Frederick, Maryland

Frederick, Maryland Frederick, Maryland

What is the Water Quality in Frederick, Maryland?

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

Most of their 21 contaminants have cancer-causing attributes.

  • Chloroform is at very high levels: 39x health guidelines.
  • Haloacetic acids (HAA5) are at extremely high levels: 358x health guidelines.
  • Haloacetic acids (HAA9) are at extremely high levels: 692x health guidelines.
    • These are both byproducts of the chlorine treatment process most water supplies go through.

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

What’s in Frederick 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. Haloacetic acids – Potential effect: Cancer
  4. Hexavalent Chromium – Potential effect: Cancer
  5. Total trihalomethanes – Potential effect: Cancer

These are five of the 21 contaminants analyzed by the Environmental Working Group (ewg.org).

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

Does Frederick have Lead contamination?

No, Frederick does not currently have lead in its water. The most recent Lead samples collected from 2016 through 2018 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 Frederick’s water come from?

Frederick’s water comes from the Carroll Creek – Monocacy River watershed.

One of the two EPA assessed water sources in the Carroll Creek – Monocacy River watershed are in Impaired condition. This is one section of Lower Monocacy River.

Ideally, a water source would be rated in Good condition. The mainstem of Lower Monocacy River is 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 Frederick’s water.

What Can You Do?

Information about water quality in Frederick 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 80% of harmful contaminants in your drinking water.
    • Berkey filters can also remove up to 99.99% of Lead in Frederick 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 16 of the 21 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:
      • Atrazine – herbicide
      • Barium – In low doses, barium ions act as a muscle stimulant, and higher doses affect the nervous system, causing cardiac irregularities, tremors, weakness, anxiety, shortness of breath, and paralysis.
      • Bromodichloromethane – flame retardant and solvent for fats and waxes
      • Chloroform
      • Fluoride
      • Haloacetic acids – chlorination byproduct*
      • Hexavalent chromium
      • Nitrate
      • Nitrite
      • Simazine – herbicide (banned in European Union states)
      • 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.cityoffrederickmd.gov/ to find contact information for your local officials.

Water Quality in Other Maryland Cities

Maryland Water Quality Page

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