Yes, the tap water is perfectly safe to drink in Los Angeles.
| Safe to drink? | Yes |
| The estimated price of bottled water (1.5l) | 1.91$ |
Keeping in mind that we talk about Los Angeles, the largest city in California with almost four million people, it is a bit tricky to reconcile their views on tap water. Los Angeles water quality has remarkably improved over the past several years, but the residents still have their doubts.
Citizens, as well as tourists, consider tap water in Los Angeles drinkable. But, as always, there are different opinions.
Sources of Tap Water in Los Angeles, CA
Considering the primary sources tap water comes from, it guarantees its quality and purity. It comes from Owens River, Northern California, and Colorado River and groundwater. These sources cover water supplies for almost the entire city. The Owen Rivers provides nearly one-third of the LA water supply. The Colorado River Waterworks can produce 1 billion gallons of water per day, and groundwater serves close to one-tenth of the water supply in Los Angeles.
According to the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power in 2017th, nearly 160 billion gallons of drinking water provided to the city met or exceeded all drinking water standards for health, cleanliness, and safety. They declared that Los Angeles tap water was “as clean as bottled water”.
The EWG’s drinking water quality report shows results of tests conducted by the water utility. It confirmed tap water provided by this water utility was in compliance with federal health-based drinking water standards. They say that the water is clear of all contaminants, such as Arsenic, Bromate, Chromium, Nitrate, etc but, all of them are well above the recommended health limits, and none of them could affect the health of citizens.
General opinion on the tap water in Los Angeles
As the most common reason for not drinking tap water, they point out more chemical contaminants in California tap water. Some emphasize the chlorine taste, but they agreed that water in the San Fernando Valley and Hollywood Hills would generally taste different from water in the Metro and West LA regions, which will also taste different from water in East and South LA. That is because the majority of water in each of those three areas comes from different areas.
COST OF BOTTLED WATER IN LOS ANGELES, CA
Although the tap water is just as good as bottled water or water treated with various devices, and it’s a whole lot cheaper, you can always pay $1.91 for 1.5-liter of bottled water.
