North Miami, Florida

What is the Water Quality in North Miami, Florida?

Compared to other US cities, North Miami water quality ranks in the middle range for contamination excluding Lead.

Most of their 21 contaminants have cancer-causing attributes.

• Arsenic is at extremely high levels: 63x health guidelines.
• Haloacetic acids (HAA5) are at extremely high levels: 301x health guidelines.
• Haloacetic acids (HAA9) are at extremely high levels: 747x health guidelines.
  • These are both byproducts of the chlorine treatment process most water supplies go through.
• PFOA is at extremely high levels: 857x health guidelines.
• PFOS is at extremely high levels: 50x health guidelines.
  • These are considered “forever chemicals” by the EPA and are being studied extensively.

Let’s look closer at what’s in North Miami water.

What Else is in North Miami water?

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

1. Hexavalent Chromium – Potential effect: Cancer
2. Haloacetic acids (HAA5 and HAA9) – Potential effect: Cancer
3. Radium – Potential effect: Cancer
4. Total trihalomethanes – Potential effect: Cancer
5. Uranium – Potential effect: Cancer

These are five of the 21 contaminants analyzed by the Environmental Working Group (ewg.org).

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

Does North Miami have Lead contamination?

Yes, North Miami has lead in its water. The most recent Lead samples collected from 2015 through 2017 showed concentrations up to 2.4 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 North Miami’s water come from?

North Miami’s water comes from the Biscayne Canal watershed.

All 6 water sources in the Biscayne Canal watershed are in Impaired condition. These include:

• Arch Creek – Upper and Lower segments
• Miami Canal (West)
• Little River
• Biscayne Canal

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 North Miami’s water.

What Can You Do?

Information about water quality in North Miami 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 80% of contaminants in your drinking water.
  • Berkey filters can also remove up to 99.99% of Lead in North Miami water.
    • They remove Arsenic, Haloacetic acids, PFOA, and PFOS as well.
  • Brita can filter 6 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 18 of the 21 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:
    • 1,4-Dioxane – irritant of the eyes and respiratory tract. “Exposure may cause damage to the central nervous system, liver and kidneys.”
    • Aluminum
    • Barium
    • Fluoride
    • Haloacetic acids
    • Hexavalent chromium
    • Nitrate
    • Perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS)
    • Radium
    • Strontium
    • 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.northmiamifl.gov/ to find contact information for your local officials.

Water Quality in Other Florida Cities

Florida Water Quality Page