Saginaw, Michigan
What is the Water Quality in Saginaw, Michigan?
Compared to other US cities, Saginaw water quality ranks in the fairly lower range for contamination.
Most of their 15 contaminants are related to water treatment and have cancer-causing attributes.
Let’s look closer at what’s in Saginaw water.
What’s in Saginaw water?
Here are the 4 main chemical compounds in your water and what health issues they can potentially cause:
- Chloroform – Potential effect: Cancer
- Hexavalent Chromium – Potential effect: Cancer
- Haloacetic acids (HAA5) – Potential effect: Cancer
- Total trihalomethanes (TTHMs) – Potential effect: Cancer
These are 4 of the 15 contaminants analyzed by the Environmental Working Group (ewg.org).
10 contaminants are rated as exceeding EWG Health Guidelines.
Does Saginaw have Lead contamination?
Yes, Saginaw’s water has lead in it. 90 percent of lead samples collected in Saginaw had concentrations up to 10.0 parts per billion.
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 Saginaw’s water come from?
Saginaw (city) water comes from water sources in the Crow Island – Saginaw River watershed.
1 out of 2 waterbodies in the Crow Island – Saginaw River watershed is in Good condition.
The other waterbody is listed as impaired.
Impaired waterbodies:
- Rivers/Streams in HUC 040802060201
Learn more from How’s My Waterway here
What Can You Do?
Information about water quality in Saginaw, Michigan 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 80% of contaminants in your drinking water.
- Berkey filters can also remove up to 99.99% of lead in Saginaw water.
- Brita can filter 60% (including 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 93% of contaminants, consider a whole house water filtration system for your home.
- These are typically more expensive than pitchers to purchase, but may require fewer filter changes over time.
- They have the benefit of filtering out the heavy hitters like:
- Barium
- Chlorate
- Chloroform
- Chromium (hexavalent)
- Fluoride
- Strontium
- Haloacetic acids (HAA5)
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.saginaw-mi.com/government/ to find contact information for your local officials.