Know Your Environment. Protect Your Health.

Nitrate

Dungeness Meadows

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.

 

7

Samples

0

Samples exceeding legal limit (MCL)

5

Samples exceeding
health guidelines

Testing results - average by year

 
YearAverage resultSamples takenDetectionsRange of results
20180.640 ppm220.620 ppm - 0.660 ppm
2019ND10ND
2020N/A00N/A
20210.870 ppm110.870 ppm
20220.378 ppm21ND - 0.755 ppm
20230.624 ppm110.624 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 Lab ID Result
2018-04-110.660 ppm
2018-05-150.620 ppm
2019-05-22ND
2021-05-1741135360.870 ppm
2022-04-204296201ND
2022-05-2442889710.755 ppm
2023-05-2344692340.624 ppm