Joliet, Illinois
Water Quality in Joliet, Illinois
Watershed: Goose Lake – Des Plaines River
What is the water quality like in Joliet, IL?
Let’s dive deeper into what’s in Joliet water.
What’s in Joliet water?
Here is the top chemical compound in your water and what health issues it can potentially cause:
- Radium – Potential effect: Cancer
This is one of the 8 contaminants analyzed by the Environmental Working Group (ewg.org).
Radium is 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 Joliet’s water come from?
Joliet’s water comes from the Goose Lake – Des Plaines River watershed.
All 8 EPA assessed water sources in the Goose Lake – Des Plaines River watershed are in Impaired or Unknown condition. These include:
- Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal
- Des Plaines River – 3 segments
- Illinois and Michigan Canal – 2 segments
Ideally, a water source would be rated in Good condition.
Whether a water source is in Impaired or Good condition refers to the quality of these uses:
- Drinking Water
- Aquatic Life
- Fish and Shellfish Consumption
- Recreation
Learn more from How’s My Waterway
See below for what you can do to improve Joliet’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 6 of the 8 contaminants in your drinking water.
- Berkey filters can also remove up to 99.99% of Lead in Joliet water.
- Brita cannot filter any contaminants (They can remove 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 6 of the 8 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:
- 1,4-Dioxane – “Exposure may cause damage to the central nervous system, liver and kidneys.”
- Barium – health risks in water
- Fluoride
- Molybdenum
- Radium
- Strontium
*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.joliet.gov/ to find contact information for your local officials.