Carrollton, Texas
Water Quality in Carrollton, Texas
Watershed: Grapevine Creek – Elm Fork Trinity River
What is the water quality like in Carrollton, TX?
Let’s dive deeper into what’s in Carrollton water.
What’s in Carrollton water?
Here are the top 6 chemical compounds in your water and what health issues they can potentially cause:
- Arsenic – Potential effect: Cancer
- Bromodichloromethane – Potential effect: Cancer
- Chloroform – Potential effect: Cancer
- Haloacetic acids – Potential effect: Cancer
- Hexavalent Chromium – Potential effect: Cancer
- Total trihalomethanes – Potential effect: Cancer
These are six of the 39 contaminants analyzed by the Environmental Working Group (ewg.org).
13 of these contaminants are rated as exceeding EWG Health Guidelines.
See the What Can You Do? section below for all of the contaminants you can filter out and how to do it.
Where does Carrollton’s water come from?
Carrollton’s water comes from the Grapevine Creek – Elm Fork Trinity River watershed.
One of the two EPA assessed water sources in the Grapevine Creek – Elm Fork Trinity River watershed is in Impaired condition. This is Grapevine Creek.
Ideally, a water source would be rated in Good condition. The Elm Fork of the Trinity River below Lewisville Lake is in Good condition.
Whether a water source is in Impaired or Good condition refers to the quality of these uses:
- Drinking Water
- Aquatic Life
- Fish and Shellfish Consumption
- Recreation
Learn more from How’s My Waterway
See below for what you can do to improve Carrollton’s water.
Conclusion – What Can You Do?
Information about water quality can be surprising.
But there’s no reason to lose hope. There are things you can do in your household as well as things you can do at a community level.
In Your Household:
- Use Berkey filters with activated carbon to filter out 32 of the 39 contaminants in your drinking water.
- Berkey filters can also remove up to 99.99% of Lead in Carrollton water.
- Brita can filter 21 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 39 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:
- Aluminum
- Androstenedione
- Antimony
- Arsenic – health risks
- Atrazine – herbicide
- Barium – health risks in water
- Bromate
- Bromochloroacetic acid
- Bromodichloromethane – health risks in drinking water
- Bromoform
- Chloroform – side effects
- Chromium (total)
- Cyanide – exposure limits
- Dibromoacetic acid
- Dibromochloromethane
- Dichloroacetic acid
- Fluoride
- Haloacetic acids – chlorination byproduct*
- Hexavalent chromium – health effects
- Molybdenum
- Monobromoacetic acid
- Monochloroacetic acid
- Naphthalene – exposure to large amounts may damage and destroy red blood cells. See: Health Effects
- Nitrate
- Nitrite
- Radium
- Selenium – health risks
- Simazine – herbicide (banned in European Union states)
- Strontium
- Total trihalomethanes – byproduct of chlorination*
- Trichloroacetic acid
*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.cityofcarrollton.com/government to find contact information for your local officials.