Kansas Water Quality Rankings 2026: Best & Worst Cities

This page ranks the 20 Kansas cities whose water systems we have matched to EPA records. Every city starts at 100 points and loses points for health-based EPA violations in the last five years (SDWIS 2026Q2), its most recent Lead and Copper Rule 90th-percentile result, PFAS detected in EPA's 2023–2026 UCMR5 monitoring, and 2012–2019 compliance samples that averaged near or above a limit. Letters follow fixed bands (A ≥90, B ≥80, C ≥70, D ≥60, F below 60). Cities run from the highest score (Wichita) down to the lowest (Junction City); ties are ordered by population served. See the full scoring methodology for every deduction and the data vintages. 5 further Kansas cities are listed at the bottom without a grade because we have not yet matched them to an EPA water system.

What your city's grade means

An A or B grade points to water that consistently tests within federal safety limits, while a C suggests moderate issues worth watching and a D or F flags contaminants or compliance problems serious enough to act on. These grades describe system-level water leaving the treatment plant — they can't account for your home's own plumbing, so older houses with lead service lines or fixtures can add contaminants after the water arrives. For a contaminant-by-contaminant view, see the Kansas contaminant breakdown or drill into the county-level rankings.

What Kansas residents should do

• Find your city in the ranking below and open its full report for its violation history, lead results and PFAS table.
• See how Kansas compares against the best-rated and worst-rated cities nationwide.
• Test your home's water if you have concerns — the most common issues involve lead, PFAS, and arsenic.
• Check whether your utility still has lead service lines in Kansas — EPA's inventory counts lead pipes by water system, a risk that plant-level grades cannot capture. Read the lead guide for testing and filter options.
• If treatment makes sense for your situation, compare certified water filters matched to the contaminants found in your area.

This ranking covers 25 Kansas cities. 20 of them are matched to an active EPA-registered community water system (PWSID). Those 20 systems report serving 1,341,797 people in EPA's Safe Drinking Water Information System (SDWIS).

Of 20 cities of the 25 Kansas cities we can grade from EPA records, 17 cities (85%) grade B or better, 2 sit in the C range and 1 grade D or F. The average score is 90/100. 5 cities are not graded because they have not been matched to an EPA system yet.

EPA records 9 health-based violations in the last five years across 4 cities. Monitoring and reporting violations (14 in the same window) are paperwork lapses and cost far fewer points.

20 cities have a Lead and Copper Rule 90th-percentile result from 2020 or later: 2 cities at 5 ppb or more.

EPA's UCMR5 PFAS monitoring (2023–2026) covers 20 cities: PFAS were detected in 7 cities, and PFOA or PFOS reached EPA's 4 ppt limit in 2 cities.

Leavenworth scores highest (100) and Junction City lowest (55), a 45-point spread.

The clearest hard data for Kansas is EPA's service line inventory, updated 2026-08-18 (Q2 2026). 887 Kansas systems inventoried 945,460 service lines: 17,053 confirmed lead plus 60,231 galvanized lines requiring replacement, spread across 145 systems. Another 199,194 lines (21%) are still of unknown material, which EPA counts as possible lead until verified.

Of the 16 city-linked Kansas utilities with an inventory on file, 15 report at least one lead or galvanized-requiring-replacement line and 1 reports no lead with most lines verified. WICHITA, CITY OF, which serves Wichita and 395,699 people, is the biggest and reports 16 lead lines and 6,015 galvanized requiring replacement. The most lead lines among city-linked systems belong to PITTSBURG, CITY OF (Pittsburg): 1,709.

Our Kansas water guide flags nitrates, selenium and naturally occurring minerals, atrazine and herbicides, and disinfection byproducts as the contaminants of regional concern. Nitrate (EPA MCL 10 mg/L (as nitrogen)) can cause methemoglobinemia ("blue baby syndrome") in infants under six months; Selenium (EPA MCL 0.05 mg/L) can cause hair and fingernail loss, numbness and circulatory problems; Atrazine (EPA MCL 0.003 mg/L) is associated with cardiovascular and reproductive effects; Disinfection byproducts (regulated as TTHM (80 ppb) and HAA5 (60 ppb)) are associated with increased cancer risk over long exposure.

Source water explains a lot of the pattern in Kansas. Disinfection byproducts are a surface-water signature: chlorine reacts with organic matter in rivers and reservoirs, so byproducts tend to run higher where systems chlorinate surface water. Selenium and uranium are naturally occurring and tend to show up in groundwater, leaching from bedrock into aquifers rather than arriving from pollution. Nitrate and atrazine follow fertilizer, manure and septic loading, so they are most often a concern for systems drawing shallow groundwater in farm regions. Lead is different again: it enters after treatment from service lines and household plumbing, which is why the inventory figures above matter more than plant-level results. Your utility's Consumer Confidence Report names your source.

The best water quality in Kansas is found in Wichita with a score of 100/100 and a grade of A. This puts Wichita among the top-performing cities in the country for drinking water safety.

The most concerning water quality is in Junction City scoring 55/100 with a grade of F. Residents may want to consider home water testing and filtration options.

The statewide average score is 90/100, which is 2 points above the national average of 88/100. A strong majority (75%) of Kansas cities exceed the national average, indicating generally good water infrastructure across the state.