Table of Contents
Can You Drink Tap Water in Owosso?
Yes, Owosso's tap water is generally considered safe to drink as Owosso has no active health based violations of the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) that we are aware of. Other factors such as lead piping in a home, or low levels of pollutants on immunocompromised individuals, should also be considered, however. To find more recent info we might have, you can check out our boil water notice page or the city's water provider website.
According the EPA’s ECHO database, from April 30, 2019 to June 30, 2022, Owosso's water utility, City of Owosso, had 1 non-health-based violations of the Safe Drinking Water Act. For more details on the violations, please see our violation history section below. The last violation for Owosso was resolved on Dec. 31, 2020. This assessment is based on the City of Owosso water system, other water systems in the city may have different results.
While tap water that meets the EPA health guidelines generally won’t make you sick to your stomach, it can still contain regulated and unregulated contaminants present in trace amounts that could potentially cause health issues over the long-run. These trace contaminants may also impact immunocompromised and vulnerable individuals.
The EPA is reviewing if it’s current regulations around pollutant levels in tap water are strict enough, and the health dangers posed by unregulated pollutants, like PFAS.
Owosso Tap Water Safe Drinking Water Act Violation History - Prior 10 Years
Below is a ten year history of violations for the water system named City of Owosso for Owosso in Michigan. For more details please see the "What do these Violations Mean?" section below.
From July 1, 2020 to Dec. 31, 2020, Owosso had 1 non-health based Safe Drinking Water Act violation with the violation category being Monitoring and Reporting, more specifically, the violation code was Water Quality Parameter M/R which falls into the Chemicals rule code group, and the Lead and Copper Rule rule code family for the following contaminant code: Lead and Copper Rule.
Is there Lead in Owosso Water?
Based on the EPA’s ECHO Database, 90% of the samples taken from the Owosso water system, City of Owosso, between sample start date and sample end date, were at or below, 0.011 mg/L of lead in Owosso water. This is 73.3% of the 0.015 mg/L action level. This means 10% of the samples taken from Owosso contained more lead.
While Owosso water testing may have found 0.011 mg/L of lead in its water, that does not mean your water source has the same amount. The amount of lead in water in a city can vary greatly from neighborhood to neighborhood, or even building to building. Many buildings, particularly older ones, have lead pipes or service lines which can be a source of contamination. To find out if your home has lead, we recommend getting you water tested.
No amount of lead in water is healthy, only less dangerous. As lead accumulates in our bodies over time, even exposure to relatively small amounts can have negative health effects. For more information, please check out our Lead FAQ page.
Are there PFAS in Owosso Tap Water?
Currently, testing tap water for PFAS isn’t mandated on a national level. We do have a list of military bases where there have been suspected or confirmed leaks. There appears to be at least one military base - Lansing Airport Hangar - near Owosso with suspected leaks.
With many potential sources of PFAS in tap water across the US, the best information we currently have about which cities have PFAS in their water is this ewg map, which you can check to see if Owosso has been evaluated for yet.
Our stance is better safe than sorry, and that it makes sense to try to purify the tap water just in case.
Owosso SDWA Violation History Table - Prior 10 Years
| Compliance Period | Status | Health-Based? | Category Code | Code | Rule Code | Contaminant Code | Rule Group Code | Rule Family Code |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 07/01/2020 - 12/31/2020 | Resolved | No | Monitoring and Reporting (MR) | Water Quality Parameter M/R (53) | Lead and Copper Rule (350) | Lead and Copper Rule (5000) | Chemicals (300) | Lead and Copper Rule (350) |
What do these Violations Mean?
Safe Drinking Water Act Violations categories split into two groups, health based, and non-health based. Generally, health based violations are more serious, though non-health based violations can also be cause for concern.
Health Based Violations
- Maximum contaminant levels (MCLs) - maximum allowed contaminant level was exceeded.
- Maximum residual disinfectant levels (MRDLs) - maximum allowed disinfectant level was exceeded.
- Other violations (Other) - the exact required process to reduce the amounts of contaminants in drinking water was not followed.
Non-Health Based Violations
- Monitoring and reporting violations (MR, MON) - failure to conduct the required regular monitoring of drinking water quality, and/or to submit monitoring results on time.
- Public notice violations (Other) - failure to immediately alert consumers if there is a serious problem with their drinking water that may pose a risk to public health.
- Other violations (Other) - miscellaneous violations, such as failure to issue annual consumer confidence reports or maintain required records.
SDWA Table Key
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Compliance Period | Dates of the compliance period. |
| Status |
Current status of the violation.
|
| Health-Based? | Whether the violation is health based. |
| Category Code |
The category of violation that is reported.
|
| Code | A full description of violation codes can be accessed in the SDWA_REF_CODE_VALUES (CSV) table. |
| Contaminant Code | A code value that represents a contaminant for which a public water system has incurred a violation of a primary drinking water regulation. |
| Rule Code |
Code for a National Drinking Water rule.
|
| Rule Group Code |
Code that uniquely identifies a rule group.
|
| Rule Family Code |
Code for rule family.
|
For more clarification please visit the EPA's data dictionary.
Owosso Water - Frequently Asked Questions
| By Mail: | 301 West Main OWOSSO, MI, 48867 |
Existing customers can login to their City of Owosso account to pay their Owosso water bill by clicking here.
If you want to pay your City of Owosso bill online and haven't made an account yet, you can create an account online. Please click here to create your account to pay your Owosso water bill.
If you don't want to make an account, or can't remember your account, you can make a one-time payment towards your Owosso water bill without creating an account using a one time payment portal with your account number and credit or debit card. Click here to make a one time payment.
Moving to a new house or apartment in Owosso means you will often need to put the water in your name with City of Owosso. In order to put the water in your name, please click the link to the start service form below. Start service requests for water bills typically take two business days.
Leaving your house or apartment in Owosso means you will likely need to take your name off of the water bill with City of Owosso. In order to take your name off the water bill, please click the link to the stop service form below. Stop service for water bills requests typically take two business days.
The estimated price of bottled water
$3 in USD (1.5-liter)
USER SUBMITTED RATINGS
- Drinking Water Pollution and Inaccessibility
- Water Pollution
- Drinking Water Quality and Accessibility
- Water Quality
The above data is comprised of subjective, user submitted opinions about the water quality and pollution in Owosso, measured on a scale from 0% (lowest) to 100% (highest).
Related FAQS
Contaminants
City of Owosso
EWG's drinking water quality report shows results of tests conducted by the water utility and provided to the Environmental Working Group by the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, as well as information from the U.S. EPA Enforcement and Compliance History database (ECHO). For the latest quarter assessed by the U.S. EPA (January 2019 - March 2019), tap water provided by this water utility was in compliance with federal health-based drinking water standards.
Utility details
- Serves: 15713
- Data available: 2012-2017
- Data Source: Groundwater
- Total: 8
Contaminants That Exceed Guidelines
- Chromium (hexavalent)
- Radium%2C combined (-226 & -228)
- Total trihalomethanes (TTHMs)
Other Detected Contaminants
- 1%2C4-Dioxane
- Chlorate
- Chromium (total)
- Haloacetic acids (HAA5)
- Strontium
Reminder
Always take extra precautions, the water may be safe to drink when it leaves the sewage treatment plant but it may pick up pollutants during its way to your tap. We advise that you ask locals or hotel staff about the water quality. Also, note that different cities have different water mineral contents.
Sources and Resources
Sources Cited
Additional Resources
The Environmental Working Group (EWG), an international non-profit organization, recently tested Owosso Tap Water and found that it contains various contaminants that could potentially cause immediate illness, discomfort, or disease in people who consume it. This comes at a time when citizens of this Midwestern US state are highly conscious of their health and are unwilling to accept anything less than clean drinking water. While there are numerous reasons for alarm regarding the quality of municipal water supplies across the nation, there is only one problem that has garnered little attention from residents of Owosso. Even though a treated version treats the majority of the city’s water supply of the City of Detroit’s treatment facility, the fact remains that the level of treatment provided at the facility is not adequate.+
The Environmental Working Group did not perform testing at a single point in time for the city of Owosso but instead conducted several surveys over two years. During this period, the organization performed five separate surveys and collected over 250 users submitted ratings. The results of these surveys were impressive, as the user-submitted ratings from users stating that they were happy with the quality and safety of the drinking water supplied by their city. Users were also overwhelmingly pleased with the level of care given to their water by the City of Owosso. They expressed no desire to continue to use tap water purchased from the City of Owosso. Suppose you live in or around Owosso, and you would like to enjoy clean, safe drinking water. In that case, it is recommended that you purchase an EcoFlush bottle water filter system, which can easily be considered the best purchase option available anywhere.
The EWG was impressed by the number of user-submitted ratings detailing the pristine quality offered by Owosso City. Only a small number of users indicated that they were unhappy with the drinking water quality. This information is a stark contrast to the numerous hostile user-submitted ratings garnered by other manufacturers of bottled water. It is difficult to determine if there truly is a correlation between the number of user-submitted ratings and the drinking water quality; however, considering the relatively small number of unsatisfied customers, it is more reasonable to assume a correlation than to believe that there may be a correlation that there isn’t.