Bowie, Maryland

What is the Water Quality in Bowie, Maryland?

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

Most of their 12 contaminants have cancer-causing attributes.

• Chloroform is at high levels: 3.3x health guidelines.

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

What’s in Bowie water?

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

1. Bromodichloromethane – Potential effect: Cancer
2. Chloroform – Potential effect: Cancer
3. Haloacetic acids (HAA5) – Potential effect: Cancer
4. Haloacetic acids (HAA9) – Potential effect: Cancer
5. Total trihalomethanes – Potential effect: Cancer

These are five of the 12 contaminants analyzed by the Environmental Working Group (ewg.org).

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

Does Bowie have Lead contamination?

Yes, Bowie has lead in its water. The most recent Lead samples collected from 2015 through 2017 showed concentrations up to 1.7 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 Bowie’s water come from?

Bowie’s water comes from the Collington Branch watershed.

The only water source in the Collington Branch watershed is in Impaired condition. This is Western Branch and its tributaries.

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 Bowie’s water.

What Can You Do?

Information about water quality in Bowie 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 90% of contaminants in your drinking water.
  • Berkey filters can also remove up to 99.99% of Lead in Bowie water.
  • Brita can filter 6 of 12 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 10 of the 12 contaminants in your whole house, consider a Reverse Osmosis water filtration system for your home.
  • These are more expensive than pitchers to purchase, but are much more effective.
  • They have the benefit of filtering out heavy hitters like:
    • Barium
    • Bromodichloromethane
    • Chloroform
    • Dibromochloromethane
    • Fluoride
    • Haloacetic acids (HAA5)
    • Haloacetic acids (HAA9)
    • Hexavalent chromium
    • Strontium
    • Total trihalomethanes

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://cityofbowie.org/ to find contact information for your local officials.

Water Quality in Other Maryland Cities

Maryland Water Quality Page