WARNING: Utilities Do Not Test Your Home’s Water
They are only required to test the water sent from their facilities, there is little to no data on what pollutants and heavy metals tap water can pick up on the way to your home. The only way to be sure you and your family are drinking healthy water is to test what comes out of your faucet.
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The Los Angeles tap water system is made up of several different utilities, primarily centered on local towns and communities within LA proper. The largest provider of tap water is the City of Los Angeles Department of Water & Power serving 4 million residents, with the rest of the population served by 294 other water providers.
In this tap water safety review we will cover the safety of tap water for all LA suppliers above 100,000 residents because smaller supplies are not required to publish as much water quality data.
Los Angeles City Water Dept. Overview
| Population Served | 4,085,000 Residents |
| Major Water Sources | Northern CA and Colorado River |
| Number of Violations | 7 Total (1 Bacteria) |
| Contaminants Above Guidance | Arsenic Bromate Hexavalent Chromium Nitrate Nitrite Trihalomethanes Uranium |
| Local Toxic Water Releases | 1,457,004 lbs (2018) |
| Local PFAS Detections | 37 Detections |
Click to see other LA water systems tap water safety data
Los Angeles is well known to have water problems due to being located in a semi-arid coastal/mountainous region with few local water sources. This means LA must import almost 90% of it’s drinking water from other regions of the state as well as the Colorado River.
Having to collect this tap water from various sources requires the city to invest heavily in filtration and treatment plants, as well as heavy chlorination techniques. Combine this with the large manufacturing presence in LA city limits (there are more toxic water releases in Los Angeles than 90% of the rest of the country) and you end up with a scary water quality profile.
The LA City Department of Water certifies that the water is safe to drink, but that’s just at their facilities, once it reaches your LA home may be a totally different situation.
Los Angeles City Water Sources
Upstate California (State Water Project) and the Colorado River Aqueduct (CRA) supplies the majority of drinking water to LA. The State Water Project is a system of pumps, reservoirs, power plants, and almost 700 miles or pipes and canals that covers almost the entire state of California.
If you were to tap the water at this source, you would taste wonderful spring water free of any contaminants. Unfortunately those long lines of piping and open air aqueducts provide ample opportunity for unwanted pollutants to enter the two LA water systems.
So Can I Drink LA Tap Water?
In order to determine whether you should drink straight from the tap, it’s important to consider two types of contaminants and whether you are comfortable putting them into your body.
The first type are chemicals are those we add to water for certain health benefits, Chlorine and Fluoride. Unfortunately these chemicals may not be as beneficial as once thought.
For example, a recent study in a pediatrics research journal showed that exposure to fluoride (a chemical added to water in LA to prevent dental decay) during pregnancy was associated with childhood IQ declines.
Another example is the addition of chlorine to Los Angeles tap water, a chemical with detrimental effects on human health, including:
- increases risk of cancer
- causes cellular damage
- increases risk of asthma
- severely dries skin and hair
- irritates eyes and nose
And these are the chemicals we willingly add to our water!
The next type of contaminants are those that enter the flow in between the water supplier and your home as well as those that regulations say aren’t that bad but research has begun to show should be far more restricted.
When looking for these nastier, lesser known contaminants that could potentially seep their way into the water supply, the LA City Department of Water has consistently tested for seven contaminants at levels that researchers believe are harmful to human health.
| Contaminant | Health Guideline | Health Effect |
|---|---|---|
| Arsenic | 520x higher | Cancerous (causes 5% of bladder cancer worldwide) and harmful to fetal growth and development |
| Bromate | 13x higher | Cancerous and slows normal brain activities, resulting in sleepiness or sedation occurring quickly after the chemicals enter your body |
| Hexavalent Chromium | 43x higher | Cancerous, harmful to liver and reproductive system |
| Nitrate | 13x higher | Cancerous (bladder and skin cancer) as well as harmful to fetal growth and development |
| Nitrite | 8.8x higher | Cancerous and harmful to reproduction and child development |
| Trihalomethanes | 189x higher | Cancerous (bladder and skin cancer) as well as harmful to fetal growth and development |
| Uranium | 7x higher | Cancerous and harmful to reproduction and child development |
We Strongly Recommend Residents Remove These Contaminants Before Drinking LA Tap Water
Heather Burton, Waterful.org Lead Technical Manager
The natural reaction to seeing this data on tap water contaminants is to switch to bottled water. Unfortunately, bottled water regulations are even further behind than public water sources! There are less testing requirements, less stringent quality control, and often times unknown sources with even worse contaminants.
The good news is that all of the LA tap water pollutants are removable by readily available water filters.
Reverse Osmosis is the Best LA Tap Water Filter Type
We strongly recommend a Reverse Osmosis (RO) Water Filtration System because it is the most affordable water filter system capable of removing each and every one of the substances listed above. RO systems are also easily installed under sinks so whether you have a home or apartment you can still thoroughly protect your health.
Removes solids smaller than 1 micron to purify drinking water
Introduces calcium, potassium and magnesium into purified water to remineralise it
Reduces over 74 contaminants, metals, pharmaceuticals and other chemicals
Targets chlorine and ammonia via carbon filtration
Tank needs to be maintained and kept clean
Modular all-in-one filter design for easy maintenance
Comes with a complete DIY-friendly installation kit
EPA approved and certified by leading drinking water environmental groups
More expensive than most systems
What About Other Potential Contaminants in LA Tap Water?
If the Flint Michigan Water Crisis taught us anything over the last few years, it’s not only the source of the water that can cause problems, but the infrastructure that brings that water to your home is extremely vulnerable.
Water utilities must adhere to the Safe Drinking Water Act which requires strict monitoring of the water quality. What it doesn’t require is testing along the way to your home. Like in Flint, a slight change of the pH of the water can cause adverse reactions in the pipes where the lead is stripped away and ends up in your home.
Lead in Los Angeles Tap Water
Prior to 1986, lead was a major component in plumbing fixtures, welding solder, and pipe fittings. We all know that it takes a long time for cities to update their infrastructure, including water supply lines, so there is a strong certainty that a large proportion of pipes in every building contain lead. This is especially true for Los Angeles.
So although the New York Water Service has not shown excessive levels of lead in their tests, it takes a long time and a lot of old pipes for the water to reach your home, providing ample opportunity for lead to contaminate your LA tap water.
Fortunately, if you follow our recommendation above, quality Reverse Osmosis water filters are capable of completely removing lead from your water and making it safe to drink.
Arsenic in Los Angeles Tap Water
Arsenic is a naturally element in rocks and soil as well as a number of industrial and agricultural processes. It is also a byproduct of copper smelting, mining, and coal burning. It can enter the water supply from these surrounding rocks and soil, especially when ground water levels drop significantly.
Similar to lead, arsenic does not regularly show up in Los Angeles tap water, but an environmental change like a drought or a new factory starting operations near the water source can introduce a large amount of arsenic into the city system.
Once again though, Reverse Osmosis effectively eliminates arsenic from your home’s tap water.
PFAS in Los Angeles Tap Water
Quickly gaining attention in environmental news, per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (aka “Forever Chemicals”) are now being found worldwide, including 98% of every U.S. citizen’s blood.
Unfortunately, regulations have not kept up to restrict the substances from drinking water, including Los Angeles’. In fact, the LA Water System is not even testing for PFAS, chemicals that have shown to negatively impact human health at microscopic levels (we are talking in the parts per trillion range or, an easier way to portray it, one drop of water in 100 Olympic sized swimming pools!!)
Yet there is still hope to avoid consuming PFAS in your LA tap water, Reverse Osmosis is one of the few filtration methods that have been effective at removing these tough chemicals.
Additional Contaminants in Los Angeles Tap Water
I wish I could tell you that’s all the pollutants you have to worry about in LA tap water, but alas there’s more. According the Environmental Working Group, Los Angeles Water System has detected the following contaminants at one point in their water system:
- 1,4-Dioxane
- Chlorate
- Chromium
- Haloacetic Acids
- Monochloroacetic acid
- Nitrate
- Nitrite
- Strontium
Long Beach City Water Department Tap Water Safety
| Population Served | 478,561 Residents |
| Number of Violations | 0 Regulatory Violations |
| Contaminants Above Guidance | Arsenic Bromodichloromethane Bromoform Chloroform Dibromochloromethane Dichloroacetic acid Trihalomethanes Trichloroacetic acid |
| Local Toxic Water Releases | 1,457,004 lbs (2018) |
| Local PFAS Detections | 37 Detections |
Burbank Water Department Tap Water Safety
| Population Served | 397,026 Residents |
| Number of Violations | 2 Violations (Bacteria, Chromium) |
| Contaminants Above Guidance | Bromodichloromethane Bromoform Chloroform Hexavalent Chromium Dibromochloromethane Nitrate Nitrate Trihalomethanes Uranium |
| Local Toxic Water Releases | 1,457,004 lbs (2018) |
| Local PFAS Detections | 37 Detections |
Long Beach City Water Department Tap Water Safety
| Population Served | 478,561 Residents |
| Number of Violations | 0 Regulatory Violations |
| Contaminants Above Guidance | Arsenic Bromodichloromethane Bromoform Chloroform Dibromochloromethane Dichloroacetic acid Trihalomethanes Trichloroacetic acid |
| Local Toxic Water Releases | 1,457,004 lbs (2018) |
| Local PFAS Detections | 37 Detections |
Reverse Osmosis is the Best LA Tap Water Filter Type
We strongly recommend a Reverse Osmosis (RO) Water Filtration System because it is the most affordable water filter system capable of removing each and every one of the substances listed above. RO systems are also easily installed under sinks so whether you have a home or apartment you can still thoroughly protect your health.
Removes solids smaller than 1 micron to purify drinking water
Introduces calcium, potassium and magnesium into purified water to remineralise it
Reduces over 74 contaminants, metals, pharmaceuticals and other chemicals
Targets chlorine and ammonia via carbon filtration
Tank needs to be maintained and kept clean
Modular all-in-one filter design for easy maintenance
Comes with a complete DIY-friendly installation kit
EPA approved and certified by leading drinking water environmental groups
More expensive than most systems
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