Santa Clarita, California

Water Quality in Santa Clarita, California

Watershed: Salt Canyon – Santa Clara River

What is the water quality like in Santa Clarita, CA?

Let’s dive deeper into what’s in Santa Clarita water.

What’s in Santa Clarita water?

Here are the top 7 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. Nitrate – Potential effect: Cancer
6. Total trihalomethanes – Potential effect: Cancer
7. Uranium – Potential effect: Cancer

These are seven of the 25 contaminants analyzed by the Environmental Working Group (ewg.org).

13 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 Santa Clarita’s water come from?

Santa Clarita’s water comes from the Salt Canyon – Santa Clara River watershed.

3 of the 4 EPA assessed water sources in the Salt Canyon – Santa Clara River watershed are in Impaired condition. These include:

• Santa Clara River Reaches 5 and 6
• Tapo Canyon

Ideally, a water source would be rated in Good condition. Santa Clara River Reach 4B (Piru Creek to Blue Cut Gaging Station) is 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 Santa Clarita’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 20 of the 25 contaminants in your drinking water. (Berkey Light and Travel Berkey are the only types available in California.)
  • Berkey filters can also remove up to 99.99% of Lead in Santa Clarita water.
  • Brita can filter 12 contaminants (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 21 of the 25 contaminants, consider a Reverse Osmosis water filtration system for your house.
  • These are more expensive than pitchers to purchase, but can be more effective.
  • They have the benefit of filtering out heavy hitters like:
    • Barium – In low doses, barium ions act as a muscle stimulant, and higher doses affect the nervous system, causing cardiac irregularities, tremors, weakness, anxiety, shortness of breath, and paralysis.
    • Bromochloroacetic acid
    • Bromodichloromethane – health risks in drinking water
    • Bromoform
    • Chloroform – side effects
    • Cobalt
    • Dibromoacetic acid
    • Dibromochloromethane
    • Dichloroacetic acid
    • Fluoride
    • Haloacetic acids – chlorination byproduct*
    • Hexavalent chromium – health effects
    • Molybdenum
    • Nitrate
    • Nitrite
    • PFHPA
    • PFOA – “liver toxicant, a developmental toxicant, and an immune system toxicant, and also exerts hormonal effects including alteration of thyroid hormone levels.” See: PFOA toxicity and health concerns
    • Strontium
    • Total trihalomethanes – byproduct of chlorination*
    • Trichloroacetic acid
    • Uranium

*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.santa-clarita.com/ to find contact information for your local officials.

Water Quality in Other California Cities

California Water Quality Page