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Is Des Moines, IA tap water safe?

9 utilities serve Des Moines, by EPA’s records. Here is what EPA’s and Iowa’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 9 utilities serving Des Moines has a result above a legal limit or action level, or a health-based violation since 2016, in EPA’s and Iowa’s records: Des Moines Water Works.

Des Moines Water Works, which serves the most people here, has 1 result above the health goal and 1 result above EPA’s health benchmark. The worst: Lithium at 28 ppb, above EPA’s health benchmark. Health goals are stricter than legal limits and are not enforced.

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 Des Moines’s ZIP codes, from EPA’s estimates.

Water testing near Des Moines

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 Iowa certifies.

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

  • State Hygienic Laboratory - Ankeny

    Ankeny, IA · about 10 miles

    Certified for bacteria, nitrate, lead and copper, metals, minerals and other inorganics

    (515) 725-1600

  • Microbac Laboratories - Newton

    Newton, IA · about 32 miles

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

    (641) 792-8451

  • AgSource

    Ellsworth, IA · about 51 miles

    Certified for bacteria, nitrate, metals, minerals and other inorganics

    (515) 297-8103

State Hygienic Laboratory at the University of Iowa: Through the Grants-to-Counties program, private well owners in participating counties can have their water tested for total coliform bacteria and nitrate. Start with the county sanitarian at your county health department. No cost in a participating county. The Grants-to-Counties Program, State Hygienic Lab at the University of Iowa.

All 36 certified labs for Iowa

ZIP codes in Des Moines

Which ZIP codes are in Des Moines: 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: Iowa DNR, laboratories certified for drinking water; distances from the Census 2020 ZIP code tabulation area gazetteer.

Near Des Moines

Towns nearby with a page of their own.

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