Galveston, Texas

What is the Water Quality in Galveston, Texas?

Compared to other US cities, Galveston water quality ranks in the high-mid range for contamination excluding Lead.

Most of their 34 contaminants have cancer-causing attributes.

• Chloroform is at particularly high levels: 24x health guidelines.
• Galveston water also contains Cyanide and Simazine.

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

What’s in Galveston 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. Chromium (hexavalent) – Potential effect: Cancer
4. Haloacetic acids (HAA5) – Potential effect: Cancer
5. Total trihalomethanes – Potential effect: Cancer

These are five of the 34 contaminants analyzed by the Environmental Working Group (ewg.org).

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

Does Galveston have Lead contamination?

Yes, Galveston has lead in its water. The most recent Lead samples collected from 2014 through 2016 showed 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.

Where does Galveston’s water come from?

Galveston’s water comes from the Dickinson Bayou watershed.

14 of the 53 waterbodies in the Dickinson Bayou watershed are in Good condition. The other 39 are in Impaired or Unknown condition.

Ideally, all of a city’s water sources would be rated in Good condition. See below for what you can do to improve Galveston’s water.

Learn more from How’s My Waterway here

What Can You Do?

Information about water quality in Galveston 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 75% of contaminants in your drinking water.
  • Berkey filters can also remove up to 99.99% of Lead in Galveston water.
  • Brita can filter 20 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 more of the 31 of the 34 contaminants, consider a whole house water filtration system for your home.
  • 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:
    • 1,4-Dioxane
    • Atrazine
    • Barium
    • Chlorite
    • Chloroform
    • Chromium (hexavalent)
    • Cyanide
    • Nitrates
    • Radium
    • Simazine
    • Strontium
    • Toluene

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.galvestontx.gov/ to find contact information for your local officials.

Water Quality in Other Texas Cities

Texas Water Quality Page