A wood preservative that can reach water from treated wood and industrial sites.
In Florida, Pentachlorophenol was reported by 9 community water systems serving about 2,393 people. Every reported reading was at or below the federal legal limit. It was measured by 1,559 systems in all, so it was detected in 1% of the systems that tested for it.
The highest reading relative to the limit was at Bermuda Mobile Home Park in Osceola County, at 21% of it.
Where it comes from: Discharge from wood-preserving factories.
Enforceable. A utility must stay at or under this.
Health-based, not enforceable. Often lower than the limit, sometimes zero.
California OEHHA PHG (2009)
Health effects the EPA associates with it: Liver or kidney problems; increased cancer risk.
Water at or under the legal limit meets federal safety standards. A reading above a health goal is not the same as being unsafe, and health goals are set purely on health without regard to cost or treatability. Both are shown so the margin is visible either way.
These figures describe water as delivered by each utility, not what your home’s plumbing adds after it arrives. Informational; not a substitute for testing your own tap.