Overland Park, Kansas

What is the Water Quality in Overland Park, Kansas?

[Updated: June 12, 2023]

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

Most of their 25 contaminants have cancer-causing attributes.

• Arsenic is at extremely high levels: 225x health guidelines.
• Chloroform is at very high levels: 35x health guidelines.
• Haloacetic acids (HAA5) are at extremely high levels: 162x health guidelines.
• Haloacetic acids (HAA9) are at extremely high levels: 221x health guidelines.
  • These are both byproducts of the chlorine treatment process most water supplies go through.

Let’s look closer at what’s in Overland Park water.

What’s in Overland Park water?

Here are the top 7 chemical compounds in your water and what health issues they can potentially cause:

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

These are seven of the 25 contaminants analyzed by the Environmental Working Group (ewg.org).

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

Does Overland Park water have Lead contamination?

Yes, Overland Park has lead in its water. The most recent Lead samples collected from 2015 through 2017 showed concentrations up to 3.8 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 Overland Park’s water come from?

Overland Park’s water comes from the Brush Creek – Blue River watershed.

All 8 EPA assessed water sources in the Brush Creek – Blue River watershed are in Impaired or Unknown condition. These include:

• Blue River – 2 segments
• Brush Creek – 2 segments
• Lake of the Woods
• Mill Creek
• Rock Creek

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 Overland Park’s water.

Conclusion – What Can You Do?

Information about water quality in Overland Park can be surprising (especially lead contamination).

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 are more effective.
  • They have the benefit of filtering out heavy hitters like:
    • Aluminum
    • Arsenic – health risks
    • Atrazine
    • Barium – health risks in water
    • Bromodichloromethane – health risks in drinking water
    • Chloroform – side effects
    • Chromium (total)
    • Dibromochloromethane
    • Fluoride
    • Haloacetic acids – chlorination byproduct*
    • Hexavalent chromium – health effects
    • Molybdenum
    • Nitrate
    • Selenium – health risks
    • Strontium
    • Total trihalomethanes – byproduct of chlorination*
  • 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.opkansas.org/City-Government/ to find contact information for your local officials.

Water Quality in Other Kansas Cities

Kansas Water Quality Page