Metals and inorganic chemicals

Barium in water reports

Barium is a regulated inorganic contaminant. A report row supplies a system, period, unit, criterion, result, and printed status rather than a current household conclusion.

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EPA dataSource review:

This is a report-reading explainer. It is not a live advisory, a household result, or a personal health assessment.

Examples on this site:
1 entry from an annual water report on this site links to this explainer.
What these results show:
Annual-report data is evidence for the named report period, not live monitoring.
Does this mean a violation?:
Not necessarily. A listed result is not automatically a violation. Check the reported value, applicable limit, report period, and status together.
Check current notices:
Current instructions must come from the water provider or another appropriate official source.

Term Identity

What the term means in an annual report

Barium is a naturally occurring metal with a distinct federal drinking-water entry.

Why it may appear

Systems report barium monitoring to summarize the named report-period result under the inorganic-contaminant rule.

How it may be printed

Reports may show Barium with MCL and MCLG fields, a result and range, a unit such as ppm, a sampling year, and printed status.

Other names you may see
Barium
Common report labels
Barium

Evidence

Official sources for this explainer

Use official federal, state, utility, or report sources before treating a page as final.

Regulatory Context

How to read the applicable rule language

Use this Barium context to read a report's printed fields; it does not replace the report or the current official rule.

Regulatory context

Framework

Barium is one of the regulated inorganic contaminants under the federal primary drinking-water regulations.

Limit or program terms

  • MCL
  • MCLG

Units and source context

Read the printed unit, testing period, result, range, and status together.

What this page does not duplicate

This page explains the report fields without turning a listed result into a live compliance or safety conclusion.

No standalone numeric limit table is rendered here. Read the source report's printed criterion and the current official source together.

Interpretation Boundaries

What a listed result does not establish

These Barium boundaries apply to every report row connected to this explainer.

Household-level boundary

A system annual-report barium result does not establish current conditions at a particular tap.

What to verify next

  1. Confirm the report year and sample period.
  2. Read the unit, result, range, criterion, and printed status together.
  3. Use provider or state sources for current notices and instructions.

Annual report examples

Examples of barium in water reports

Read each result with its report year, public water system, original label, units, and any printed criteria or status.

Utility report2025 report row

Barium

From Ruidoso Water System's 2025 report (PWSID NM3513114). Labels, values, units, criteria, and status wording are shown as printed.

Source table
Regulated Substances
Testing or report period
2025
Reported value
Amount Detected: 0.1
Reported range
Range Low-High: NA
Unit printed in row
ppm
Criterion printed in row
MCL: 2; MCLG: 2
Status printed in row
VIOLATION: No

The row prints Year Sampled 2025 and range NA; printed No remains row-period evidence.

View row in report context →Open original report

Continue Reading

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