Know Your Environment. Protect Your Health.

Nitrate

Orange Hill - Sugar Creek

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.

 

13

Samples

0

Samples exceeding legal limit (MCL)

6

Samples exceeding
health guidelines

Testing results - average by year

 
YearAverage resultSamples takenDetectionsRange of results
20180.600 ppm21ND - 1.20 ppm
20190.450 ppm21ND - 0.900 ppm
2020ND20ND
20210.230 ppm31ND - 0.690 ppm
20220.495 ppm220.160 ppm - 0.830 ppm
20230.460 ppm21ND - 0.920 ppm

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
2018-02-22ND
2018-02-221.20 ppm
2019-02-060.900 ppm
2019-02-07ND
2020-02-05ND
2020-02-05ND
2021-02-08ND
2021-06-290.690 ppm
2021-06-29ND
2022-11-210.160 ppm
2022-11-210.830 ppm
2023-09-19ND
2023-09-190.920 ppm