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Is Kansas City, MO tap water safe?

7 utilities serve Kansas City, by EPA’s records. Here is what EPA’s and CDC’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 7 utilities serving Kansas City has a result above a legal limit or action level, or a health-based violation since 2016, in EPA’s and CDC’s records: Kansas City PWS.

Kansas City PWS, which serves the most people here, has 2 results above the health goal and 1 result above EPA’s health benchmark. The worst: Lithium at 58.6 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 Kansas City’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 Kansas City PWS’s water, which serves the most people here. Another utility’s report names what handles its own results.

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Every claim, and more filters, in the full report

Water testing near Kansas City

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 Missouri certifies.

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

  • Blue Valley Laboratories Inc.

    Kansas City, MO · about 2 miles

    Certified for bacteria

    (816) 471-4719

  • Kansas City Water Services Laboratory

    Kansas City, MO · about 4 miles

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

    (816) 513-7008

  • Premium Waters Inc. Central Laboratory

    Riverside, MO · about 7 miles

    Certified for bacteria

    (816) 285-5745

Missouri State Public Health Laboratory: Coliform and E. coli testing for private wells and other private drinking water sources, in kits from your local public health agency. A free state courier can carry the sample to the lab overnight. The handling fee is $10, by check or money order. Private Drinking Water Bacteriological Testing, Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services.

All 64 certified labs for Missouri

ZIP codes in Kansas City

Which ZIP codes are in Kansas City: 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: Missouri DNR, certified microbiological and chemical laboratories; distances from the Census 2020 ZIP code tabulation area gazetteer.

Near Kansas City

Other towns in Jackson County with a page of their own.

What to do next