Pico Rivera, California

What is the Water Quality in Pico Rivera, California?

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

Most of their 34 contaminants have cancer-causing attributes.

• Arsenic is at extremely high levels: 115x health guidelines.
• PFBS is at very high levels: 4.2x health guidelines.
• PFOA is at extremely high levels: 1,394x health guidelines.
• PFOS is at extremely high levels: 23x health guidelines.
  • These are all considered “forever chemicals” by the EPA and are being studied extensively.

Let’s look closer at what’s in Pico Rivera water.

What else is in Pico Rivera 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) – Potential effect: Cancer
5. Total trihalomethanes – Potential effect: Cancer

These are five of the 34 contaminants analyzed by the Environmental Working Group (ewg.org).

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

Does Pico Rivera have Lead contamination?

Yes, Pico Rivera has lead in its water. The most recent Lead samples collected from 2015 through 2017 showed concentrations up to 7.0 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 Pico Rivera’s water come from?

Pico Rivera’s water comes from the Coyote Creek – San Gabriel River watershed.

10 of the 12 assessed water sources in the Coyote Creek – San Gabriel River watershed are in Impaired or Unknown condition. These include:

• Artesia-Norwalk Drain
• Coyote Creek
• El Dorado Lakes
• San Gabriel River Estuary
• San Gabriel River Reaches 1-3

Ideally, a water source would be rated in Good condition. Maplewood Channel and San Jose Creek (Los Angeles County) are 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 Pico Rivera’s water.

What Can You Do?

Information about water quality in Pico Rivera 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 83% of contaminants in your drinking water. (Berkey Light and Travel Berkey are the only types available in California.)
  • Berkey filters can also remove up to 99.99% of Lead in Pico Rivera water.
    • They will also remove Arsenic, PFBS, PFDA, PFOA, and PFOS.
  • Brita can filter 19 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 30 of the 34 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
    • Arsenic
    • Bromodichloromethane
    • Chloroform
    • Cobalt
    • Fluoride
    • Haloacetic acids – byproduct of chlorination*
    • Hexavalent chromium
    • Nitrate
    • 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.pico-rivera.org/ to find contact information for your local officials.

Water Quality in Other California Cities

California Water Quality Page