New Orleans Water Quality: Is It Safe to Drink the Tap Water?

Where Does New Orleans Tap Water Come From?

New Orleans tap water is provided by the Sewerage and Water Board of New Orleans (SWBNO). It gets its water from the Mississippi River, and treats it at one of two water treatment plants: Carrollton and Algiers. Carrollton serves residents on the Eastbank, delivering up to 141 million gallons of water each day, while Algiers treats 9.9 million gallons per day for residents of the Westbank.

According to the 2022 Water Quality Report, the Louisiana Department of Health (LDH) gave the Carrollton Plant an A grade and the Algiers Plant a C grade when it comes to the “long-term viability of the water system.” This doesn’t mean the water isn’t safe to drink, but that the system may need significant upgrades in the years to come.

In this article, we’ll be focusing on water from the Carrollton Plant, since it serves more people, but contaminant levels are similar across the New Orleans water system.

How Is New Orleans Drinking Water Treated?

New Orleans drinking water goes through a multi-step treatment process to remove contaminants and kill viruses and bacteria. Here’s how it works:

•  First, SWBNO draws freshwater supplies from the Mississippi River
• Then, it adds coagulants like ferric sulfate and polyelectrolytes to cause small particles to clump together so they’re easier to remove
• The water flows through settling basins where the clumps are removed
• SWBNO adds chloramine to kill parasites and other pathogens, and lime to reduce corrosion as the water moves through the distribution system
• Then, it uses a gravity filtration system to physically filter the water

SWBNO performs water testing to monitor for unsafe levels of contaminants, and will issue a boil water advisory if concentrations of coliform bacteria are high.

Is New Orleans Tap Water Safe to Drink?

New Orleans water quality generally meets the standards of the EPA, but it may not be safe to drink 100% of the time. In 2022, SWBNO issued a boil water advisory because of high levels of bacteria in the Eastbank system. It issued another boil water advisory for Jefferson Parish in 2024 due to a water main breaking at a treatment plant.

SWBNO received violations for failing to “monitor for disinfection byproduct precursor removal levels” and for failing to “achieve the minimum percentage reduction of total organic carbon (TOC) required by the Louisiana State Sanitary Code” — although it stresses that neither of these violations was an “emergency.”

Does New Orleans Drinking Water Contain Salt?

New Orleans faced a near-emergency in 2023, when saltwater intrusion threatened to introduce unsafe levels of salt into the water supply. This occurs when the Mississippi River is inundated with seawater from the Gulf of Mexico that reaches as far as the intakes of the water treatment plants.

Not only does this increase the salinity of the tap water, it means that SWBNO has to use more chemicals to treat the water, resulting in more disinfection byproducts.

In this case, the Army Corps of Engineers was able to mitigate the worst-case scenario by barging in freshwater and using an underwater sill, or levee, to hold off the intruding saltwater, which sinks because it’s heavier than the freshwater.

Although the saltwater didn’t reach dangerous levels in the City of New Orleans, it did raise the salinity levels in some nearby communities and remains a risk.

What Contaminants Are Found in New Orleans Drinking Water?

Now that we’ve looked at some of the concerns surrounding Mississippi River water, which contaminants pose the greatest risk? 

The Environmental Working Group (EWG), a nonprofit organization, found 32 drinking water contaminants — including 12 that exceed their public health guidelines — at the Carrollton Waterworks.

Here are five of them.

Arsenic

Arsenic is a heavy metal that poses several health risks, including neurological issues and even death if consumed in large quantities over a long period of time. Although it’s most commonly found in groundwater systems in North America, including well water, arsenic is present in New Orleans water samples in low to moderate quantities.

New Orleans water meets the EPA’s legal limit for arsenic, but is 52 times higher than the EWG’s recommendation of 0.004 parts per billion (ppb):

• EPA maximum allowance: 10 ppb
• EWG recommended maximum: 0.004 ppb
• New Orleans maximum contaminant level: 0.207 ppb

Nitrates and nitrites

Nitrates and nitrites can get into the supply from wastewater runoff, septic systems, and fertilizer. In large quantities, they’re linked to cancer and harm to fetal growth.

Although New Orleans water quality meets the EPA’s guidelines, it exceeds the EWG’s recommendation for nitrates and nitrites by 10 times:

• EPA maximum allowance: 10 ppm
• EWG recommended maximum: 0.14 ppm
• New Orleans maximum detected level: 1.42 ppm

Total trihalomethanes (TTHMs)

Trihalomethanes are a group of four disinfection byproducts that are left behind when water utilities use chemical disinfectants in the water treatment process. Although it’s important to kill viruses and bacteria, excessive trihalomethane levels are linked to a risk of cancer, and New Orleans’s trihalomethane levels are relatively high:

• Chloroform: 16.9 ppb
• Bromodichloromethane: 5.64 ppb
• Dibromochloromethane: 1.08 ppb
• Bromoform: 0.00929 ppb

Despite total trihalomethane levels being within the EPA limit, they’re 154 times higher than what the EWG recommends:

• EPA maximum allowance: 80 ppb
• EWG recommended maximum: 0.15 ppb
• New Orleans maximum contaminant level: 23.1 ppb

Haloacetic acids (HAA5)

Haloacetic acids are a group of five disinfection byproducts linked to an increased risk of cancer. They include monochloroacetic acid, dichloroacetic acid, trichloroacetic acid, monobromoacetic acid, and dibromoacetic acid. Like the other disinfection byproducts, they're present in New Orleans tap water in relatively high quantities:

• EPA maximum allowance: 60 ppb
• EWG recommended maximum: 0.1 ppb
• New Orleans maximum contaminant level: 21.1 ppb

Haloacetic acids (HAA9)

In addition to the first five haloacetic acids, there are four more — bromochloroacetic acid, bromodichloroacetic acid, chlorodibromoacetic acid, and tribromoacetic acid — making for a total of nine. This grouping isn’t regulated by the EPA, but exceeds the EWG’s recommendation by 348 times in New Orleans:

• EPA maximum allowance: No legal limit
• EWG recommended maximum: 0.06 ppb
• New Orleans maximum contaminant level: 20.9 ppb

Should You Drink Filtered Water or Bottled Water?

Learning about these contaminants may make you want to switch to bottled water, and that’s a good option when there’s a boil water advisory. But before you open up a bottle,  you should know that many of the contaminants found in New Orleans drinking water can be reduced or removed with the right home water filtration system.

Activated carbon filters and reverse osmosis filters are effective at removing disinfection byproducts and other contaminants — and they can improve the taste and smell of your water too. Under-counter water filters are a great option because they’re easy to install, and they may be more cost-effective than buying bottled water.

Water filters can’t remove salt from the water, though, so follow SWBNO’s advice if the Mississippi River experiences another saltwater intrusion event.

Does New Orleans Drinking Water Contain Lead?

Lead is another contaminant that can pose significant health risks, especially among children. Unlike other contaminants, lead isn’t present in the treated water, but it can accumulate as water moves through the distribution system.

Older buildings are more likely to have lead pipes, but even newer homes can have plumbing fixtures that contain lead. SWBNO is working to take an inventory of lead service lines, but homeowners are responsible for replacing private water lines.

If you contact the SWBNO at (504) 865-0420 or waterinfo@swbno.org, they’ll send you a free lead testing kit by USPS, so you can test your tap water for lead.

Home water filters that meet the NSF 53 standard are effective at removing lead. You should also flush your tap before using water for drinking or cooking.

Does New Orleans Drinking Water Contain PFAS?

Forever chemicals, or PFAS, have only recently made it onto the EPA’s list of drinking water contaminants, with a proposed limit of 4 parts per trillion (ppt). These man-made chemicals are linked to adverse health effects, and are more common in areas where they’ve been used in military, manufacturing, and industrial settings.

According to the 2022 Water Quality Report, the Louisiana Department of Public Health found PFAS levels as high as 2.8 ppt in treated drinking water. This is below the EPA’s proposed limit, but may still pose a health risk to New Orleans residents.

Fortunately, reverse osmosis filters are effective at removing PFAS from drinking water — and so are activated carbon filters, to a slightly lesser degree.