Temecula, California

What is the Water Quality in Temecula, California?

[Updated: June 10, 2023]

Compared to other US cities over 50,000, Temecula water quality ranks in the high-middle range for contamination excluding Lead.

Most of their 27 contaminants have cancer-causing attributes.

• Arsenic is at extremely high levels: 531x health guidelines.

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

What’s in Temecula 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. Radium – Potential effect: Cancer
7. Total trihalomethanes – Potential effect: Cancer

These are seven of the 27 contaminants analyzed by the Environmental Working Group (ewg.org).

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

Does Temecula have Lead contamination?

No, Temecula does not currently have lead in its water. The most recent Lead samples collected in 2019 showed concentrations of 0.0 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 filtered out and protected against.

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

Where does Temecula’s water come from?

Temecula’s water comes from the Long Canyon – Murrieta Creek watershed.

All 3 EPA assessed water sources in the Long Canyon – Murrieta Creek watershed are in Impaired or Unknown condition. These include:

• Long Canyon Creek
• Murrieta Creek
• Unnamed tributary to Murrieta 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 Temecula’s water.

Conclusion – What Can You Do?

Information about water quality in Temecula can be surprising.

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, consider a Reverse Osmosis water filtration system for your house.
  • These are more expensive than pitchers to purchase, but can be more effective.
  • They have the benefit of filtering out heavy hitters like:
    • Aluminum
    • Arsenic – health risks
    • Barium – health risks in water
    • Bromodichloromethane – health risks in drinking water
    • Bromoform
    • Chloroform – side effects
    • Chromium (total)
    • Dibromoacetic acid
    • Dibromochloromethane
    • Dichloroacetic acid
    • Fluoride
    • Haloacetic acids – chlorination byproduct*
    • Hexavalent chromium – health effects
    • Molybdenum
    • Monobromoacetic acid
    • Monochloroacetic acid
    • Nitrate
    • Perchlorate – used as oxidizers in propellants for rockets, fireworks, and highway flares. Also used to control static electricity in food packaging.
    • Radium
    • Selenium – health risks
    • Strontium
    • Total trihalomethanes – byproduct of chlorination*
    • Trichloroacetic acid
    • Uranium
  • 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: http://www.temeculaca.gov/ to find contact information for your local officials.

Water Quality in Other California Cities

California Water Quality Page