Idaho Falls, Idaho
What is the Water Quality in Idaho Falls, Idaho?
Compared to other US cities, Idaho Falls water quality ranks in the middle range for contamination excluding Lead.
Most of their 21 contaminants have cancer-causing attributes.
- Arsenic is at extremely high levels: 266x health guidelines.
Let’s look closer at what’s in Idaho Falls water.
What’s in Idaho Falls water?
Here are the top 5 chemical compounds in your water and what health issues they can potentially cause:
- Arsenic – Potential effect: Cancer
- Hexavalent Chromium – Potential effect: Cancer
- Haloacetic acids (HAA5) – Potential effect: Cancer
- Total trihalomethanes – Potential effect: Cancer
- Uranium – Potential effect: Cancer
These are five of the 21 contaminants analyzed by the Environmental Working Group (ewg.org).
9 of these contaminants are rated as exceeding EWG Health Guidelines.
Does Idaho Falls have Lead contamination?
Yes, Idaho Falls has lead in its water. The most recent Lead samples collected in 2018 showed concentrations up to 3.0 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 Idaho Falls’ water come from?
Idaho Falls’ water comes from the Town of Shelley – Snake River watershed.
All 6 assessed water sources in the Town of Shelley – Snake River watershed are in Impaired or Unknown condition. These include:
- Crow Creek – Willow Creek to mouth
- Snake River – multiple sections (and its tributaries)
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:
- Aquatic Life
- Fish and Shellfish Consumption
- Recreation
Learn more from How’s My Waterway
See below for what you can do to improve Idaho Falls’ water.
What Can You Do?
Information about water quality in Idaho Falls 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 88% of contaminants in your drinking water.
- Berkey filters can also remove up to 99.99% of Lead in Idaho Falls water.
- Brita can filter 6 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 19 of the 21 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:
- Arsenic
- 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.” [Source]
- Benzene
- Chloroform
- Cobalt
- Fluoride
- Hexavalent chromium
- Nitrate
- Nitrite
- Radium
- Strontium
- 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.idahofallsidaho.gov/ to find contact information for your local officials.