Fall River, Massachusetts

Water Quality in Fall River, Massachusetts

Watershed: Quequechan River

What is the water quality like in Fall River, MA?

Let’s dive deeper into what’s in Fall River water.

What’s in Fall River 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. Total trihalomethanes – Potential effect: Cancer
5. Trichloroacetic acid – Potential effect: Cancer

These are five of the 19 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 Fall River’s water come from?

Fall River’s water comes from the Quequechan River watershed.

11 of the 12 EPA assessed water sources in the Quequechan River watershed are in Impaired or Unknown condition. These include:

• Mount Hope Bay
• North Watuppa Pond
• Quequechan River
• Sawdy Pond
• South Watuppa Pond
• Stafford Pond
• Sucker Brook
• Taunton River

Ideally, a water source would be rated in Good condition. Sin & Flesh Brook and its tributaries are in Good condition.

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 Fall River’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 16 of the 19 contaminants in your drinking water.
  • Berkey filters can also remove up to 99.99% of Lead in Fall River water.
  • Brita can filter 10 (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 16 of the 19 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:
    • Aluminum
    • Barium – health risks in water
    • Bromodichloromethane – health risks in drinking water
    • Chloroform – side effects
    • Dibromoacetic acid
    • Dibromochloromethane
    • Dichloroacetic acid
    • Fluoride
    • Haloacetic acids – chlorination byproduct*
    • Monobromoacetic acid
    • Monochloroacetic acid
    • Nitrate
    • Perchlorate
    • 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: https://www.fallriverma.org/ to find contact information for your local officials.

Water Quality in Other Massachusetts Cities

Massachusetts Water Quality Page