How clean is the tap water in Los Angeles? Compared to other cities, not that clean. The L.A. Department of Water and Power ranks an embarrassing 83 out of 100 city utilities ranked in a drinking water quality analysis conducted by the eco-nonprofit Environmental Working Group. Our water’s contains a rather worrying amount of disinfection byproducts — and a not-insignificant amount of arsenic (2.6 parts per billion)!

Get your water from Metropolitan Water District of Southern California instead? Then your water’s somewhat cleaner, since your utility rank’s 58. The water from NoCal cities Sacramento, San Francisco, and Oakland score way better than Los Angeles, and even Anaheim and Long Beach residents enjoy less chemically polluted water than we do. On the upsdide, L.A. does beat out Riverside and San Diego — both of which made the 10 lowest rated water utilities list!

But before you run off to buy bottled water, remember that bottled water’s less regulated than tap water, and thus not guaranteed to be any safer — which is one of the many reasons eco-minded and health conscious people opt against one-use, disposable water bottles. That said, obviously tap water isn’t perfect, whether the issues are a simple matter of taste or deeper concerns about safety and health.

Those issues are what EWG’s trying to bring to light. While local water suppliers meet the Environmental Protection Agency’s water quality standards 92 percent of the time, these standards are outdated and not stringent enough. EWG analyzed the results of almost 20 million drinking water tests from water utilities conducted since 2004 — to find 316 pollutants, more than half of which aren’t even regulated.

What’s an Angeleno to do? Look into water filters. EWG’s kindly put together a useful tip sheet for selecting a filter that works for you, so you’ll be able to pick based on what you want your filter to do, whether it’s to make better tasting water or to take out a particular contaminant. This guide to safe drinking water (PDF) will also show you at a glance some simple steps you can take to stay hydrated and safe.

The bigger issue, of course, is making our tap water cleaner to begin with, instead of trying to get out the chemicals once it’s already in our homes. While EWG recommends that the EPA tighten regulations and make water quality info more easily accessible, the nonprofit points at the bigger problem of water pollution that’s contaminating our water to begin with:

By failing to clean up rivers and reservoirs that provide drinking water for hundreds of millions of Americans, EPA and the Congress force water utilities to spend heavily to make contaminated water drinkable. According to industry market studies, drinking water utilities spend more than $4 billion a year on water treatment chemicals alone. Less than one-twentieth that amount is invested in source water protection and pollution prevention, an average of $207 million per year (data for 1997-2008).

Since it’s easier and cheaper to not pollute in the first place than to clean up water that’s already been polluted, you can help clean up our tap water by supporting policies concerned with water protection and pollution prevention — like the Low Impact Development ordinance that’s currently under debate.

Earlier:
>> Bring your own cup and mug: An eco-stylish money-making habit
>> Film review: FLOW — Make clean water a human right

Photo by crazzie97

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