Rochester Hills, Michigan
What is the Water Quality in Rochester Hills, Michigan?
Compared to other US cities, Rochester Hills water quality ranks in the lower range for contamination excluding Lead.
Most of their 10 contaminants have cancer-causing attributes.
- Haloacetic acids (HAA5) are at extremely high levels: 161x health guidelines.
- Haloacetic acids (HAA9) are at extremely high levels: 503x health guidelines.
- These are both byproducts of the chlorine treatment process most water supplies go through.
- Radium is at very high levels: 17x health guidelines.
Let’s look closer at what’s in Rochester Hills water.
What’s in Rochester Hills water?
Here are the top 3 chemical compounds in Rochester Hills water and what health issues they can potentially cause:
- Haloacetic acids (HAA5) – Potential effect: Cancer
- Hexavalent Chromium – Potential effect: Cancer
- Total trihalomethanes – Potential effect: Cancer
These are three of the 10 contaminants analyzed by the Environmental Working Group (ewg.org).
6 of these contaminants are rated as exceeding EWG Health Guidelines.
Does Rochester Hills water have Lead contamination?
No, Rochester Hills does not currently have lead in its water. The most recent Lead samples collected from 2015 through 2017 showed concentrations of 0.0 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 Rochester Hills’ water come from?
Rochester Hills’ water comes from the Galloway Creek – Clinton River watershed.
All 3 EPA assessed water sources in the Galloway Creek – Clinton River watershed are in Impaired condition.
These include multiple Rivers and Streams in the watershed. They are labeled as HUC 040900030111 and similar. (HUC stands for Hydrologic Unit Code, hydrologic meaning it deals with the properties, distribution, and circulation of water. )
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:
- Drinking Water
- Aquatic Life
- Fish and Shellfish Consumption
- Recreation
Learn more from How’s My Waterway
See below for what you can do to improve Rochester Hills’ water.
What Can You Do?
Information about water quality in Rochester Hills 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 some 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 most of the contaminants in your drinking water.
- Berkey filters can also remove up to 99.99% of Lead in Rochester Hills water.
- Brita can filter 3 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 all 10 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:
- Chromium (total)
- Haloacetic acids – chlorination byproduct*
- Hexavalent chromium
- Strontium
- Total trihalomethanes – byproduct of chlorination*
*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.rochesterhills.org/government/index.php to find contact information for your local officials.