Arcadia, California

What is the Water Quality in Arcadia, California?

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

Most of their 28 contaminants have cancer-causing attributes.

• Arsenic is at extremely high levels: 125x health guidelines.
• Uranium is at very high levels: 4.9x health guidelines.

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

What’s in Arcadia 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. Bromoform – Potential effect: Cancer
3. Chloroform – Potential effect: Cancer
4. Hexavalent Chromium – Potential effect: Cancer
5. Haloacetic acids (HAA5) – Potential effect: Cancer

These are five of the 28 contaminants analyzed by the Environmental Working Group (ewg.org).

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

Does Arcadia have Lead contamination?

Yes, Arcadia has lead in its water. The most recent Lead samples collected from 2014 through 2016 showed concentrations up to 2.0 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 filtered out.

See the What Can You Do? section below to learn how to filter out contaminants.

Where does Arcadia’s water come from?

Arcadia’s water comes from the Santa Anita Wash – Rio Hondo watershed.

All 3 water sources in the Santa Anita Wash – Rio Hondo watershed are in Impaired condition. These are:

• Monrovia Canyon Creek
• Peck Road Park Lake
• Sawpit Creek

Ideally, a water source would be rated in Good condition.

Learn more from How’s My Waterway

See below for what you can do to improve Arcadia’s water.

What Can You Do?

Information about water quality in Arcadia 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 82% of contaminants in your drinking water. (Berkey Light and Travel Berkey are the only types available in California.)
  • Berkey filters can also remove up to 99.99% of Lead in Arcadia water.
  • Brita can filter 14 of 28 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 25 of the 28 contaminants, consider a Reverse Osmosis water filtration system for your house.
  • These are typically more expensive than pitchers to purchase, but are much more effective.
  • They have the benefit of filtering out heavy hitters like:
    • 1,4-Dioxane
    • Aluminum
    • Arsenic
    • Bromoform
    • Chloroform
    • Chromium (hexavalent)
    • Fluoride
    • Haloacetic acids (HAA5) – common byproducts of chlorine treatment linked to cancer.
    • Haloacetic acids (HAA9) – common byproducts of chlorine treatment linked to cancer.
    • Nitrate
    • Nitrite
    • Strontium
    • Total trihalomethanes – common byproducts of chlorine treatment linked to cancer.
    • Uranium

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.arcadiaca.gov/ to find contact information for your local officials.

Water Quality in Other California Cities

California Water Quality Page