Lake Elsinore, California
What is the Water Quality in Lake Elsinore, California?
Compared to other US cities, Lake Elsinore water quality ranks in the very high range for contamination excluding Lead.
Most of their 47 contaminants have cancer-causing attributes.
- Arsenic is at extremely high levels: 491x health guidelines.
- Haloacetic acids (HAA5) are at extremely high levels: 75x health guidelines.
- Haloacetic acids (HAA9) are at extremely high levels: 152x health guidelines.
- These are both byproducts of the chlorine treatment process most water supplies go through.
- PFBS is at very high levels: 3.3x health guidelines.
- PFHXS is at very high levels: 2.3x health guidelines.
- PFOA is at extremely high levels: 1,186x health guidelines.
- PFOS is at very high levels: 2.9x health guidelines.
- These are all considered “forever chemicals” by the EPA and are being studied extensively.
- Radon is at extremely high levels: 632x health guidelines.
Let’s look closer at what’s in Lake Elsinore water.
What Else is in Lake Elsinore water?
Here are the top 5 chemical compounds in your water and what health issues they can potentially cause:
- Arsenic – Potential effect: Cancer
- Chloroform – Potential effect: Cancer
- Haloacetic acids (HAA5 and HAA9) – Potential effect: Cancer
- Hexavalent Chromium – Potential effect: Cancer
- Total trihalomethanes – Potential effect: Cancer
These are five of the 47 contaminants analyzed by the Environmental Working Group (ewg.org).
22 of these contaminants are rated as exceeding EWG Health Guidelines.
Does Lake Elsinore have Lead contamination?
No, Lake Elsinore does not have lead in its water. The most recent Lead samples collected in 2019 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 Lake Elsinore’s water come from?
Lake Elsinore’s water comes from the Arroyo Del Torro – Temescal Wash watershed.
The only EPA assessed water source in the Arroyo Del Torro – Temescal Wash watershed is in Unknown condition. This is Temescal Creek – Reach 6.
Ideally, a water source would be Known and rated in Good condition.
Whether a water source is in Impaired or Good condition refers to the quality of these uses:
- Drinking Water
- Aquatic Life
- Fish and Shellfish Consumption
- Recreation
Learn more from How’s My Waterway
See below for what you can do to improve Lake Elsinore’s water.
What Can You Do?
Information about water quality in Lake Elsinore 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 Light and Travel Berkey are the only types available in California.)
- This includes Arsenic, Haloacetic acids, PFOS, PFOA, PFBS, and Radon.
- Berkey filters can also remove up to 99.99% of any Lead in Lake Elsinore water.
- Brita can filter 29 contaminants (61.7%) 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 44 of the 47 contaminants, consider a Reverse Osmosis whole house 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:
- Arsenic – health risks
- Barium – health risks
- Bromodichloromethane
- Bromoform
- Caffeine
- Chloroform
- Cyanide – health risks
- Fluoride
- Haloacetic acids – chlorination byproduct*
- Hexavalent chromium
- Molybdenum
- Nitrate
- Nitrite
- Radon
- Selenium
- Strontium
- Strontium-90
- Testosterone
- Total trihalomethanes – byproduct of chlorination*
- Uranium
*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.lake-elsinore.org/city-government to find contact information for your local officials.