Texas Water Quality Rankings 2026: Best & Worst Cities

This page ranks the 11 Texas 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 (Lubbock) down to the lowest (El Paso); ties are ordered by population served. See the full scoring methodology for every deduction and the data vintages.

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 Texas contaminant breakdown or drill into the county-level rankings.

What Texas 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 Texas 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 Texas — 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.

We track 11 cities in Texas. 11 of them are matched to an active EPA-registered community water system (PWSID). Those 11 systems report serving 11,353,130 people in EPA's Safe Drinking Water Information System (SDWIS).

Of all 11 cities Texas cities we can grade from EPA records, 5 cities (46%) grade B or better, 5 sit in the C range and 1 grade D or F. The average score is 82/100.

EPA records 2 health-based violations in the last five years across 2 cities. Monitoring and reporting violations (6 in the same window) are paperwork lapses and cost far fewer points.

11 cities have a Lead and Copper Rule 90th-percentile result from 2020 or later: 1 city at 5 ppb or more.

EPA's UCMR5 PFAS monitoring (2023–2026) covers 11 cities: PFAS were detected in 11 cities, and PFOA or PFOS reached EPA's 4 ppt limit in 6 cities.

Lubbock scores highest (96) and El Paso lowest (68), a 28-point spread.

Lead pipes are the part of tap-water risk a treatment-plant grade cannot see, so start with EPA's service line inventory (Q2 2026 snapshot). 5,681 Texas systems inventoried 9,403,091 service lines: 4,470 confirmed lead plus 112,525 galvanized lines requiring replacement, spread across 145 systems. Another 2,179,373 lines (23%) are still of unknown material, which EPA counts as possible lead until verified.

Of the 11 city-linked Texas utilities with an inventory on file, 9 report at least one lead or galvanized-requiring-replacement line, 1 reports none but still has a quarter or more of its lines unverified, and 1 reports no lead with most lines verified. CITY OF HOUSTON, which serves Houston and 2,970,543 people, is the biggest and reports no lead lines but 427,111 (84%) still unknown.

Texas's guide on this site singles out arsenic, radium, nitrates, and trihalomethanes. Arsenic (EPA MCL 0.010 mg/L (10 ppb)) is linked to skin damage, circulatory problems and increased cancer risk; Radium (EPA MCL 5 pCi/L (combined radium-226/228)) increases cancer risk with long exposure; Nitrate (EPA MCL 10 mg/L (as nitrogen)) can cause methemoglobinemia ("blue baby syndrome") in infants under six months; Disinfection byproducts (regulated as TTHM (80 ppb) and HAA5 (60 ppb)) are associated with increased cancer risk over long exposure.

Where a system draws its water shapes which of these show up. 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. Arsenic, radium, and barium 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 Texas is found in Lubbock with a score of 96/100 and a grade of A. This puts Lubbock among the top-performing cities in the country for drinking water safety.

The most concerning water quality is in El Paso scoring 68/100 with a grade of D. Residents may want to consider home water testing and filtration options.

The statewide average score is 82/100, which is 6 points below the national average of 88/100. Only 36% of Texas cities score above the national average, suggesting statewide water quality improvement is needed.