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ALEXANDRIA, Va. - Alexandria's drinking water met all state and federal quality standards for the third consecutive year, according to annual reports Virginia American Water released this month, with the regulated "forever chemicals" known as PFAS undetected in the city's water in both 2024 and 2025.
The company posted its latest consumer confidence reports online May 11, covering testing from January through December 2025. Virginia American Water, which serves about 384,000 people statewide, said its water met or surpassed standards for all regulated substances and that the utility has not received a drinking water notice of violation in 17 years.
"At Virginia American Water, our mission is to provide safe, clean, reliable, and affordable water to our customers," President Laura Runkle said in a statement.
A comparison of the Alexandria reports for 2023, 2024 and 2025 shows water that was consistently within limits, with the clearest change appearing in PFAS results. In the 2023 report, one regulated compound — perfluorobutanesulfonic acid, or PFBS — was detected at an average of 1.75 parts per trillion, and the federal hazard index used to gauge PFAS mixtures registered a small reading. In 2024 and 2025, all six PFAS that the EPA now regulates came back as not detected, and the hazard index fell to zero. The shift coincides with the EPA's move to set enforceable national PFAS limits, meaning utilities are now measuring against firm standards.
Alexandria does not treat its own water. The city's supply is purchased from Fairfax Water and drawn from the Potomac River and the Occoquan Reservoir, then distributed by Virginia American Water — a setup the company classifies as a consecutive system.
A few other figures drifted upward over the three years, though none approached a health limit. Total hardness, a measure of natural calcium and magnesium, rose from 148 parts per million in 2023 to 191 in both 2024 and 2025. Total alkalinity climbed from 87 to about 120 over the same period. Both are aesthetic measures with no enforceable cap and typically reflect the blend of source water. Disinfection byproducts, formed when treatment chemicals react with organic matter, also ticked up modestly: the highest running average for total trihalomethanes moved from 22.2 to 25.3 parts per billion across the three years, and haloacetic acids from 14.1 to 17.3 — both well under the federal limits of 80 and 60.
Lead remained low. The most recent tap sampling, conducted in 2022 and carried through all three reports because lead and copper are tested only once every three years, found lead at or below 1 part per billion at the 90th percentile, with none of the 50 sampled homes exceeding the federal action level of 15. Sodium, of interest mainly to people on restricted diets, was actually lowest in 2025, at 34.9 parts per million, down from a high of 44.2 the year before.
The reports arrive as Virginia American Water customers face a proposed rate increase. The company has asked state regulators for new rates tied to more than $115 million in water and wastewater investment, a request Mayor Alyia Gaskins has said would raise Alexandrians' bills by more than 25%. Alexandria has formally intervened in the case, designated PUR-2025-00185, alongside Prince George County and Hopewell; the State Corporation Commission has set a public hearing in Richmond for June 10, with written comments open through June 3.
Ryan Belmore
The company points to system investment as the rationale behind the request. Virginia American Water said it spent more than $54 million on water and wastewater upgrades across its service areas in 2025, and it has announced several Alexandria main-replacement projects this year, including work along the Commonwealth Avenue corridor tied to the city's flood-mitigation plans.
Residents can find the report for their area by zip code at amwater.com/vaaw or request a printed copy at 1-800-452-6863.
