Sacramento, California

What is the Water Quality in Sacramento, California?

Compared to other US cities, Sacramento water quality ranks in the middle range for contamination excluding Lead.

Most of their 29 contaminants have cancer-causing attributes.

• Arsenic is at extremely high levels: 701x health guidelines.
• Haloacetic acids (HAA5) are at extremely high levels: 398x health guidelines.
• Haloacetic acids (HAA9) are at extremely high levels: 463x health guidelines.
  • These are both byproducts of the chlorine treatment process most water supplies go through.
• PFOA is at very high levels: 21x health guidelines.
• PFOS is at high levels: 3.7x health guidelines.
  • These are all considered “forever chemicals” by the EPA and are being studied extensively.

Let’s look closer at what’s in Sacramento water.

What’s in Sacramento water?

Here are the top 7 chemical compounds in your water and what health issues they can potentially cause:

1. Arsenic – Potential effect: Cancer
2. Chloroform – Potential effect: Cancer
3. Haloacetic acids – Potential effect: Cancer
4. Hexavalent Chromium – Potential effect: Cancer
5. Radium – Potential effect: Cancer
6. Total trihalomethanes – Potential effect: Cancer
7. Uranium – Potential effect: Cancer

These are seven of the 29 contaminants analyzed by the Environmental Working Group (ewg.org).

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

Does Sacramento have Lead contamination?

No, Sacramento does not have lead in its water. The most recent Lead samples collected from 2015 through 2017 showed concentrations of 0.0 parts per billion (ppb).

The legal limit for lead is 15 parts per billion. Being well-below this level is a good thing.

• Concentrations between 3.8 ppb and 15 ppb put a formula-fed baby at risk of elevated blood lead levels. Read more about the symptoms of Lead in water.

There is no safe level of lead for humans.

• The good news is that 99.99% of the lead can be removed.

See the What Can You Do? section below to learn how to filter out contaminants.

Where does Sacramento’s water come from?

Sacramento’s water comes from the Lake Greenhaven – Sacramento River watershed.

All 7 EPA assessed water sources in the Lake Greenhaven – Sacramento River watershed are in Impaired or Unknown condition. These include:

• Delta Waterways
• Lake Greenhaven
• Sacramento City Marina
• Sacramento Deep Water Ship Channel
• Sacramento River

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:

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 Sacramento’s water.

What Can You Do?

Information about water quality in Sacramento can be surprising.

But there are things you can do in your home to clean up your water.

To Remove Lead and Other Contaminants In Your Home:

There is one solution that beats Brita, PUR, and expensive whole house systems.

• It costs less per gallon.
• Needs fewer filter changes.
• And it doesn’t make your water taste weird.

• Use Berkey filters with activated carbon to filter out at least 74% of contaminants in your drinking water. (Berkey Light and Travel Berkey are the only types available in California.)
  • This includes Arsenic, Haloacetic acids, PFOA, and PFOS.
  • Berkey filters can also remove up to 99.99% of any Lead in Sacramento water.
  • Brita can filter 12 contaminants (41%) 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 26 of the 29 contaminants (90%), 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:
    • 1,4-Dioxane – “Exposure may cause damage to the central nervous system, liver and kidneys.”
    • Aluminum
    • Androstenedione
    • Arsenic – health effects in water
    • 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.
    • Chloroform – side effects
    • Chromium (total)
    • Fluoride
    • Haloacetic acids – chlorination byproduct*
    • Hexavalent chromium – health effects
    • Molybdenum
    • Nitrate
    • Nitrite
    • Radium
    • Selenium – toxicity
    • Strontium
    • Testosterone
    • Tetrachloroethylene
    • Total trihalomethanes – byproduct of chlorination*
    • 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.cityofsacramento.org/ to find contact information for your local officials.

Water Quality in Other California Cities

California Water Quality Page