Weston, Florida

What is the Water Quality in Weston, Florida?

[Updated: June 9, 2023]

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

Most of their 14 contaminants have cancer-causing attributes.

• Arsenic is at very high levels: 25x health guidelines.
• Haloacetic acids (HAA5) are at extremely high levels: 48x health guidelines.
• Haloacetic acids (HAA9) are at extremely high levels: 156x health guidelines.
  • These are both byproducts of the chlorine treatment process most water supplies go through.

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

What’s in Weston water?

Here are the top 4 chemical compounds in your water and what health issues they can potentially cause:

1. Chlorate – Potential effect: Harm to the thyroid
2. Hexavalent Chromium – Potential effect: Cancer
3. Haloacetic acids (HAA5) – Potential effect: Cancer
4. Total trihalomethanes – Potential effect: Cancer

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

These 6 contaminants are rated as exceeding EWG Health Guidelines.

Does Weston have Lead contamination?

Yes, Weston has lead in its water. The most recent Lead samples collected in 2017 showed concentrations up to 1.6 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 Weston’s water come from?

Weston’s water comes from the South New River Canal – West watershed.

There are no EPA assessed water sources in the South New River Canal – West watershed.

Ideally, a water source would be Known, Assessed, and rated 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 Weston’s water.

Conclusion – What Can You Do?

Information about water quality in Weston 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:

• Use Activated Carbon filters to remove most contaminants in your drinking water.
  • Faucet-mount filters work better than pitchers.
  • PUR and Brita are low-cost and effective.

• To filter out even more 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:
    • Fluoride
    • Haloacetic acids – chlorination byproduct*
    • Hexavalent chromium
    • Nitrate
    • Nitrite
    • Strontium
    • Total trihalomethanes – byproduct of chlorination*
  • Our recommendation: APEC Reverse Osmosis Systems

*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.westonfl.org/government to find contact information for your local officials.

Water Quality in Other Florida Cities

Florida Water Quality Page