Corona, California
What is the Water Quality in Corona, California?
Compared to other US cities, Corona water quality ranks in the very high range for contamination excluding Lead.
Most of their 45 contaminants have cancer-causing attributes.
- Arsenic is at extremely high levels: 320x health guidelines.
- PFBS is at very high levels: 5.9x health guidelines.
- PFHXS is at very high levels: 6.7x health guidelines.
- PFOA is at extremely high levels: 3,339x health guidelines.
- PFOS is at extremely high levels: 21x health guidelines.
- These are all considered “forever chemicals” by the EPA and are being studied extensively.
Let’s look closer at what’s in Corona water.
What’s in Corona water?
Here are the top 7 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
- Uranium – Potential effect: Cancer
These are seven of the 45 contaminants analyzed by the Environmental Working Group (ewg.org).
24 of these contaminants are rated as exceeding EWG Health Guidelines.
Does Corona have Lead contamination?
Yes, Corona has lead in its water. The most recent Lead samples collected from 2015 through 2017 showed concentrations up to 4.0 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 removed.
See the What Can You Do? section below to learn how to filter out contaminants.
Where does Corona’s water come from?
Corona’s water comes from the Lake Norconian – Temescal Wash watershed.
1 of the 5 EPA assessed water sources in the Lake Norconian – Temescal Wash watershed is in Impaired condition. This is the Prado Basin Management Zone.
Ideally, a water source would be rated in Good condition. These are in Good condition:
- Corona Channel
- North Norco Channel
- Temescal Creek, Reaches 1 and 1A
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 Corona’s water.
What Can You Do?
Information about water quality in Montebello 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 80% of contaminants in your drinking water. (Berkey Light and Travel Berkey are the only types available in California.)
- This includes PFOS, PFOA, PFBS, and other PFAS chemicals.
- Berkey filters can also remove up to 99.99% of Lead in Corona water.
- Brita can filter 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 42 of the 45 contaminants, consider a Reverse Osmosis Pentair water filtration system for your house.
- These are more expensive than pitchers to purchase, but are more effective.
- They have the benefit of filtering out heavy hitters like:
- 1,4-Dioxane – “Exposure may cause damage to the central nervous system, liver and kidneys.”
- Aluminum
- Arsenic – health risks
- Barium – health risks in water
- Bromochloroacetic acid
- Bromodichloromethane – health risks in drinking water
- Bromoform
- Chloroform – side effects
- DBCP – soil fumigant causing male sterility at high exposure levels.
- Dibromoacetic acid
- Dibromochloromethane
- Dichloroacetic acid
- Fluoride
- Haloacetic acids – chlorination byproduct*
- Hexavalent chromium – health effects
- Molybdenum
- Nitrate
- Nitrite
- Perchlorate
- PFOA
- PFOS
- Selenium – health risks
- Strontium
- Total trihalomethanes – byproduct of chlorination*
- Trichloroacetic acid
- Trichloroethylene
- 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.coronaca.gov/ to find contact information for your local officials.