Decatur, Illinois
What is the Water Quality in Decatur, Illinois?
[Updated January 25, 2023]
Compared to other US cities, Decatur water quality ranks in the middle range for contamination excluding Lead.
Most of their 27 contaminants have cancer-causing attributes.
- Arsenic is at very high levels: 50x health guidelines.
- Chloroform is at very high levels: 77x health guidelines.
- Haloacetic acids (HAA5) are at extremely high levels: 114x health guidelines.
- Haloacetic acids (HAA9) are at extremely high levels: 352x health guidelines.
- These are both byproducts of the chlorine treatment process most water supplies go through.
Let’s look closer at what’s in Decatur water.
What’s in Decatur water?
Here are the top 5 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
- Hexavalent Chromium – Potential effect: Cancer
- Total trihalomethanes – Potential effect: Cancer
These are five of the 27 contaminants analyzed by the Environmental Working Group (ewg.org).
14 of these contaminants are rated as exceeding EWG Health Guidelines.
Does Decatur have Lead contamination?
No, Decatur does not currently have lead in its water. The most recent Lead samples collected from 2015 through 2017 showed concentrations of 0.0 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 Decatur’s water come from?
Decatur’s water comes from the Big Creek – Long Creek watershed.
All 3 EPA assessed water sources in the Big Creek – Long Creek watershed are in Impaired or Unknown condition. These are:
- Big Creek
- Decatur
- Sangamon River
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 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 Decatur’s water.
What Can You Do?
Information about water quality in Decatur 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 some 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 78% of contaminants in your drinking water.
- Berkey filters can also remove up to 99.99% of Lead in Decatur water.
- Brita can filter 14 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 can be more effective.
- They have the benefit of filtering out heavy hitters like:
- Arsenic – health risks
- Barium
- Bromodichloromethane
- Chlorite
- Chloroform
- Cyanide – health risks
- Fluoride
- Haloacetic acids – chlorination byproduct*
- Hexavalent chromium
- Nitrate
- Nitrite
- Strontium
- Total trihalomethanes – byproduct of chlorination*
*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.decaturil.gov/ to find contact information for your local officials.