All Data Provided by EWG

San Francisco City Water System

EWG’s drinking water quality report shows results of tests conducted by the water utility and provided to the Environmental Working Group by the California State Water Resources Control Board, as well as information from the U.S. EPA Enforcement and Compliance History database (ECHO). For the latest quarter assessed by the U.S. EPA (January 2021 – March 2021), tap water provided by this water utility was in compliance with federal health-based drinking water standards.

Utility Details

San Francisco, California

Serves: 800,000

Data available: 2013-2019*

Source: Purchased surface water

*2013 testing is for chemicals in EPA’s Third Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Rule (UCMR-3) only.

Contaminants Detected

5 EXCEED EWG HEALTH GUIDELINES

13 Total Contaminants

Legal does not necessarily equal safe. Getting a passing grade from the federal government does not mean the water meets the latest health guidelines.
Legal limits for contaminants in tap water have not been updated in almost 20 years.
The best way to ensure clean tap water is to keep pollution out of source water in the first place.

What To Do

Filter Contaminants Out

Contact Your Local Official

What About Lead

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Contaminants Detected

We can’t test for everything during the initial evaluation, but we can find out a lot!

Carbon tetrachloride

Potential Effect: cancer

7.3x

EWG’S HEALTH GUIDELINE

THIS UTILITY 7.5 ppb

EWG HEALTH GUIDELINE 0.1 ppb

LEGAL LIMIT 5 ppb

Details

Chromium (hexavalent)

Potential Effect: cancer

4.5x

EWG’S HEALTH GUIDELINE

THIS UTILITY 0.0906 ppb

EWG HEALTH GUIDELINE 0.02 ppb

NO LEGAL LIMIT

Details

Haloacetic acids (HAA5)†

Potential Effect: cancer

319x

EWG’S HEALTH GUIDELINE

THIS UTILITY 31.9 ppb

EWG HEALTH GUIDELINE 0.1 ppb

LEGAL LIMIT 60 ppb

Details

Haloacetic acids (HAA9)†

Potential Effect: cancer

658x

EWG’S HEALTH GUIDELINE

THIS UTILITY 39.5 ppb

EWG HEALTH GUIDELINE 0.06 ppb

NO LEGAL LIMIT

Details

Other Contaminants Tested

Chemicals tested for but not detected from 2014 to 2019:

1,1,1,2-Tetrachloroethane , 1,1,1-Trichloroethane , 1,1,2,2-Tetrachloroethane , 1,1,2-Trichloroethane , 1,1-Dichloroethane , 1,1-Dichloroethylene , 1,1-Dichloropropene , 1,2,3-Trichlorobenzene , 1,2,3-Trichloropropane , 1,2,4-Trichlorobenzene , 1,2,4-Trimethylbenzene , 1,2-Dichloroethane , 1,2-Dichloropropane , 1,3,5-Trimethylbenzene , 1,3-Dichloropropane , 2,2-Dichloropropane , 2,4,5-TP (Silvex) , 2,4-D , 3-Hydroxycarbofuran , Alachlor (Lasso) , Aldicarb , Aldicarb sulfone , Aldicarb sulfoxide , Aldrin , Antimony , Arsenic , Atrazine , Benzene , Benzo[a]pyrene , Beryllium , Bromobenzene , Bromochloromethane , Bromomethane , Butachlor , Cadmium , Carbaryl , Carbofuran , Carbon tetrachloride , Chlordane , Chloroethane , Chloroform , Chloromethane , cis-1,2-Dichloroethylene , cis-1,3-Dichloropropene , Cyanide , Dalapon , Di(2-ethylhexyl) adipate , Di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate , Dibromomethane , Dicamba , Dichloroacetic acid , Dichlorodifluoromethane , Dichloromethane (methylene chloride) , Dieldrin , Dinoseb , Endrin , Ethylbenzene , Ethylene dibromide , Heptachlor , Heptachlor epoxide , Hexachlorobenzene (HCB) , Hexachlorobutadiene , Hexachlorocyclopentadiene , Isopropylbenzene , Lindane , m-Dichlorobenzene , Mercury (inorganic) , Methomyl , Methoxychlor , Metolachlor , Metribuzin , Monochlorobenzene (chlorobenzene) , n-Butylbenzene , n-Propylbenzene , Nitrate , o-Chlorotoluene , o-Dichlorobenzene , Oxamyl (Vydate) , p-Chlorotoluene , p-Dichlorobenzene , p-Isopropyltoluene , Pentachlorophenol , Picloram , Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) , Propachlor , sec-Butylbenzene , Selenium , Simazine , Styrene , tert-Butylbenzene , Tetrachloroethylene (perchloroethylene) , Thallium , Toluene , Toxaphene , trans-1,2-Dichloroethylene , trans-1,3-Dichloropropene , Trichloroacetic acid , Trichloroethylene , Trichlorofluoromethane , Vinyl chloride , Xylenes (total)