Is Las Vegas Tap Water Safe to Drink?

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.

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Some of the Convenience Stores in Vegas

• Green Valley Grocery
• Your Fremont Market
• ABC Stores
• Speedee Mart, Inc.
• Jay's Market On Flamingo
• Vitals
• One-Stop Market
• 7-Eleven
• Downtown Corner Store
• Circle K
• Bay Essentials
• Terrible Herbst Convenience Store

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You can safely drink tap water in Las Vegas, Nevada. The water in Las Vegas passes state and international water standards. The Las Vegas Valley Water District delivers reliable water quality. A non-profit utility LVVWD began providing water in 1954 to a service area of around 45,000 residences and has been serving this desert community for about 65 years. The Water District has managed pace, development, and responsibility for controlling the city’s water delivery system. They are serving residents throughout periods of rapid population growth by using effective, sustainable technologies. A great example would be the use of solar power and alternative-fuel based fleets that maintain low costs for water delivery in the desert.

The Federal government has set national standards for drinking water in the Safe Drinking Water Act. The law is upheld by the Environmental Protection Agency, which sets the rules that all providers of drinking water in the United States are required to follow. The Safe Drinking Water Act amendments of 1996 require states to develop and implement water assessments to analyze and address potential threats to the safety of drinking water. These evaluations require each state to identify the sources of drinking water, and to inventory any potential sources of contamination. After determining how vulnerable their water sources are to pollutants, the results are passed along to the public.

Source of Water in Las Vegas, Nevada USA

90% of Las Vegas tap water comes from Lake Mead. Snowmelt from the Rocky Mountains passes through the Colorado River and eventually leads to Lake Mead. The remaining 10% comes from a groundwater aquifer under the Las Vegas Valley. The aquifer is replenished by natural precipitation in the Spring Mountains and the Sheep Range.

In Nevada, the regulations are controlled and reinforced by the Nevada Bureau of Safe Drinking Water. They oversee that the Las Vegas area obeys the federal requirements and maintains high water quality.

Las Vegas Tap Water

The tap water in Las Vegas, Nevada is considered safe to drink. As of 2020, the tap water tested has met or exceeded national drinking water standards as outlined by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Local authorities do consider Las Vegas’ drinking water to be “very hard”, but mineral concentrations are not known to be great enough to cause actual adverse health effects. Las Vegas water agencies do issue standard national health warnings following EPA guidelines — and this article will further explore the city’s tap water resources.

General Sources

According to the Southern Nevada Water Authority (SNWA) — the government agency that manages the water supply of Las Vegas (and the surrounding Clark County) 90 percent of the drinking water in the region is derived from the Colorado River.

The amount of water used is measured in acre-feet, which is enough water to cover one acre with one foot of water (325,851 gallons). Nevada has the legal right to consumptively use 300,000 acre-feet of water annually.

The Colorado River water comes from melted ice and snow from the Rocky Mountains. This water flows through the Colorado River through Lake Powell Reservoir, Utah, and is allocated at 7-9 million acre-feet annually to Nevada’s Lake Mead via Arizona’s Glen Canyon Dam.

Before reaching Las Vegas, the water is treated in the Alfred Merritt Smith and River Mountain Water Treatment Facilities. These facilities treat the water with ozone to kill microorganisms in the water, and then with chlorine and fluoride en route to the tap.

The remaining ten percent of Las Vegas’ tap water is derived from groundwater sources — those which are from underground aquifers of the Las Vegas valley. The water is located 300 to 1,500 below the surface, and is obtained through both municipal and private well owners.

Las Vegas tap water is pumped up about 2,000 feet from Lake Mead before it is delivered to the treatment facilities. There is some concern about Lake Mead’s low water levels, which are the result of a 20-year drought in the Colorado River, likely to be exacerbated in the future by climate change.

Water Quality

The tap water of Las Vegas (and Clark County) is monitored by the SNWA — which itself has to comply with the standards of the Safe Drinking Water Act of 1974.

This act mandates that such agencies make and distribute a water report annually, as well as comply with the water cleanliness standards as outlined by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). There are 91 regulated contaminants that must be monitored as per the EPA.

The Las Vegas Valley Water District (LVVWD) is a sub-division of the SNWA that regulates water specifically in the Las Vegas Valley (otherwise known as Greater Las Vegas). The LVVWD’s 2020 report states that the agency tested for 75 additional unregulated contaminants and for Cryptosporidium, a harmful bacteria.

According to the 2020 report, which conducted 302,000 tests on 56,700 water samples in 2019, the levels for radioactive, chemical, mineral, and biological contaminants were within acceptable standards.

This report mentioned, however, that Las Vegas’ tap water was in fact hard water — with 16 grains per gallon or 269 parts per million of minerals like calcium and magnesium. Still, this was found to pose no health risks and fell within acceptable water quality standards.

The report does issue precautions for those with compromised immune systems, the elderly, infants, those with HIV/AIDS, those undergoing cancer/chemotherapy treatments, and organ donors/recipients.

These groups are encouraged to call the EPA’s Safe Drinking Water Hotline at (800) 426-4791 for more information.

Possible Contaminants

Contaminants tested in Las Vegas tap water include radioactive materials, coliforms, chemical compounds, minerals, lead, copper, and soil erosion elements.

Radioactive Materials

Las Vegas tap water sources — particularly the River Mountains Water Treatment Facility — were found to have acceptable levels of Alpha particles (4 picocuries per liter [pCi/L], out of a maximumly acceptable 15 pCi/L).

That said, a maximum of 16 pCi/L of Alpha particles was found in one of the groundwater wells. This, however, is likely a very low proportion of water that actually makes it to the tap.

Uranium was found to be at levels of 2 to 4 parts per billion (ppb) — an acceptable level, well under the maximum EPA level of 30 ppb.

These radioactive materials are the result of natural erosion, and although they are at acceptable levels, the EPA goal level for both is zero.

Soil Runoff

Water turbidity, or cloudiness (caused by soil runoff), is measured in Nephelometric Turbidity Units, or NTUs. A maximum amount of 0.3 NTUs is the EPA standard.

The 2020 report measured no greater than 0.15 NTUs for both the River Mountains and Alfred Merritt Smith water treatment facilities.

Coliforms

The EPA standard for total coliforms (including bacteria like Cryptosporidium) is a maximum 5 percent positive testing rate per month. In the Las Vegas Valley Water District Distribution System, the average rate was 0.1%, with a maximum rate of 0.3%.

Chemical Compounds

The LVVWD tests for chemicals like arsenic, barium, bromate, chromium, selenium, nitrate, chlorine, fluoride, and di-phthalate. These chemicals were found in the 2020 report to be within acceptable levels.

Minerals

Las Vegas has recently been found to have the second hardest water in the country, though this does not contradict the findings of the 2020 LVVWD report. Minerals like calcium, magnesium, sulfate, bicarbonate, sodium, and chloride all contribute to water hardness.

Lead and Copper

Las Vegas water is tested for both lead and copper, which in the 2020 report came to be at levels of 0.8 (out of a maximum 1.3) ppm for copper — and 3.9 (out of a maximum 15) ppb for lead. These are considered acceptable levels.

Advisory For Travelers

Travelers to Las Vegas are advised to follow EPA guidelines for drinking water or call the Safe Drinking Water Hotline at (800) 426-4791.

Locally, visitors can refer to the Las Vegas Valley Water District (LVVWD) website, or call (702) 258-3215 for water quality information.

Other links:

• Water Quality Test Results
• Las Vegas Drinking Water
• https://www.lonelyplanet.com/usa/las-vegas/health