Grand Junction, Colorado

What is the Water Quality in Grand Junction, Colorado?

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

Most of their 24 contaminants have cancer-causing attributes.

• Chloroform is at very high levels: 87x health guidelines.
• Haloacetic acids (HAA5) are at extremely high levels: 278x health guidelines.
• Haloacetic acids (HAA9) are at extremely high levels: 631x health guidelines.
  • These are both byproducts of the chlorine treatment process most water supplies go through.

Let’s look closer at what’s in Grand Junction water.

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

These are five of the 24 contaminants analyzed by the Environmental Working Group (ewg.org).

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

Does Grand Junction have Lead contamination?

Yes, Grand Junction has lead in its water. The most recent Lead samples collected in 2018 showed concentrations up to 7.8 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 Grand Junction’s water come from?

Grand Junction’s water comes from the Monument Canyon – Colorado River watershed.

2 of the 5 assessed water sources in the Monument Canyon – Colorado River watershed are in Impaired condition. These include the main stem of the Colorado River and various tributaries.

Ideally, a water source would be rated in Good condition. Other tributaries of the Colorado River are in Good condition.

Whether a water source is in Impaired or Good condition refers to the quality of three uses:

1. Aquatic Life
2. Fish and Shellfish Consumption
3. Recreation

Learn more from How’s My Waterway

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

What Can You Do?

Information about water quality in Grand Junction 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 84% of contaminants in your drinking water.
  • This includes: Chloroform, Haloacetic acids, Vinyl chloride, and Xylenes among others.
  • Berkey filters can also remove up to 99.99% of Lead in Grand Junction water.
  • Brita can filter 12 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 24 contaminants, consider a Reverse Osmosis water filtration system for your house.
  • These are more expensive than pitchers to purchase, but are much more effective.
  • They have the benefit of filtering out heavy hitters like:
    • Chloroform
    • Ethylbenzene
    • Fluoride
    • Haloacetic acids – byproduct of chlorination*
    • Hexavalent chromium
    • Nitrate
    • Nitrite
    • Strontium
    • Toluene – sometimes used as recreational inhalant (“glue sniffing”)
    • Total trihalomethanes – byproduct of chlorination*
    • Vinyl chloride – broad array of potential effects including: decreased male libido, spontaneous abortion, birth defects, edema, skin thickening and/or loosening (Raynaud’s Phenomenon).

*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: http://gjcity.org/ to find contact information for your local officials.

Water Quality in Other Colorado Cities

Colorado Water Quality Page