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EPA ID IL0316000 · checked 16 Oct 2026

Chicago tap water: what EPA testing found

City of Chicago (EPA record: CHICAGO) serves 2,721,308 people in IL from surface water.

What the data shows

No PFAS above EPA’s limits, lithium below the screening level, and no health-based violations since 2016 in this data.

PFAS and lithium (EPA UCMR 5)

240 results from 2 sampling points, 8 Jan 2024 to 8 Oct 2024. Averages count results below EPA’s reporting level as zero, as the PFAS rule does. Every number links to EPA’s UCMR 5 Data Finder (search PWSID IL0316000). Limits: EPA PFAS rule.

ContaminantDetected inHighest resultAverageEPA limit
PFOA0 of 8not detected0 ng/L4 ng/L
PFOS0 of 8not detected0 ng/L4 ng/L
PFHxS0 of 8not detected0 ng/L10 ng/L*
PFNA0 of 8not detected0 ng/L10 ng/L*
HFPO-DA0 of 8not detected0 ng/L10 ng/L*
Lithium0 of 8not detected0 µg/Lnone (screening level 10 µg/L)

* PFHxS, PFNA and HFPO-DA limits (and the PFAS hazard index) are in the rule, but EPA proposed on 20 May 2026 to rescind them; not final as of 16 Oct 2026. UCMR 5 results are screening data, not compliance results: compliance uses quarterly running averages from 2029. Source file: EPA UCMR 5 occurrence data (dated 15 Oct 2026).

Health-based violations since 2016

None in EPA’s SDWIS data.

Source: EPA SDWIS via Envirofacts and the ECHO report for IL0316000, retrieved 16 Oct 2026.

Hardness

8.8 grains per gallon (top of the utility's typical range 7.6-8.8 gpg, page dated 2018), from the utility’s water report checked 16 Oct 2026. Size a softener for this water.

Places and ZIP codes served

Chicago, Elmwood Park, Riverdale.

60601 60602 60603 60604 60605 60606 60607 60608 60609 60610 60611 60612 60613 60614 60615 60616 60617 60618 60619 60620 60621 60622 60623 60624 60625 60626 60628 60629 60630 60631 60632 60633 60634 60636 60637 60638 60639 60640 60641 60642 60643 60644 60645 60646 60647 60649 60651 60652 60653 60654 60655 60656 60657 60659 60660 60661 60666 60707 60827

ZIP codes the system reported to EPA for UCMR 5; place names from GeoNames (CC BY 4.0). A ZIP code can be split between systems.