Know Your Environment. Protect Your Health.

Nitrate

Villa Margaret

Nitrate, a fertilizer chemical, frequently contaminates drinking water due to agricultural and urban runoff, and discharges from municipal wastewater treatment plants and septic tanks. Excessive nitrate in water can cause oxygen deprivation in infants and increase the risk of cancer. Click here to read more about nitrate.

 

12

Samples

0

Samples exceeding legal limit (MCL)

2

Samples exceeding
health guidelines

Testing results - average by year

 
YearAverage resultSamples takenDetectionsRange of results
20180.145 ppm21ND - 0.290 ppm
20190.241 ppm110.241 ppm
2020ND20ND
20210.0237 ppm52ND - 0.0601 ppm
2022ND10ND
2023ND10ND

ppm = parts per million

State, National, and Health Guidelines for Drinking Water

EWG Health Guideline: 0.14 ppm

The EWG health guideline of 0.14 parts per million, or ppm, for nitrate and nitrite is based on the equivalent health guideline for nitrate, as defined in a peer-reviewed scientific study by EWG. This guideline represents a one-in-one-million annual cancer risk level.

EPA Maximum Contaminant
Level (MCL): 10 ppm

The legal limit for nitrate, established in 1962, was developed to protect infants from acute methemoglobinemia, a life-threatening disorder of oxygen transport in the body. This limit does not fully protect against the risk of cancer and harm to the developing fetus.

ppm = parts per million

All test results

Date Result
2018-02-27ND
2018-08-210.290 ppm
2019-02-260.241 ppm
2020-02-19ND
2020-09-23ND
2021-02-23ND
2021-05-18ND
2021-07-070.0585 ppm
2021-09-23ND
2021-12-020.0601 ppm
2022-02-17ND
2023-07-13ND