Gary, Indiana

What is the Water Quality in Gary, Indiana?

[Updated: June 9, 2023]

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

Most of their 12 contaminants have cancer-causing attributes.

• Haloacetic acids (HAA5) are at extremely high levels: 134x health guidelines.
• Haloacetic acids (HAA9) are at extremely high levels: 316x health guidelines.
  • These are both byproducts of the chlorine treatment process most water supplies go through.
• Hexavalent chromium is at high levels: 15x health guidelines.

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

What’s in Gary water?

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

1. Haloacetic acids – Potential effect: Cancer
2. Hexavalent Chromium – Potential effect: Cancer
3. Nitrate – Potential effect: Cancer
4. Nitrate and Nitrite – Potential effect: Cancer
5. Total trihalomethanes – Potential effect: Cancer

These are five of the 12 contaminants analyzed by the Environmental Working Group (ewg.org).

These 6 contaminants are rated as exceeding EWG Health Guidelines.

Does Gary water have Lead contamination?

Yes, Gary has lead in its water. The most recent Lead samples collected from 2016 through 2018 showed concentrations up to 6.0 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 Gary’s water come from?

Gary’s water comes from the Headwaters Grand Calumet River watershed.

All 4 of the EPA assessed water sources in the Headwaters Grand Calumet River watershed are in Impaired condition. These include:

• Four sections of the Grand Calumet 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:

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 Gary’s water.

What Can You Do?

Information about water quality in Gary can be surprising.

But there are things you can do in your home to clean up your water.

1. Test Your Water using Varify Home Test Kits or similar.
2. To Remove Lead and Other Contaminants In Your Home:

• Use Activated Carbon filters to remove most contaminants in your drinking water.
  • Faucet-mount filters work better than pitchers.
  • PUR and Brita are low-cost and effective.

• To filter out All 12 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:
    • 1,4-Dioxane
    • Fluoride
    • Haloacetic acids – chlorination byproduct*
    • Hexavalent chromium
    • Molybdenum
    • Nitrate
    • Nitrite
    • Strontium
    • Testosterone
    • Total trihalomethanes – byproduct of chlorination*
  • Our recommendation: APEC Reverse Osmosis Systems

*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://gary.gov/government/ to find contact information for your local officials.

Water Quality in Other Indiana Cities

Indiana Water Quality Page