Kenner, Louisiana

What is the Water Quality in Kenner, Louisiana?

[Updated: June 12, 2023]

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

Most of their 38 contaminants have cancer-causing attributes.

• Arsenic is at very high levels: 78x health guidelines.
• Haloacetic acids (HAA5) are at extremely high levels: 459x health guidelines.
• Haloacetic acids (HAA9) are at extremely high levels: 677x health guidelines.
  • These are both byproducts of the chlorine treatment process most water supplies go through.

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

What’s in Kenner water?

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

1. Arsenic – 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 38 contaminants analyzed by the Environmental Working Group (ewg.org).

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

Does Kenner have Lead contamination?

Yes, Kenner has lead in its water. The most recent Lead samples collected in 2019 showed concentrations up to 50.0 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 Kenner’s tap water come from?

Kenner’s tap water is supplied by East Jefferson Waterworks.

There are no assessed water sources for the city of Kenner.

Ideally, a water source would be Assessed, Known, and rated in Good condition.

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

Conclusion – What Can You Do?

Information about water quality in Kenner 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 even more contaminants, consider a Reverse Osmosis water filtration system for your home.
  • 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 – toxicology
    • Aluminum
    • Arsenic
    • Atrazine – herbicide
    • Barium
    • Chloroform
    • Cyanide
    • Dalapon
    • Fluoride
    • Lead
    • Haloacetic acids
    • Hexavalent chromium
    • Nitrate
    • Nitrite
    • Selenium
    • Simazine
    • Strontium
    • Total trihalomethanes – byproduct of chlorination*
    • Uranium
  • 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: http://www.kenner.la.us/ to find contact information for your local officials.

Water Quality in Other Louisiana Cities

Louisiana Water Quality Page