Local municipal report and ewg.org data. Midwest water is pretty shit. Time to start saving for a RO system.
What was detected in 2024:
🌿 Nitrate — 6.2 ppm (legal limit: 10 ppm)
From agricultural fertilizer runoff. High enough to be a concern, especially for infants.
🌱 Atrazine — 0.41 ppb (legal limit: 3 ppb)
A common herbicide from row crop farming. Within legal limits but still present.
🧪 Trihalomethanes (TTHMs) — avg 64.15 ppb, spiking to 98.80 ppb (legal limit: 80 ppb avg)
Disinfection byproducts formed when chlorine reacts with organic matter. Technically compliant on the annual average, but individual spikes exceeded the legal limit.
🧪 Haloacetic Acids — 34.70 ppb avg (legal limit: 60 ppb)
More chlorine disinfection byproducts. Within limits but present.
☣️ PFOA — 3.8 ppt (EPA health advisory: 0.004 ppt)
~950x over the health advisory. "Forever chemical" linked to cancer, immune disruption, and hormonal issues. Not illegal under current MCL rules but flagged as a public health concern.
☣️ PFOS — 2.1 ppt (EPA health advisory: 0.020 ppt)
~105x over the health advisory. Same class of PFAS forever chemicals.
⚗️ Fluoride — 0.88 ppm (legal limit: 4 ppm) — intentionally added
🧂 Sodium — 12.6 ppm — from treatment process and natural deposits
🔩 Lead — 1.3 ppb (action level: 15 ppb) — from home plumbing, not the source water itself
🔩 Copper — 0.017 ppm (action level: 1.3 ppm) — same, home plumbing