Oklahoma City Water Contamination
Oklahoma City water quality ranks in the mid range for contaminants.
- For reference, Miramar, Florida has 75 contaminants. (The most of any U.S. city over 50,000.)
- Rochester Hills, Michigan has 5.
- Note: These are both outliers.
With a total of 24 contaminants in your drinking water, 11 of those exceed health guidelines.
Drinking unfiltered water from OKC water sources could be hazardous to your health.
Let’s look closer at Oklahoma City water quality.
Oklahoma City Water Quality
Oklahoma City has a total of 24 contaminants analyzed by the Environmental Working Group (ewg.org).
45.8% of these contaminants are rated as exceeding health guidelines.
They include things like Chloroform and various byproducts of chlorination.
Most of the contaminants pose a risk of Cancer if allowed to stay in your drinking water.
Lead in Oklahoma City Water
Oklahoma City drinking water has lead in it.
68 samples taken in 2019 from Oklahoma City water sources had a lead concentration of 12.9 parts per billion (ppb) or less.
For comparison:
Lead concentrations of 3.9 ppb to 15 ppb “put a formula-fed baby at risk of elevated blood lead levels.” (ewg.org)
15 parts per billion is the legal limit. Cities are required to control lead leaching into water pipes if lead levels are over 15 ppb.
There is no legal requirement below 15 ppb.
There is no safe level of lead for humans.
Here are a few of the lead poisoning symptoms for children under 6:
- Abdominal Pain
- Developmental Delay
- Learning Difficulties
- Fatigue
- Weight loss
- Irritability
- Hearing loss
So, What Can You Do?
Information about water quality can be surprising.
There are things you can do today to keep you and your family safe and healthy.
In Your Household:
Use Berkey water filters with activated carbon to filter out 84 percent of contaminants in your drinking water.
(They also remove up to 99% of lead contamination in Oklahoma City water.)
Brita and PUR pitchers only manage 50%.
Save money on new and replacement filters when you use the links at waterbadge.com/filters.
Oklahoma City Whole House Water Filtration Systems
A whole house filtration system can filter out 91.7% of contaminants, making it another effective choice.
A few things to note:
- Whole house systems are much more effective than water pitchers like Brita and PUR.
- However, the initial cost is higher and they require installation.
For a list of the contaminants that can be filtered out by a whole house system, go to Oklahoma City’s Water Quality page.
To filter out the highest number of contaminants, use our recommendations on the WaterBadge Filters page:
Conclusion: Is Oklahoma City Water Contaminated?
Yes. Drinking it without filtering it first could cause health problems.
Should you filter it?
Absolutely!
This small extra step can save you and your loved ones from health problems later.
You deserve to feel safe when you drink your own tap water.
At WaterBadge, our goal is to make that a reality.
To support this mission, we’ve partnered with companies that are dedicated to water filtration and safety.
When you purchase filters and systems through them, you’re also supporting WaterBadge’s mission of cleaner water for everyone.
Thanks for doing your part.
Want to learn more about water quality around the U.S.?
Search for your city here:
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