Rowlett, Texas

What is the Water Quality in Rowlett, Texas?

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

Most of their 37 contaminants have cancer-causing attributes.

• Arsenic is at very high levels: 37x health guidelines.
• Haloacetic acids (HAA5) are at extremely high levels: 209x health guidelines.
• Haloacetic acids (HAA9) are at extremely high levels: 735x health guidelines.
  • These are both byproducts of the chlorine treatment process most water supplies go through.

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

What’s in Rowlett 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. Atrazine – Potential effect: Harm to the developing fetus
3. Chloroform – Potential effect: Cancer
4. Hexavalent Chromium – Potential effect: Cancer
5. Radium – Potential effect: Cancer

These are five of the 32 contaminants analyzed by the Environmental Working Group (ewg.org).

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

Does Rowlett have Lead contamination?

Yes, Rowlett has lead in its water. The most recent Lead samples collected in 2019 showed concentrations up to 14.4 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 Rowlett’s water come from?

Rowlett’s water comes from the Rowlett Creek – Lake Ray Hubbard watershed.

One of the two EPA assessed water sources in the Rowlett Creek – Lake Ray Hubbard watershed is in Impaired condition. This is Rowlett Creek.

Ideally, a water source would be rated in Good condition. Lake Ray Hubbard is 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 Rowlett’s water.

What Can You Do?

Information about water quality in Rowlett 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 75% of contaminants in your drinking water.
  • Berkey filters can also remove up to 99.99% of Lead in Rowlett water.
  • Brita can filter 20 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 34 of the 37 contaminants, consider a Reverse Osmosis water filtration system for your whole house.
  • These are more expensive than pitchers to purchase, but can be more effective.
  • They have the benefit of filtering out heavy hitters like:
    • Aluminum
    • Antimony
    • Arsenic – poisonous in large amounts and small amounts over time
    • Atrazine – strong herbicide
    • Barium – health effects
    • Bromate
    • Bromodichloromethane
    • Bromoform
    • Chloroform
    • Chlorite – toxicity
    • Cyanide
    • Fluoride
    • Haloacetic acids
    • Hexavalent chromium
    • Nitrate
    • Nitrite
    • Radium
    • Selenium
    • Silver
    • Simazine
    • 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.ci.rowlett.tx.us/ to find contact information for your local officials.

Water Quality in Other Texas Cities

Texas Water Quality Page