Evanston, Illinois

Evanston, Illinois Evanston, Illinois

What is the Water Quality in Evanston, Illinois?

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

Most of their 23 contaminants have cancer-causing attributes.

  • Chloroform is at very high levels: 25x health guidelines.
  • Haloacetic acids (HAA5) are at extremely high levels: 84x health guidelines.
  • Haloacetic acids (HAA9) are at extremely high levels: 357x health guidelines.
    • These are both byproducts of the chlorine treatment process most water supplies go through.
  • Radium is at very high levels: 20x health guidelines.

Let’s look closer at what’s in Evanston water.

What’s in Evanston water?

Here are the top 5 chemical compounds in Evanston water and what health issues they can potentially cause:

  1. Bromodichloromethane – Potential effect: Cancer
  2. Chloroform – Potential effect: Cancer
  3. Haloacetic acids – Potential effect: Cancer
  4. Hexavalent Chromium – Potential effect: Cancer
  5. Total trihalomethanes – Potential effect: Cancer

These are five of the 23 contaminants analyzed by the Environmental Working Group (ewg.org).

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

Does Evanston water have Lead contamination?

Yes, Evanston has lead in its water. The most recent Lead samples collected from 2015 through 2017 showed concentrations up to 5.0 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 Evanston’s water come from?

Evanston’s water comes from the North Shore Channel watershed.

Both EPA assessed water sources in the North Shore Channel watershed are in Impaired condition. These are two sections of North Shore Channel.

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:

  1. Drinking Water
  2. Aquatic Life
  3. Fish and Shellfish Consumption
  4. Recreation

Learn more from How’s My Waterway

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

What Can You Do?

Information about water quality in Evanston 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 90% of contaminants in your drinking water.
    • Berkey filters can also remove up to 99.99% of Lead in Evanston water.
    • Brita can filter 11 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 21 of the 23 contaminants in your whole house, consider a Reverse Osmosis water filtration system for your home.

*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.cityofevanston.org/government/ to find contact information for your local officials.

Water Quality in Other Illinois Cities

Illinois Water Quality Page

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