Fort Smith, Arkansas

Water Quality in Fort Smith, Arkansas

Watershed: City of Fort Smith – Arkansas River

What is the water quality like in Fort Smith, AR?

Let’s dive deeper into what’s in city of Fort Smith water.

What’s in Fort Smith water?

Here are the top 5 chemical compounds in your water and what health issues they can potentially cause:

1. Bromodichloromethane – Potential effect: Cancer
2. Chloroform – Potential effect: Cancer
3. Haloacetic acids – Potential effect: Cancer
4. Hexavalent Chromium – Potential effect: Cancer
5. Total trihalomethanes – Potential effect: Cancer

These are five of the 15 contaminants analyzed by the Environmental Working Group (ewg.org).

8 of these contaminants are rated as exceeding EWG Health Guidelines.

See the What Can You Do? section below for all of the contaminants you can filter out and how to do it.

Where does Fort Smith’s water come from?

Fort Smith’s water comes from the City of Fort Smith – Arkansas River watershed.

All 4 EPA assessed water sources in the City of Fort Smith – Arkansas River watershed are in Good condition. These include Lee Creek and three sections of the Arkansas River.

Whether a water source is in Impaired or Good condition refers to the quality of these uses:

1. Drinking Water
2. Aquatic Life
3. Fish and Shellfish Consumption
4. Recreation

Learn more from How’s My Waterway

See below for what you can do to improve Fort Smith’s water.

Conclusion – What Can You Do?

Information about water quality can be surprising.

But there’s no reason to lose hope. There are things you can do in your household as well as things you can do at a community level.

In Your Household:

• Use Berkey filters with activated carbon to filter out 14 of the 15 contaminants in your drinking water.
  • Berkey filters can also remove up to 99.99% of Lead in Fort Smith water.
  • Brita can filter 9 (and Lead depending on the filter).
  • Note: We may receive a commission if you decide to purchase filters through links on this page.
• To filter out 13 of the 15 contaminants in your whole house, consider a Reverse Osmosis water filtration system for your home.
  • These are more expensive than pitchers to purchase, but can be more effective.
  • They have the benefit of filtering out heavy hitters like:
    • Bromodichloromethane – health risks in drinking water
    • Chloroform – side effects
    • Chromium (total)
    • Dibromoacetic acid
    • Dibromochloromethane
    • Dichloroacetic acid
    • Fluoride
    • Haloacetic acids – chlorination byproduct*
    • Hexavalent chromium – health effects
    • Monochloroacetic acid
    • Nitrate
    • Nitrite
    • Strontium
    • Total trihalomethanes – byproduct of chlorination*
    • Trichloroacetic acid

*Chlorination is an effective method of disinfecting/treating drinking water. You can then use a water filter to reduce the effects of chlorination byproducts to get the safest, cleanest water possible.

In Your Community:

Contact your local government officials and put pressure on them to invest in cleaner waterways and upgraded city water filtration and treatment.

Go to: http://www.fortsmithar.gov/ to find contact information for your local city of Fort Smith water officials.

Water Quality in Other Arkansas Cities

Arkansas Water Quality Page