Newport News, Virginia

Water Quality in Newport News, Virginia

Watershed: Cooper Creek – James River

What is the water quality like in Newport News, VA?

Let’s dive deeper into what’s in Newport News water.

What’s in Newport News water?

Here are the top 6 chemical compounds in your water and what health issues they can potentially cause:

1. Bromodichloromethane – Potential effect: Cancer
2. Chloroform – Potential effect: Cancer
3. Haloacetic acids – Potential effect: Cancer
4. Hexavalent Chromium – Potential effect: Cancer
5. Radium – Potential effect: Cancer
6. Total trihalomethanes – Potential effect: Cancer

These are six of the 23 contaminants analyzed by the Environmental Working Group (ewg.org).

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

See the What Can You Do? section below for all of the contaminants you can filter out and how to do it.

Where does Newport News’s water come from?

Newport News’s water comes from the Cooper Creek – James River watershed.

All 21 EPA assessed water sources in the Cooper Creek – James River watershed are in Impaired or Unknown condition. These include:

• Ballard Creek and Bay
• Chuckatuck Creek
• Deep Creek – Lower
• James River – 7 segments
• Kings Creek and Bay – 2 segments
• Nansemond River
• Pagan River
• Ragged Island Creek
• Warwick River

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 these uses:

1. Drinking Water
2. Aquatic Life
3. Fish and Shellfish Consumption
4. Recreation

Learn more from How’s My Waterway

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

Conclusion – What Can You Do?

Information about water quality can be surprising.

But there’s no reason to lose hope. There are things you can do in your household as well as things you can do at a community level.

In Your Household:

• Use Berkey filters with activated carbon to filter out 19 of the 23 contaminants in your drinking water.
  • Berkey filters can also remove up to 99.99% of Lead in Newport News 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 20 of the 23 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:
    • Barium – health risks in water
    • Bromide
    • Bromodichloromethane – health risks in drinking water
    • Bromoform
    • Chloroform – side effects
    • Dibromoacetic acid
    • Dibromochloromethane
    • Dichloroacetic acid
    • Fluoride
    • Haloacetic acids – chlorination byproduct*
    • Hexavalent chromium – health effects
    • Monobromoacetic acid
    • Monochloroacetic acid
    • Nitrate
    • Nitrite
    • Radium
    • Strontium
    • Total trihalomethanes – byproduct of chlorination*
    • Trichloroacetic acid

*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.nnva.gov/ to find contact information for your local officials.

Water Quality in Other Virginia Cities

Virginia Water Quality Page