still contain regulated and unregulated contaminants present in trace amounts that could potentially cause health issues over the long-run. These trace contaminants may also impact immunocompromised and vulnerable individuals.
The EPA is reviewing if it’s current regulations around pollutant levels in tap water are strict enough, and the health dangers posed by unregulated pollutants, like PFAS.
Shelby Tap Water Safe Drinking Water Act Violation History - Prior 10 Years
Below is a ten year history of violations for the water system named City of Shelby for Shelby in North Carolina. For more details please see the "What do these Violations Mean?" section below.
For the compliance period beginning July 1, 2020, Shelby had 1 non-health based Safe Drinking Water Act violation with the violation category being Other Violation, more specifically, the violation code was Consumer Confidence Report Complete Failure to Report which falls into the Other rule code group, and the Consumer Confidence Rule rule code family for the following contaminant code: Consumer Confidence Rule.
Is there Lead in Shelby Water?
Based on the EPA’s ECHO Database, 90% of the samples taken from the Shelby water system, City of Shelby, between sample start date and sample end date, were at or below, 0.0 mg/L of lead in Shelby water. This is 0% of the 0.015 mg/L action level. This means 10% of the samples taken from Shelby contained more lead.
While Shelby water testing may have found 0.0 mg/L of lead in its water, that does not mean your water source has the same amount. The amount of lead in water in a city can vary greatly from neighborhood to neighborhood, or even building to building. Many buildings, particularly older ones, have lead pipes or service lines which can be a source of contamination. To find out if your home has lead, we recommend getting you water tested.
No amount of lead in water is healthy, only less dangerous. As lead accumulates in our bodies over time, even exposure to relatively small amounts can have negative health effects. For more information, please check out our Lead FAQ page.
Are there PFAS in Shelby Tap Water?
Currently, testing tap water for PFAS isn’t mandated on a national level. We do have a list of military bases where there have been suspected or confirmed leaks. There appears to be at least one military base - Charlotte Douglas International Airport - near Shelby with suspected leaks.
With many potential sources of PFAS in tap water across the US, the best information we currently have about which cities have PFAS in their water is this ewg map, which you can check to see if Shelby has been evaluated for yet.
Our stance is better safe than sorry, and that it makes sense to try to purify the tap water just in case.
Shelby SDWA Violation History Table - Prior 10 Years
| Compliance Period | Status | Health-Based? | Category Code | Code | Rule Code | Contaminant Code | Rule Group Code | Rule Family Code |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 07/01/2020 - | Resolved | No | Other Violation (Other) | Consumer Confidence Report Complete Failure to Report (71) | Consumer Confidence Rule (420) | Consumer Confidence Rule (7000) | Other (400) | Consumer Confidence Rule (420) |
What do these Violations Mean?
Safe Drinking Water Act Violations categories split into two groups, health based, and non-health based. Generally, health based violations are more serious, though non-health based violations can also be cause for concern.
Health Based Violations
- Maximum contaminant levels (MCLs) - maximum allowed contaminant level was exceeded.
- Maximum residual disinfectant levels (MRDLs) - maximum allowed disinfectant level was exceeded.
- Other violations (Other) - the exact required process to reduce the amounts of contaminants in drinking water was not followed.
Non-Health Based Violations
- Monitoring and reporting violations (MR, MON) - failure to conduct the required regular monitoring of drinking water quality, and/or to submit monitoring results on time.
- Public notice violations (Other) - failure to immediately alert consumers if there is a serious problem with their drinking water that may pose a risk to public health.
- Other violations (Other) - miscellaneous violations, such as failure to issue annual consumer confidence reports or maintain required records.
SDWA Table Key
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Compliance Period | Dates of the compliance period. |
| Status |
Current status of the violation.
|
| Health-Based? | Whether the violation is health based. |
| Category Code |
The category of violation that is reported.
|
| Code | A full description of violation codes can be accessed in the SDWA_REF_CODE_VALUES (CSV) table. |
| Contaminant Code | A code value that represents a contaminant for which a public water system has incurred a violation of a primary drinking water regulation. |
| Rule Code |
Code for a National Drinking Water rule.
|
| Rule Group Code |
Code that uniquely identifies a rule group.
|
| Rule Family Code |
Code for rule family.
|
For more clarification please visit the EPA's data dictionary.
Shelby Water - Frequently Asked Questions
| By Mail: | PO BOX 207 SHELBY, NC, 28151 |
Existing customers can login to their City of Shelby account to pay their Shelby water bill by clicking here.
If you want to pay your City of Shelby bill online and haven't made an account yet, you can create an account online. Please click here to create your account to pay your Shelby water bill.
If you don't want to make an account, or can't remember your account, you can make a one-time payment towards your Shelby water bill without creating an account using a one time payment portal with your account number and credit or debit card. Click here to make a one time payment.
Moving to a new house or apartment in Shelby means you will often need to put the water in your name with City of Shelby. In order to put the water in your name, please click the link to the start service form below. Start service requests for water bills typically take two business days.
Leaving your house or apartment in Shelby means you will likely need to take your name off of the water bill with City of Shelby. In order to take your name off the water bill, please click the link to the stop service form below. Stop service for water bills requests typically take two business days.
The estimated price of bottled water
$1.5 in USD (1.5-liter)
USER SUBMITTED RATINGS
- Drinking Water Pollution and Inaccessibility
- Water Pollution
- Drinking Water Quality and Accessibility
- Water Quality
The above data is comprised of subjective, user submitted opinions about the water quality and pollution in Shelby, measured on a scale from 0% (lowest) to 100% (highest).
Related FAQS
Contaminants
City of Shelby
EWG's drinking water quality report shows results of tests conducted by the water utility and provided to the Environmental Working Group by the North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources, as well as information from the U.S. EPA Enforcement and Compliance History database (ECHO). For the latest quarter assessed by the U.S. EPA (January 2019 - March 2019), tap water provided by this water utility was in compliance with federal health-based drinking water standards.
Utility details
- Serves: 21263
- Data available: 2012-2017
- Data Source: Surface water
- Total: 19
Contaminants That Exceed Guidelines
- Bromodichloromethane
- Chloroform
- Chromium (hexavalent)
- Dibromochloromethane
- Dichloroacetic acid
- Nitrate and nitrite
- Radium%2C combined (-226 & -228)
- Total trihalomethanes (TTHMs)
- Trichloroacetic acid
Other Detected Contaminants
- Barium
- Chlorate
- Dichloromethane (methylene chloride)
- Fluoride
- Haloacetic acids (HAA5)
- Monochloroacetic acid
- Nitrate
- Strontium
- Uranium
- Vanadium
Reminder
Always take extra precautions, the water may be safe to drink when it leaves the sewage treatment plant but it may pick up pollutants during its way to your tap. We advise that you ask locals or hotel staff about the water quality. Also, note that different cities have different water mineral contents.
Sources and Resources
Sources Cited
Additional Resources
Recently, I did an Internet search on tap water purification products and ended up learning a lot. First of all, the fact that there are so many products on the market is both a good and bad thing. The fact that there are so many choices is good since it forces consumers to think about which is best for them and their family. The bad part is that there are so many choices that consumers can become confused as to what kind of policy they should actually choose. Here are some tips to help you get started.
Shop around. Take the time to talk to a few insurance brokers who will give you some ideas about how much a policy with one company should cost. There are even sites available that can give you an idea of what different insurance companies are like. Also, read some reviews about various companies. This can give you an idea of what other consumers think of the policies they have purchased from that particular company.
Make sure you understand the terms a