Council Bluffs, Iowa

What is the Water Quality in Council Bluffs, Iowa?

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

Most of their 25 contaminants have cancer-causing attributes.

• Chloroform is at extremely high levels: 64x health guidelines.
• Haloacetic acids (HAA5) are at extremely high levels: 157x health guidelines.
• Haloacetic acids (HAA9) are at extremely high levels: 331x health guidelines.
  • These are both byproducts of the chlorine treatment process most water supplies go through.

Let’s look closer at what’s in Council Bluffs water.

What’s in Council Bluffs 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. Chlorite – Potential effect: Change in blood chemistry
3. Hexavalent Chromium – Potential effect: Cancer
4. Haloacetic acids (HAA5 and HAA9) – Potential effect: Cancer
5. Total trihalomethanes – Potential effect: Cancer

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

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

Does Council Bluffs have Lead contamination?

Yes, Council Bluffs has lead in its water. The most recent Lead samples collected in 2019 showed concentrations up to 6.0 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 Council Bluffs’ water come from?

Council Bluffs’ water comes from the Lake Manawa – Missouri River watershed.

All 3 assessed water sources in the Lake Manawa – Missouri River watershed are in Impaired or Unknown condition. These include:

• Lake Manawa
• Missouri River – two sections supplying Council Bluffs

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 three uses:

1. Aquatic Life
2. Fish and Shellfish Consumption
3. Recreation

Learn more from How’s My Waterway

See below for what you can do to improve Council Bluffs’ water.

What Can You Do?

Information about water quality in Council Bluffs 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 80% of contaminants in your drinking water.
  • Berkey filters can also remove up to 99.99% of Lead in Council Bluffs water.
    • They remove Haloacetic acids as well.
  • Brita can filter 15 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 22 of the 25 contaminants, consider a Reverse Osmosis water filtration system for your house.
  • These are more expensive than pitchers to purchase, but are much more effective.
  • They have the benefit of filtering out heavy hitters like:
    • Barium
    • Bromodichloromethane
    • Bromoform
    • Chlorite
    • Chloroform
    • Fluoride
    • Haloacetic acids
    • Hexavalent chromium
    • Nitrate
    • Strontium
    • Total trihalomethanes – byproduct of chlorination*

*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: http://www.councilbluffs-ia.gov/ to find contact information for your local officials.

Water Quality in Other Iowa Cities

Iowa Water Quality Page