Can You Drink Tap Water in Baltimore?
Baltimore water quality ranks in the middle range for contaminants.
- For reference, Miramar, Florida has 75 contaminants. (The most of any U.S. city over 50,000.)
- Rochester Hills, Michigan has 5.
- Note: These are both outliers.
With a total of 25 contaminants in your drinking water, 9 of those exceed health guidelines.
Drinking unfiltered water from Baltimore water sources could be hazardous to your health.
Let’s look closer at Baltimore water quality.
Baltimore Water Issues
Baltimore has a total of 25 contaminants analyzed by the Environmental Working Group (ewg.org).
They include things like Atrazine (herbicide), Chloroform, and Testosterone.
Most of the contaminants pose a risk of Cancer if allowed to stay in your drinking water.
Lead in Baltimore Water
Baltimore drinking water has low levels of lead in it.
90 percent of samples taken from Baltimore water sources from 2016 to 2018 had a lead concentration of 3.0 parts per billion (ppb) or less.
For comparison:
Lead concentrations of 3.9 ppb to 15 ppb “put a formula-fed baby at risk of elevated blood lead levels.” (ewg.org)
Here are a few of the lead poisoning symptoms for children under 6:
- Abdominal Pain
- Developmental Delay
- Learning Difficulties
- Fatigue
- Weight loss
- Irritability
- Hearing loss
There is no safe level of lead for humans.
So, What Can You Do?
Information about water quality can be surprising.
There are things you can do today to keep you and your family safe and healthy.
In Your Household:
Use Berkey water filters with activated carbon to filter out 72 percent of contaminants in your drinking water.
(They also remove up to 99% of lead contamination in Baltimore water.)
Brita and PUR pitchers only manage 52%.
Save money on new and replacement filters when you use the links at waterbadge.com/filters.
Baltimore Whole House Water Filtration Systems
A whole house filtration system will also filter out 22 of 25 contaminants, making it the most effective choice.
A few things to note:
- Whole house systems are much more effective than water pitchers like Brita and PUR.
- However, the initial cost is higher and they require installation.
To filter out the highest number of contaminants, use our recommendations on the WaterBadge Filters page:
Conclusion: Can You Drink Tap Water in Baltimore?
Yes. But we recommend filtering it first.
This small step can save you and your loved ones from health problems later.
You deserve to feel safe when you drink your own tap water.
At WaterBadge, our goal is to make that a reality.
To support this mission, we’ve partnered with companies that are dedicated to water filtration and safety.
When you purchase filters and systems through them, you’re also supporting WaterBadge’s mission of cleaner water for everyone.
Thanks for doing your part.
Want to learn more about water quality around the U.S.?
Search for your city here:
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