Moore, Oklahoma

What is the Water Quality in Moore, Oklahoma?

[Updated: June 9, 2023]

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

Most of their 32 contaminants have cancer-causing attributes.

• Arsenic is at extremely high levels: 629x health guidelines.
• Haloacetic acids (HAA5) are at extremely high levels: 322x health guidelines.
• Haloacetic acids (HAA9) are at extremely high levels: 676x health guidelines.
  • These are both byproducts of the chlorine treatment process most water supplies go through.

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

What’s in Moore 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 and HAA9) – Potential effect: Cancer
5. Total trihalomethanes – Potential effect: Cancer

These are five of the 32 contaminants analyzed by the Environmental Working Group (ewg.org).

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

Does Moore have Lead contamination?

Yes, Moore has lead in its water. The most recent Lead samples collected in 2019 showed concentrations up to 5.1 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 Moore’s water come from?

Moore’s water comes from the Mussel Shoals Lake watershed.

Both water sources in the Mussel Shoals Lake watershed are in Impaired or Unknown condition. These are:

• Little River – Impaired
• Mussel Shoals Lake Creek – Unknown

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

Whether a water source is in Impaired, Unknown, 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 Moore’s water.

Conclusion – What Can You Do?

Information about water quality in Moore 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:

• 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 house.
  • These are more expensive than pitchers to purchase, but can be more effective.
  • They have the benefit of filtering out heavy hitters like:
    • Arsenic
    • Barium
    • Chloroform
    • Fluoride
    • Haloacetic acids – byproduct of chlorination*
    • Hexavalent chromium
    • Nitrate
    • Nitrite
    • Selenium
    • Strontium
    • Toluene
    • 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://www.cityofmoore.com/government to find contact information for your local officials.

Water Quality in Other Oklahoma Cities

Oklahoma Water Quality Page