Coral Gables, Florida

What is the Water Quality in Coral Gables, Florida?

Compared to other US cities, Coral Gables water quality ranks in the middle range for contamination excluding Lead.

Most of their 17 contaminants have cancer-causing attributes.

Let’s look closer at what’s in Coral Gables water.

What’s in Coral Gables water?

Here are the top 4 chemical compounds in your water and what health issues they can potentially cause:

1. Hexavalent Chromium – Potential effect: Cancer
2. Haloacetic acids (HAA5) – Potential effect: Cancer
3. Haloacetic acids (HAA9) – Potential effect: Cancer
4. Total trihalomethanes – Potential effect: Cancer

These are four of the 17 contaminants analyzed by the Environmental Working Group (ewg.org).

These 4 contaminants are rated as exceeding EWG Health Guidelines.

Does Coral Gables have Lead contamination?

Yes, Coral Gables has lead contamination. 90 percent of lead samples collected in Coral Gables in 2018 had concentrations up to 1.3 parts per billion.

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 removed.

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

Important: Miami-Dade Water and Sewer Authority also has dangerous levels of PFHPA and PFOS. These are known as “forever chemicals” in the PFAS group. (More at EPA)

Where does Coral Gables’s water come from?

Coral Gables water comes from the Tamiami Canal.

11 of the 13 Tamiami Canal water sources are in Impaired condition.

Both Hammock Lake (East) and Hammock Lake (West) are in Unknown condition.

Ideally, a water source would be rated in Good condition. See below for what you can do to improve Coral Gables’s water.

Learn more from How’s My Waterway here

What Can You Do?

Information about water quality in Coral Gables, Florida can be surprising and downright scary.

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 81% of contaminants in your drinking water.
  • Berkey filters can also remove up to 99.99% of Lead and PFHPA and PFOS in Coral Gables water.
  • Brita can filter 4 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 20 of the 24 contaminants, consider a Reverse Osmosis water filtration system for your house.
  • These are typically more expensive than pitchers to purchase, but may require fewer filter changes over time.
  • They have the benefit of filtering out heavy hitters like:
    • Arsenic
    • Chromium (total)
    • Nitrate
    • Selenium
    • Strontium

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.coralgables.com/ to find contact information for your local officials.

Water Quality in Other Florida Cities

Florida Water Quality Page