Twin Falls, Idaho

What is the Water Quality in Twin Falls, Idaho?

Compared to other US cities, Twin Falls water quality ranks in the low range for contamination excluding Lead.

Most of their 14 contaminants have cancer-causing attributes.

Let’s look closer at what’s in Twin Falls water.

What’s in Twin Falls water?

Here are the top 5 chemical compounds in your water and what health issues they can potentially cause:

1. Arsenic – Potential effect: Cancer
2. Hexavalent Chromium – Potential effect: Cancer
3. Haloacetic acids (HAA5) – Potential effect: Cancer
4. Nitrate – Potential effect: Cancer
5. Total trihalomethanes – Potential effect: Cancer

These are five of the 14 contaminants analyzed by the Environmental Working Group (ewg.org).

These 8 contaminants are rated as exceeding EWG Health Guidelines.

Does Twin Falls have Lead contamination?

Yes, Twin Falls has lead in its water. Lead samples collected in Twin Falls from 2014 to 2016 had concentrations up to 2.0 parts per billion.

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 Twin Falls’ water come from?

Twin Falls water comes from the City of Twin Falls.

All 3 water sources in the City of Twin Falls are in Impaired condition. These sources are:

• 1st and 2nd order tributaries to Yahoo and Deep Creek
• Snake River – Twin Falls to Rock Creek
• Snake River – Twin Falls to Rock Creek (secondary source)

Ideally, a water source would be rated in Good condition. See below for what you can do to improve Twin Falls’ water.

Learn more from How’s My Waterway here

What Can You Do?

Information about water quality in Twin 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 70% of contaminants in your drinking water.
  • Berkey filters can also remove up to 99.99% of Lead in Twin Falls water.
  • Brita can filter 3 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 11 of the 14 contaminants in your whole house, consider a Reverse Osmosis water filtration system.
  • These are typically more expensive than pitchers to purchase, but may require fewer filter changes over time.
  • They have the benefit of filtering out heavy hitters like:
    • Arsenic
    • Chromium (hexavalent)
    • Nitrate
    • Molybdenum
    • Strontium

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.tfid.org/ to find contact information for your local officials.

Water Quality in Other Idaho Cities

Idaho Water Quality Page