What the federal record says about Dodge City's water — the nitrate story, the two days there was an infant advisory, and what a clean record does and doesn't mean. In English and Spanish.
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Dodge City's water system / El sistema de agua de Dodge City — EPA’s drinking-water record, last three years
Dodge City drinks the Ogallala aquifer through 21 wells, and in March 2026 the city shut two of them off after a nitrate reading came back above the federal limit. For two days there was a public advisory: no tap water for babies under six months. That is a real thing to know about, and it is hard to find out anything solid about it.
This page reads the federal compliance record for the city's water system straight from EPA and shows what it actually says, along with the plants and neighbouring systems on the same aquifer.
Dodge City bebe del acuífero Ogallala a través de 21 pozos, y en marzo de 2026 la ciudad cerró dos de ellos después de que una muestra de nitratos saliera por encima del límite federal. Durante dos días hubo un aviso público: nada de agua de la llave para los bebés menores de seis meses. Es algo que vale la pena saber, y es difícil encontrar información sólida al respecto.
Esta página lee directamente de la EPA el expediente federal de cumplimiento del sistema de agua de la ciudad y muestra lo que realmente dice, junto con las plantas empacadoras y los sistemas vecinos que están sobre el mismo acuífero.
On the record
Dodge City's water system / El sistema de agua de Dodge City has drinking-water violations on its record in the last three years.
Most drinking-water violations are about monitoring and reporting rather than a limit being exceeded. What kind these were is below.
The city runs it. About 27,000 people, all of it pumped from 21 wells. / La opera la ciudad. Unas 27,000 personas, todo bombeado desde 21 pozos.
27,104
People served
as reported to the state
2
Quarters with a violation
out of the last 13
1
Rules violated
distinct rules, last three years
June 2, 2022
Last state inspection
the sanitary survey
The sanitary survey is the state’s on-site inspection of the plant, wells, storage and distribution. Community systems are normally surveyed every three years, some ground-water systems every five.
What the violations were
Kind of violation
Maximum Contaminant Level Violation
Rule involved
Nitrate
A monitoring or reporting violation means a required test or report was late or missing — the water may have been fine, but nobody could show it was.
A health-based violation means a limit on a contaminant was actually exceeded. Those are the ones to read carefully.
A public-notice violation means the system did not tell its customers about a problem the way the rules require.
DODGE CITY, CITY OF — Water source: ground water. Read from EPA .
This is a regulator's ledger, not a reading of your tap. States report to EPA quarterly and EPA refreshes weekly, so it lags — often by months. It carries nothing about how the water tastes or looks, nothing about pressure, nothing about a boil-water notice issued this week, and nothing about the sewer. A clean record here means no rule violation was reported. It is not a promise about this morning's glass of water. If something is wrong with your water today, call the city on (620) 225-8170.
Este es el expediente de un regulador, no una lectura de su llave. Los estados reportan a la EPA cada trimestre y la EPA actualiza cada semana, así que va retrasado — a veces por meses. No dice nada sobre el sabor ni el color del agua, nada sobre la presión, nada sobre un aviso de hervir el agua emitido esta semana, y nada sobre el drenaje. Un expediente limpio aquí significa que no se reportó ninguna infracción. No es una promesa sobre el vaso de agua de esta mañana. Si hoy hay algo mal con su agua, llame a la ciudad al (620) 225-8170.
Other water systems nearby
Not everyone in the area is on the same system. If your bill comes from one of these, this is its record:
System
People served
Last three years
National Beef, Dodge City plant / planta de Dodge CityIts own wells and its own record — the water thousands of people drink on shift. / Sus propios pozos y su propio expediente — el agua que miles de personas toman en su turno.
2,955
Violations in 12 of the last 13 quarters
Cargill Meat Solutions, Dodge CityAlso its own system, also on the same aquifer. / También su propio sistema, y sobre el mismo acuífero.
2,600
No violations on record
City of Ford / Ciudad de FordFifteen miles east, 204 people. Included because nitrate in this part of Kansas is a regional problem, not a Dodge City one. / A quince millas al este, 204 personas. Aparece porque el nitrato en esta parte de Kansas es un problema regional, no solo de Dodge City.
204
Violations in 12 of the last 13 quarters
How this record works
Your state health department, not EPA, does the day-to-day oversight; it reports violations to EPA each quarter. A problem from last month may not appear here for some time.
A violation is a breach of a federal rule. Most are about missing or late testing and reporting; the health-based ones, where a limit was actually exceeded, are called out separately above.
The sanitary survey is the state’s on-site inspection of the plant, wells, storage and distribution. Community systems are normally surveyed every three years, some ground-water systems every five.
If something is wrong with your water today
City of Dodge City — Water Division / División de Agua
Weekdays. After hours, the utilities line is (620) 255-9669 and extra charges may apply. / Días hábiles. Fuera de horario, la línea de servicios públicos es (620) 255-9669 y pueden aplicar cargos extra.
March 2026: the two days there was an advisory / Marzo de 2026: los dos días que hubo un aviso
A routine sample taken on 9 March 2026 came back at 11 milligrams of nitrate per litre, above the federal limit of 10. On 16 March the city told families not to give tap water to infants under six months old. It said in the same notice that bathing and showering were fine and that anyone older than six months could drink it, and that the two wells behind the reading — pumped only briefly to take the sample — had been shut off, with the other 19 wells running as normal.
A re-test put the system at 6.42 mg/L and the advisory was lifted on 17 March, two days after it went up. This was not the first time: the city issued a similar nitrate warning in March 2023.
Una muestra de rutina tomada el 9 de marzo de 2026 salió en 11 miligramos de nitrato por litro, por encima del límite federal de 10. El 16 de marzo la ciudad pidió a las familias no darles agua de la llave a los bebés menores de seis meses. En el mismo aviso dijo que bañarse y ducharse no representaba problema, que cualquier persona mayor de seis meses podía tomarla, y que los dos pozos detrás de esa lectura — bombeados solo un momento para tomar la muestra — ya estaban cerrados, con los otros 19 pozos funcionando con normalidad.
Una segunda prueba dio 6.42 mg/L y el aviso se levantó el 17 de marzo, dos días después de emitirse. No fue la primera vez: la ciudad emitió una advertencia parecida por nitratos en marzo de 2023.
Why nitrate, and who it actually matters to / Por qué el nitrato, y a quién le importa de verdad
Nitrate gets into groundwater from fertiliser and from livestock — which is to say, from the two things southwest Kansas does at scale. The federal limit is 10 milligrams per litre, and it is set where it is for one specific reason: above it, nitrate can interfere with an infant's blood carrying oxygen.
That means the people it matters to are babies under six months old, and anyone mixing formula. Boiling does not help — it concentrates nitrate rather than removing it. If you are mixing formula and there is an advisory in force, the answer is bottled water, not boiled water. For everyone else in the household, nitrate at these levels is not the same kind of concern.
The city has kept supply legal by blending water from different wells. That is a normal, permitted way to run a system, and it is also why the two shut-off wells did not become a violation.
El nitrato llega al agua subterránea por los fertilizantes y por el ganado — es decir, por las dos cosas que el suroeste de Kansas hace a gran escala. El límite federal es de 10 miligramos por litro, y está puesto ahí por una razón concreta: por encima de ese nivel, el nitrato puede interferir con la capacidad de la sangre de un bebé para transportar oxígeno.
Eso quiere decir que a quienes les importa es a los bebés menores de seis meses y a quien prepara fórmula. Hervir el agua no ayuda — concentra el nitrato en lugar de quitarlo. Si usted prepara fórmula y hay un aviso vigente, la respuesta es agua embotellada, no agua hervida. Para el resto de la casa, el nitrato en estos niveles no es la misma clase de preocupación.
La ciudad ha mantenido el suministro dentro de la ley mezclando el agua de distintos pozos. Esa es una forma normal y permitida de operar un sistema, y también es la razón por la que los dos pozos cerrados no se convirtieron en una infracción.
KDHE Drinking Water WatchKansas runs the drinking-water programme. Its database carries the actual sample results, system by system. / Kansas administra el programa de agua potable. Su base de datos tiene los resultados de las muestras, sistema por sistema.
Data: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Enforcement and Compliance History Online (ECHO), Safe Drinking Water Information System (SDWIS). A work of the U.S. Government.
What the record shows right now, and what it doesn't / Lo que muestra el expediente ahora, y lo que no
EPA's record lists a nitrate violation against the Dodge City system inside the three-year window, and no current violation. Those are two different statements and both are on the page above.
One detail worth reading carefully: EPA classes it as a Maximum Contaminant Level violation. Most drinking-water violations across the country are about missed monitoring or late paperwork; this one is not. It means a limit was exceeded in the quarters it covers.
What the ledger cannot tell you is the March 2026 well shutdowns, because taking a well offline to stay under a limit is the opposite of a violation — it is the system working. You will not find that story in a compliance database. It reached residents through a commission meeting and a couple of news reports, which is exactly the gap this page exists to narrow.
El expediente de la EPA registra una infracción por nitratos contra el sistema de Dodge City dentro de la ventana de tres años, y ninguna infracción vigente. Son dos afirmaciones distintas y las dos están en la página de arriba.
Un detalle que conviene leer con cuidado: la EPA la clasifica como infracción del Nivel Máximo de Contaminante (Maximum Contaminant Level). La mayoría de las infracciones de agua potable en el país son por monitoreo omitido o papeleo tardío; esta no. Significa que se rebasó un límite en los trimestres que cubre.
Lo que el expediente no puede decirle es lo de los pozos cerrados en marzo de 2026, porque sacar un pozo de servicio para mantenerse bajo el límite es lo contrario de una infracción — es el sistema funcionando. Esa historia no aparece en una base de datos de cumplimiento. Les llegó a los residentes por una sesión de la comisión y un par de notas de prensa, que es justo el hueco que esta página existe para achicar.
The plants are separate water systems / Las plantas son sistemas de agua aparte
National Beef and Cargill each run their own wells and are regulated as their own public water systems, with about 2,955 and 2,600 people served. If you work a shift there, the water you drink at work is on a different record from the water at your house — which is why both are listed above rather than folded into the city's number.
National Beef y Cargill operan sus propios pozos y están regulados como sistemas públicos de agua por separado, con unas 2,955 y 2,600 personas atendidas. Si usted trabaja un turno ahí, el agua que toma en el trabajo está en un expediente distinto al del agua de su casa — por eso las dos aparecen arriba en vez de estar sumadas al número de la ciudad.