Montebello, California

What is the Water Quality in Montebello, California?

[Updated: June 12, 2023]

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

Most of their 33 contaminants have cancer-causing attributes.

• Arsenic is at extremely high levels: 98x health guidelines.
• PFBS is at very high levels: 4.7x health guidelines.
• PFHXS is at very high levels: 3.5x health guidelines.
• PFOA is at extremely high levels: 1,446x health guidelines.
• PFOS is at extremely high levels: 43x health guidelines.
  • These are all considered “forever chemicals” by the EPA and are being studied extensively.

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

What’s in Montebello 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. Bromodichloromethane – Potential effect: Cancer
3. Haloacetic acids (HAA5) – Potential effect: Cancer
4. Total trihalomethanes – Potential effect: Cancer
5. Uranium – Potential effect: Cancer

These are five of the 33 contaminants analyzed by the Environmental Working Group (ewg.org).

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

Does Montebello water have Lead contamination?

Yes, Montebello has lead in its water. The most recent Lead samples collected from 2015 through 2017 showed concentrations up to 4.8 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 Montebello’s water come from?

Montebello’s water comes from the Chavez Ravine – Los Angeles River watershed.

All 4 water sources in the Chavez Ravine – Los Angeles River watershed are in Impaired or Unknown condition. These include:

• Belvedere Park Lake – Unknown
• Hollenback Park Lake – Unknown
• Lincoln Park Lake – Impaired
• Los Angeles River Reach 2 (Carson to Figueroa Street) – Impaired

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 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 Montebello’s water.

What Can You Do?

Information about water quality in Montebello 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 in your whole house, 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 – irritant of the eyes and respiratory tract. “Exposure may cause damage to the central nervous system, liver and kidneys.” (source)
    • Arsenic
    • Bromodichloromethane
    • Bromoform
    • Cobalt
    • Fluoride
    • Hexavalent chromium
    • Molybdenum
    • Nitrate
    • PFDA
    • PFHPA
    • PFHxA
    • PFNA
    • PFOA
    • PFOS
    • 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: https://cityofmontebello.com/ to find contact information for your local officials.

Water Quality in Other California Cities

California Water Quality Page