Commerce City, Colorado

What is the Water Quality in Commerce City, Colorado?

Compared to other US cities, Commerce City water quality ranks in the high-middle range for contamination excluding Lead.

Most of their 27 contaminants have cancer-causing attributes.

• Haloacetic acids (HAA5) are at extremely high levels: 209x health guidelines.
• Haloacetic acids (HAA9) are at extremely high levels: 250x health guidelines.
  • HAA5 and HAA9 are byproducts of chlorine treatment, a common method of disinfecting water supplies.
• Uranium is at extremely high levels: 25x health guidelines.

Let’s look closer at what’s in Commerce City water.

What’s in Commerce City 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. Hexavalent Chromium – Potential effect: Cancer
4. Haloacetic acids (HAA5 and HAA9) – Potential effect: Cancer
5. Total trihalomethanes – Potential effect: Cancer

These are five of the 27 contaminants analyzed by the Environmental Working Group (ewg.org).

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

Does Commerce City have Lead contamination?

Yes, Commerce City has lead in its water. The most recent Lead samples collected in 2018 showed concentrations up to 2.4 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 Commerce City’s water come from?

Commerce City’s water comes from the City of Thornton – South Platte River watershed.

All 6 water sources in the City of Thornton – South Platte River watershed are in Impaired or Unknown condition. These include:

• Multiple lakes and reservoirs in tributary watersheds of South Platte River
• Parkfield Lake
• South Platte River – All tributaries
• South Platte River – Main stem

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

Whether a water source is in Impaired or Good condition refers to the quality of three uses:

1. Aquatic Life
2. Fish and Shellfish Consumption
3. Recreation

Learn more from How’s My Waterway

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

What Can You Do?

Information about water quality in Commerce City 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 filters can also remove up to 99.99% of Lead in Commerce City water.
  • Brita can filter 13 of 27 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 24 of the 27 contaminants, consider a Reverse Osmosis water filtration system for your house.
  • These are more expensive than pitchers to purchase, but are much more effective.
  • They have the benefit of filtering out heavy hitters like:
    • 1,4-Dioxane – irritant of the eyes and respiratory tract. “Exposure may cause damage to the central nervous system, liver and kidneys.” (source)
    • Barium
    • Cadmium
    • Chloroform
    • Chromium (total)
    • Fluoride
    • Haloacetic acids (HAA5 and HAA9)
    • Hexavalent chromium
    • Nitrate
    • Nitrite
    • Selenium
    • Strontium
    • Total trihalomethanes – byproduct of chlorination*
    • Uranium

*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.c3gov.com/ to find contact information for your local officials.

Water Quality in Other Colorado Cities

Colorado Water Quality Page