Skip to content
TapBuff
ZIP

Is Los Angeles, CA tap water safe?

4 utilities serve Los Angeles, by EPA’s records. Here is what EPA’s and California’s records show for each, against the legal limits and the stricter health goals.

Matched to your utility using EPA records.

The short answer

1 of the 4 utilities serving Los Angeles has a result above a legal limit or action level, or a health-based violation since 2016, in EPA’s and California’s records: Los Angeles - City, Dept. of Water & Power.

Los Angeles - City, Dept. of Water & Power, which serves the most people here, has 4 results above the health goal and 1 result above EPA’s health benchmark. The worst: Lithium at 100 ppb, above EPA’s health benchmark. Health goals are stricter than legal limits and are not enforced.

The water from Los Angeles - City, Dept. of Water & Power is moderately hard to very hard depending on the source, 94 to 544 mg/L (5.5 to 31.8 grains per gallon). How California’s water compares.

A town can be served by more than one utility, and some homes are on private wells. The name on your water bill tells you which is yours, and your ZIP code narrows it down. They are listed by how many people each serves in Los Angeles’s ZIP codes, from EPA’s estimates.

What handles it

Each of these is certified, on a certifier’s listing, for a result above a line in Los Angeles - City, Dept. of Water & Power’s water, which serves the most people here. Another utility’s report names what handles its own results.

Disclosure: TapBuff earns a commission if you buy through some links on this page. It does not change which standard or filter we name. As an Amazon Associate, TapBuff earns from qualifying purchases. How TapBuff makes money

Every claim, and more filters, in the full report

Water testing near Los Angeles

A utility tests the water it sends out. A test of your own tap shows what your pipes add, and on a private well it is the only test there is. It takes a lab California certifies.

The 3 labs California certifies closest to Los Angeles, in a straight line. Call first: certification is test by test, and not every lab takes samples from homeowners.

  • Positive Lab Service

    Los Angeles, CA · about 8 miles

    Certified for bacteria, nitrate, lead and copper, metals, minerals and other inorganics, organic chemicals, disinfection byproducts

    (213) 745-5312

  • EMSL Analytical, Inc. (LA Testing)

    South Pasadena, CA · about 12 miles

    Certified for bacteria, asbestos

    (323) 254-9960

  • Pat-Chem Laboratories

    San Fernando, CA · about 15 miles

    Certified for bacteria, nitrate, lead and copper, metals, minerals and other inorganics, organic chemicals, disinfection byproducts, radioactivity

    (800) 400-5227

All 145 certified labs for California

ZIP codes in Los Angeles

Which ZIP codes are in Los Angeles: Census 2020 relationship files. Which utilities serve them, and how many people: EPA SDWIS and EPA’s service area map. Each utility’s results: EPA UCMR 5, EPA SDWIS, and EPA’s and the state’s compliance monitoring, as its report lists them. How they are measured: methodology. Certified labs: California State Water Resources Control Board, ELAP accredited laboratories and their fields of accreditation; distances from the Census 2020 ZIP code tabulation area gazetteer.

Near Los Angeles

Other towns in Los Angeles County with a page of their own.

What to do next