What the Aqua Pennsylvania West Chester Water Report Means for Your Filter Choice
Every year Aqua Pennsylvania publishes a water quality report for the West Chester system. Most people never read it. This is a plain-English walk through what it says and what it leaves out.
Where the water comes from
Aqua Pennsylvania's 2025 Water Quality Report for the West Chester Division says most of the drinking water comes from the Brandywine Creek and two wells. A source water assessment for Brandywine Creek found a high susceptibility to potential spills on highway corridors and a moderate susceptibility to wastewater discharges, including potential impacts from nitrates and taste and odor compounds.
That is a statement about risk to the source, not about what comes out of your tap. Treatment sits in between, and the report's detected-contaminant tables describe the result.
Selected 2025 results from the report
| Item | What the report shows | Plain reading |
|---|---|---|
| Lead at the tap | 90th percentile not detected, with 0 of 32 samples above the action level | No samples over the lead action level in 2025 |
| Copper at the tap | 90th percentile 0.04 ppm against an action level of 1.3 ppm | Well below the action level |
| Fluoride | 0.44 ppm, with the system primarily fluoridated | Water is fluoridated |
| PFAS (voluntary sampling) | PFBS 2.5 to 2.8 ppt, with GenX, PFHxS and PFNA not detected | One PFAS compound detected in voluntary sampling |
| Hardness | Not listed | Test your own water |
The report also notes that a service line inventory is available at aquawater.com/leadmap, and it lists a violation for reporting of Giardia inactivation results to the state, with Aqua stating there are no health effects associated with that violation.
What these numbers do and do not tell you
The report describes water as it leaves the system and at sampled homes. It does not describe your pipes. Lead can come from fixtures and solder inside a house, even when the utility's samples are clean. Copper tests at the tap measure corrosion in home plumbing, and a result of 0.04 ppm is low.
Hardness is not published in the report. If you want to know how hard your water is, a test strip or a professional test gives a number for your tap. That number decides whether a softener makes sense.
Want a filter matched to your water?
Call and describe your concern. A plumber can recommend equipment.
Which concern points to which equipment
Choosing between filter and softener
A water filtration system removes contaminants and improves taste. A water softener removes hardness minerals. They solve different problems, and many homes use both.
If scale is your complaint, test hardness first. If taste or a specific contaminant is your concern, choose a filter certified for it.
In Westtown and the other townships around the borough, some homes are on the public system and some on private wells. A well is tested by its owner, with guidance from the Chester County Health Department, and the Aqua report does not apply.
Reading the next report
Aqua publishes the report each year, and numbers change. Compare year to year rather than reading one report alone. If the detected list grows, or a violation appears, the report's contact line, 877-987-2782, is the place to ask questions.
How to read the table in the report
Water quality reports use a few terms that look intimidating. The MCL, or maximum contaminant level, is the highest amount of a contaminant allowed in drinking water. The MCLG, or goal, is the level at which no known health risk exists, and it is often zero for contaminants like lead. The action level is a trigger for treatment or other steps if exceeded in too many samples, as with lead and copper at the tap.
The 90th percentile means that nine in ten of the sampled homes had results at or below that value. Aqua's 2025 report shows 32 homes sampled for lead and copper, with none above the action level. Units matter too. Parts per million and parts per billion differ by a factor of one thousand, and parts per trillion are smaller still.
Units you will meet in the report
| Unit | Plain meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| ppm (parts per million) | One part in a million | One drop in about 13 gallons |
| ppb (parts per billion) | One part in a billion | One drop in about 13,000 gallons |
| ppt (parts per trillion) | One part in a trillion | One drop in about 13 million gallons |
| ND | Not detected | Below what the test can measure |
| NTU | A cloudiness measure | Turbidity, in the report's treatment tables |
Should the PFAS line change what you buy?
The report lists voluntary PFAS sampling at entry points: PFBS at 2.5 to 2.8 parts per trillion, and no detection of GenX, PFHxS or PFNA. PFAS is a large family of chemicals, and different compounds have different health guidance and different limits. The report does not list PFOA or PFOS in that table, so look at the utility's PFAS page, referenced in the report, for the fuller picture.
If you want to reduce PFAS at home, the usual choices are reverse osmosis or a carbon system certified for the compounds you care about. Certification matters more than marketing. Ask for the listing, and read what it says the system is certified to remove.
What the report cannot tell you
A utility report describes the water it delivers and a sample of taps. It cannot describe the pipes and fixtures inside your house, the age of your water heater, or whether your plumbing includes old lead solder. It does not cover private wells, which are the owner's responsibility. And it does not say whether your water tastes the way you like.
If any of those matter to you, a home test kit or a certified lab can test your own tap. Many people test the kitchen cold tap after letting the water sit overnight to see the worst case for lead and copper from the house plumbing.
What to do if you are worried about lead at your tap
Run the cold tap for a few minutes after the water has sat overnight, and use cold water for drinking and cooking. Ask Aqua at 877-987-2782 about testing, and consider a filter certified to NSF/ANSI 53 for lead. A plumber can check whether your own supply lines or fixtures are the source.
Where to go next
Equipment options are in whole-house filtration and water softener repair, and Westtown households on wells should read that page too.
Sources and standards
Source: Aqua Pennsylvania's 2025 Water Quality Report for the West Chester Division, PWSID PA1150098. Filter certifications mentioned follow the NSF/ANSI standards 42, 53 and 58.
Water report questions
The utility reports that it meets regulatory requirements, with the exceptions described in its report. Read the report and decide whether you want extra treatment.
No. A test of your own water gives the number.
That is a personal choice. If you want to reduce a specific compound, choose a system certified for it.
The report points to aquawater.com/leadmap.
Aqua's customer line listed in the report is 877-987-2782.