Pocatello, Idaho

What is the Water Quality in Pocatello, Idaho?

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

Most of their 23 contaminants have cancer-causing attributes.

• Arsenic is at extremely high levels: 382x health guidelines.
• Radium is at high levels: 13x health guidelines.

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

What’s in Pocatello 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. Hexavalent Chromium – Potential effect: Cancer
3. Haloacetic acids (HAA5) – Potential effect: Cancer
4. Radium – Potential effect: Cancer
5. Uranium – Potential effect: Cancer

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

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

Does Pocatello have Lead contamination?

Yes, Pocatello has lead in its water. The most recent Lead samples collected from 2014 through 2016 showed concentrations up to 3.0 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 filtered out.

See the What Can You Do? section below to learn how to filter out contaminants.

Where does Pocatello’s water come from?

Pocatello’s water comes from the Trail Creek – Portneuf River watershed.

All 6 water sources in the Trail Creek – Portneuf River watershed are in Impaired or Unknown condition. These include:

• American Falls Reservoir (Snake River)
• City Creek – source to mouth
• Lower Pocatello Creek
• Portneuf River – Marsh Creek to American Falls Reservoir

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

Learn more from How’s My Waterway

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

What Can You Do?

Information about water quality in Pocatello 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 85% of contaminants in your drinking water.
  • Berkey filters can also remove up to 99.99% of Lead in Pocatello water.
  • Brita can filter 9 of 23 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 in your whole house, consider a reverse osmosis water filtration system for your home.
  • These are typically more expensive than pitchers to purchase, but are much more effective.
  • They have the benefit of filtering out heavy hitters like:
    • Arsenic
    • Barium
    • Bromodichloromethane
    • Bromoform
    • Chromium (hexavalent)
    • Haloacetic acids (HAA5 and HAA9) – byproducts of chlorine treatment
    • Nitrate
    • Radium
    • Selenium
    • Strontium
    • Total trihalomethanes
    • Trichloroethylene
    • Uranium

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.pocatello.us/ to find contact information for your local officials.

Water Quality in Other Idaho Cities

Idaho Water Quality Page