New Orleans Water Quality Analysis
- 01 | Who Regulates New Orleans Drinking Water?
- 02 | Where Does New Orleans Get Its Water?
- 03 | New Orleans Annual Water Quality Report
- 04 | Environmental Working Group Water Quality Report
- 05 | Contaminants Threatening New Orleans Water Quality
- 06 | New Orleans Lead Testing Scandal
- 07 | Treating New Orleans Drinking Water
- 08 | Testing and Monitoring New Orleans Water Quality
- 09 | Louisiana Ranks Fourth In the Country for Most Industrial Water Pollution
- 10 | Should New Orleans Residents Use In-home Water Filters?
New Orleans – home to spicy cajun food and even spicier water quality (and not in a good way).
The Mississippi River flows thousands of miles, picking up tons of pollutants along the way and delivering them right to NO’s doorstep.
The city also faces major lead contamination issues (and they haven’t been too honest about it).
Are you ready to uncover the dirty little secrets of New Orleans water quality?
Let’s dive in…
Several agencies work together to provide the people of New Orleans with drinking water.
The Sewerage and Water Board of New Orleans (SWBNO) is in charge of treating and delivering the water to the city’s residents.
At the federal level, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) sets maximum contaminant limits for over 100 different contaminants.
The Department of Health and the Department of Environmental Equality work together to enforce Louisiana’s Source Water Assessment Program, which ensures that New Orleans meets the EPA’s regulations.
However, as you’re about to find out, this isn’t always the case…
New Orleans drinking water comes from the Mississippi River.
Like most surface water sources, it is highly susceptible to contamination from agricultural and industrial runoff.
However, New Orleans water is especially vulnerable because it’s at the very end of the river.
The Mississippi starts in Minnesota and flows south through America’s agricultural heartland before emptying into the Gulf of Mexico at New Orleans.
This gives it plenty of time to pick up nasty contaminants like nitrates and pesticides.
Stretches of the Mississippi also exceed federal water quality standards for mercury, bacteria, and PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyl).
In many areas, this makes the water unsafe for fishing, swimming and drinking.
In their annual water quality report, the City of New Orleans met all federal guidelines for maximum contaminant levels.
However, they failed in one area related to the reduction of disinfection byproducts (DBPs).
DBPs are toxic compounds that form when chlorine mixes with organic matter in water.
According to the report:
“The New Orleans Westbank water supply did not achieve the minimum percentage reduction of total organic carbon required by the Louisiana State Sanitary Code.”
In order to reduce the presence of disinfection byproducts (DBPs), Louisiana regulates total organic carbon (TOC).
TOC provides the medium to produce DBPs, so by reducing TOC you reduce DBPs.
Technically, New Orleans was still below the government’s limits for DBPs, but not all organizations that this makes it safe…
The Environmental Working Group (EWG) is a non-profit watchdog group that publishes test data from local water utilities and federal and state organizations across the country.
In their latest report, they pooled data from the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals and the U.S. EPA Enforcement and Compliance History database (ECHO).
Compared to government organizations, the EWG has much stricter health guidelines for drinking water contaminants.
In the latest report, 12 contaminants exceeded the EWG’s recommended health guidelines by the following amounts:
- Arsenic: 52x
- Bromodichloromethane: 94x
- Chloroform: 40x
- Dibromoacetic acid: 10x
- Dibromochloromethane: 11x
- Dichloroacetic acid: 69x
- Haloacetic acids (HAA5): 211x
- Haloacetic acids (HAA9): 348x
- Nitrate: 10x
- Radium: 7x
- Total trihalomethanes: 154x
- Trichloroacetic acid: 58x
Other contaminants detected at low levels include:
- Dioxane
- Aluminum
- Atrazine
- Barium
- Bromoform
- Chlorate
- Chromium (hexavalent)
- Cyanide
- Dalapon
- Di(2-ethlyhexyl)phthalate
- Fluoride
- Manganese
- Molybdenum
- Monobromoacetic acid
- Monochloroacetic acid
- Selenium
- Strontium
- Uranium
- Vanadium
Next, let’s take a closer look at the contaminants threatening New Orleans water quality…
As water travels through rivers, lakes and groundwater, it picks up heavy metals, radioactive materials, and other dangerous substances.
Some of them are naturally occurring and others are from human activities.
Contaminants affecting New Orleans water quality include:
- Microbial contaminants like viruses and bacteria that can leak from sewage treatment plants and septic systems
- Inorganic contaminants like salts and metals that can be naturally occuring or from stormwater runoff and industrial production
- Pesticides and herbicides from home use and agriculture
- Chemical contaminants from gas stations and petroleum production
- Radioactive contaminants from oil and gas production and mining activities
Drinking water, including bottled water, can contain small amounts of these contaminants, although the Environmental Protection Agency argues that this isn’t necessarily a health concern.
Some people are more vulnerable to side effects from these pollutants.
People with weakened immunity, HIV/AIDS, or other immune disorders, the elderly and infants are particularly at risk.
Ready to dive deeper into the top contaminants threatening New Orleans water quality?
Let’s take a look…
Arsenic is a natural element found in the earth’s crust, but it’s highly toxic in its inorganic form.
Irrigation of food crops with arsenic-contaminated water is one of the biggest threats to New Orleans water quality.
People can be exposed to high levels of arsenic by drinking contaminated water, eating contaminated food, and even smoking contaminated tobacco.
According to the Environmental Working Group, New Orleans arsenic levels were 52x the recommended health guidelines.
Long-term exposure to arsenic in drinking water can increase the risk of:
- Diabetes
- Heart disease
- Skin lesions
- Cancer
Early childhood exposure is linked to poor cognitive development and increased deaths in young adults.
Nine of the 12 contaminants that exceeded the EWG’s health guidelines were different forms of DBPs, including:
- Bromodichloromethane: 94x
- Chloroform: 40x
- Dibromoacetic acid: 10x
- Dibromochloromethane: 11x
- Dichloroacetic acid: 69x
- Haloacetic acids (HAA5): 211x
- Haloacetic acids (HAA9): 348x
- Total trihalomethanes: 154x
- Trichloroacetic acid: 58x
Quick recap: DBPs are chemicals formed when chlorine mixes with organic matter in water.
New Orleans tested high for total organic carbon, which serves as a perfect medium for DBPs to be created.
According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, chronic exposure to DBPs may increase the risk of cancer.
People exposed to large amounts of DBPs may also experience liver, kidney, and nervous system damage.
Some studies link trihalomethanes, a common type of DBPs, to fetal growth complications during pregnancy.
Nitrate is a main ingredient in commercial fertilizers.
It’s one of the most common water contaminants in rural areas because it gets into water from fertilizer runoff and animal manure.
Nitrate is also present in human feces, so leaky septic tanks and sewage overflows are other common sources.
New Orleans water has plenty of opportunity to pick up nitrates as it flows down the Mississippi river through America’s agricultural heartland.
In the Environmental Working Group’s report, New Orleans had 10x the recommended health guidelines for nitrates.
The biggest health concern surrounding nitrate poisoning is called methemoglobinemia, or blue baby disease.
Methemoglobinemia causes infants to turn blue due to lack of oxygen.
Once nitrates enter the blood, they prevent red blood cells from carrying oxygen.
Infants under six months are most at risk, but nitrate poisoning can affect people of all ages.
The following conditions can increase the risk of methemoglobinemia in adults: sepsis, lung disease, cardiovascular disease, glucose-6-phosphate-dehydrogenase deficiency, and other metabolic problems.
Other side effects of nitrates include:
- Headaches
- Nausea
- Vomiting
- Decreased blood pressure
- Increased heart rate
- Bladder cancer
- Developmental defects in unborn children
Radium is a naturally occurring radioactive element found in the rocks and soil.
Thanks to mining activities and other industrial operations, excess radium has been released into water supplies around the world.
In the Environmental Working Group’s report, they found 7x the recommended health guidelines for radium.
- Depressed immune system
- Anemia
- Cataracts
- Fractured teeth
- Bone, liver and breast cancer
Radium is tasteless, scentless, and odorless.
The only way to know if it’s in your tap water is to have it professionally tested.
Lead is a toxic heavy metal that enters drinking water as old lead pipes corrode and leach into the water.
Although New Orleans technically didn’t test positive for lead, that doesn’t mean your family is safe.
Lead sneaks into tap water through contaminated service lines and household plumbing and fixtures.
Prior to 1986, lead plumbing components were still common.
This means that older cities like New Orleans have greater issues with lead contamination.
In fact, you’re about to find out that the city has a pretty scandalous history when it comes to lead contamination, but more on that in a sec…
Water that has high acidity or low mineral content corrodes pipes faster and tends to have higher levels of lead.
The EPA’s maximum contaminant level for lead is zero.
- Reduced fetal growth
- Premature birth
- Increased blood pressure
- Cardiovascular complications
- Decreased kidney function
- Reproductive problems in both men and women
Worst of all, even low doses of lead exposure can have devastating effects on children, like:
- Learning disabilities
- Shorter stature
- Impaired hearing
- Hyperactivity
- Anemia
In rare cases, ingesting lead can cause seizures, coma, and even death.
Once in the body, lead is very difficult to remove and can accumulate in the body over time.
Next, let’s uncover the dark history of lead contamination and New Orleans water quality…
A recent city investigation found that New Orleans may have been misrepresenting its lead testing for years.
According to the report, the city failed to test for lead in the city’s highest risk homes.
They also failed to properly identify and upgrade the city’s many lead distribution pipes, and buried a 2017 report that would have warned the public.
The report revealed that the city violated several federal laws requiring them to only test homes that have lead pipes.
Instead, the city also tested homes that did not have lead pipes to intentionally skew the results.
Worst of all, some Sewerage and Water Board employees, including the former executive director, took samples from their own homes and reported them as being from high-risk homes.
This left much of the public at risk.
The result?
In 2016, roughly 11% of kids under 6 in New Orleans tested positive for significant amounts of lead in their blood (above 5 micrograms per deciliter).
That’s double the rates of the Flint Water Crisis, where only 5% of kids tested positive for lead levels that high.
The Sewerage and Water Board of New Orleans pumps water from the Mississippi to two water treatment plants: the Carrollton Plant and the Algiers Plant.
Both plants use roughly the same treatment process with the same chemicals.
Here’s what the treatment process looks like:
The Mississippi River water contains a large amount of suspended solids, so the first step is to remove them with coagulation.
As the raw river water enters the plant, they add coagulant chemicals ferric sulfate and polyelectrolyte.
These chemicals make the suspended solids and particles clump together so they’re easier to remove.
After the raw water is coagulated, they gently mix it with large paddles.
This causes the finer, lighter particles to clump into larger, denser particles that will settle more quickly.
The flocculated water then flows into settling basins where the large particles settle to the bottom, allowing the clearer water at the top to move forward in the treatment process.
The settled particles form a sludge that’s removed and return to the Mississippi River as discharge.
After the clear water leaves the basins, they add chlorine to begin the disinfection process.
After adding chlorine, they mix it with ammonia to create chloramine.
Chloramine is a longer-lasting disinfectant that continues to kill bacteria after the water leaves the plant.
Next, they add calcium oxide (lime) to the water to raise the pH and make the water more basic.
This makes the water less corrosive to pipes and reduces the risk of lead contamination.
A small amount of polyphosphate is also added to help the lime stay dissolved.
After the water exits the settling basins, they treat it with fluorosilicic acid (fluoride) to prevent dental cavities.
The last step is to filter the water through a series of sand and anthracite filters to remove any remaining particles in the water.
After treatment, the water travels through 1,610 miles of distribution lines to your home.
Customers on the Eastbank of the Mississippi River get their water from the Carrollton Plant and the Westbank customers get theirs from the Algiers Plant.
In 2021, the Carrollton Plant provided roughly 140 million gallons of drinking water a day and the Algiers Plant provided about 10.5 million gallons per day.
Altogether, the two plants treat 54 billion gallons of water a year and remove 18,000 tons of solid material.
The Department of Health and the Department of Environmental Quality monitor the area around the Mississippi River for areas where contaminants might enter the water.
The Louisiana Department of Health and the Sewerage and Water Board of New Orleans Water Quality Laboratory regularly test water samples to make sure they comply with state and federal drinking water regulations.
They run tests at least once per month for total organic carbon (TOC) and alkalinity and perform daily quality control testing and continuous online monitoring for a full range of contaminants.
As a state, Louisiana has a lot of challenges to face.
According to a recent report by Environment America, Louisiana ranks fourth in the country for the most toxic chemicals released into its waterways.
In 2020, the state’s industrial facilities released more than 11 million pounds of harmful substances into their waters.
Worst of all, these figures only include legal releases allowed by the federal government.
It doesn’t even take into account the other toxic chemicals that enter the Mississippi every day.
Most of Louisiana’s waterways are too polluted for wildlife habitat and human recreation.
It’s safe to say that New Orleans water quality has a lot of tough challenges to face.
That’s why 11% of kids under 6 test positive for high blood concentrations of lead!
Plus, the Environmental Working Group found dangerously high levels of arsenic, nitrates, radium, and over half-a-dozen disinfection byproducts.
If you want to ensure safe drinking water for you and your family, installing an in-home filter is the way to go.
High-quality reverse osmosis (RO) water filtration systems remove up to 99.9% of all harmful contaminants.
Cloud Water Filters even include built-in software to track and monitor your water quality 24/7 through an app on your phone.
Don’t leave your water quality up to chance!
