Currently, the 90% percentile for lead in El Paso drinking water is 1.1 parts per billion. While El Paso is currently in compliance with federal regulations, EPA, CDC and the American Academy of Pediatrics all acknowledge that there is no safe level of lead for children.
Is the tap water in El Paso safe to drink?
Rest assured that in El Paso, we receive high quality drinking water because the utility uses highly reliable treatment processes, monitoring, and testing to ensure public health and safety.
Does El Paso have clean water?
El Paso uses chlorine to disinfect our drinking water. Chlorine has been used in municipal water in the U.S. since 1908, and it is the most effective way to ensure that water stays disinfected as it travels through water delivery systems. Chlorine prevents water-borne epidemics such as cholera, typhoid and hepatitis.
Where does drinking water in El Paso come from?
Sources: River water is supplied from the Rio Grande and makes up nearly half of El Paso’s potable water supply. The Rio Grande flows that are diverted in the El Paso area are primarily derived from snowmelt runoff in southern Colorado and northern New Mexico.
Is El Paso water salty?
El Paso is home to the world’s largest inland desalination plant. El Paso has vast brackish (salty) groundwater resources that were previously unusable. The Kay Bailey Hutchison (KBH) Desalination Plant filters out the salts and creates a new supply of water.
How Clean Is El Paso tap water?
Extremely High Levels Of Chromium 6 In El Paso Drinking Water. El Paso’s drinking water has some of the highest levels of chromium 6 among major US city. Chromium 6 is a highly toxic metal that is not regulated by the EPA. In recent years, El Paso tap water has averaged 2400 parts per trillion for Chromium 6.
Does El Paso water have lithium?
A more extensive and current analysis of the lithium content of drinking waters carried out by the more sensitive atomic absorption spectrophotometry demonstrated that the high levels of lithium in El Paso and Amarillo were unchanged over the past decade. So, yes, we have a higher level of lithium in our water.
What is chromium 6 in drinking water?
Chromium-6 is highly toxic and has been found to cause allergic dermatitis, and stomach and gastrointestinal cancer in animals and humans. Used in the manufacture of stainless steel, textiles, anticorrosion coatings, and in leather tanning, it gets into drinking water through industrial pollution.
How deep is the water table in El Paso TX?
The aquifer is encountered at an average depth of about 1,250 feet in a very small and limited area.
Does El Paso have a water shortage?
In El Paso’s Lower Valley along the Rio Grande just north of the Mexico border, water is in short supply. While current drought levels are not as bad as they have been in previous years, area water officials, conservationists and residents remain nervous about water shortages that can affect crops and wildlife habitat.
Can you drink water in Juarez?
? In general, the water may be safe to drink in Ciudad Juarez.
Where does Juarez get its water?
The Hueco Bolson
The Hueco Bolson is the principal aquifer for both El Paso and Ciudad Juarez in Chihuahua, Mexico. About 90 percent of water drawn from the aquifer is for public municipal use, serving homes and businesses. In a normal year, El Paso relies on the aquifer for about half of its water supply.
How much groundwater is there in El Paso?
How Much Groundwater Is In El Paso? Hueco and Mesilla bolson aquifers within El Paso County currently provide the county with up to 6 million acre-feet of fresh ground water each year, which represents an annual rate of recharge.
Does Brita water filter remove chromium-6?
Do Brita Filters Remove Chromium 6? No, Brita filters do not have the ability to remove chromium 6 from your drinking water. If you feel there is a chance your drinking water is exposed to chromium, please make sure you are using a higher quality filter like a Berkey.
What happens if you drink water with chromium?
If ingested as drinking water, hexavalent chromium (Cr-VI) is likely to be a carcinogen at a certain level, but studies are still being conducted to evaluate what level is unsafe and whether it does cause cancer or not. The best way to reduce chromium-6 is through a reverse osmosis system.
What does chromium-6 do to the human body?
Hexavalent chromium can irritate the nose, throat, and lungs. Repeated or prolonged exposure can damage the mucous membranes of the nasal passages and result in ulcers. In severe cases, exposure causes perforation of the septum (the wall separating the nasal passages).
Where does Elephant Butte get its water?
Rio Grande
El Paso receives nearly half its annual water supply from the Rio Grande.
What is a Bolson aquifer?
Bolsons are the locations of large aquifers of waters, accumulated over millennia in their deep layers of sediments, now many are being used to supply water to the populations in those areas. These are called bolson aquifers.
What are the two main types of aquifers?
There are two general types of aquifers: confined and unconfined. Confined aquifers have a layer of impenetrable rock or clay above them, while unconfined aquifers lie below a permeable layer of soil.
Will El Paso Texas run out of water?
While farmers rely on the Rio Grande for irrigation, much of the water that El Paso’s residents drink actually comes from aquifers deep below ground. These critical water sources are also in jeopardy. In 1979, the Texas Water Development Board projected that El Paso would run out of groundwater by 2031.
Why is El Paso dry?
Las Cruces and El Paso are both located in a region where temperatures are higher than cooler climates. This allows water from rainfall to dry quickly, leading to low humidity, dew points and essentially drier air.