Local water facts · Virginia
Arlington County (DC Water Aqueduct) serves 240,000 people from Potomac River. The numbers below are from the utility’s own published testing, compiled by the EWG Tap Water Database (June 2026). The water is legal — the question is how it compares to health guidelines, which sit well below the legal limits.
Each card shows how far a contaminant sits above its health guideline — the level scientists consider protective over a lifetime of drinking. A system can pass every legal test and still carry these levels.
36.8 ppb found · health guideline 0.06 ppb
Cancer47.3 ppb found · health guideline 0.15 ppb · legal limit 80 ppb
Cancer29.6 ppb found · health guideline 0.1 ppb · legal limit 60 ppb
Cancer9.6 ppb found · health guideline 0.06 ppb
Cancer12.6 ppb found · health guideline 0.1 ppb
Cancer31.2 ppb found · health guideline 0.4 ppb
Cancer14.8 ppb found · health guideline 0.2 ppb
Cancer0.51 ppb found · health guideline 0.02 ppb
Cancer1.18 ppm found · health guideline 0.14 ppm · legal limit 10 ppm
Cancer · birth defectsThink per glass: at 613× the guideline, one glass of tap water carries what 613 glasses would hold at the health-guideline level. The top flag here is Haloacetic acids (HAA9). Not an emergency — but worth knowing, because the fix is specific and usually simpler than people expect.
ZIP codes served by Arlington County (DC Water Aqueduct) include 22201, 22202, 22203, 22204, 22205, 22206, 22207, 22209, 22210, 22211, 22212, 22213, 22214, 22215 and 19 more. Type yours on the free report page to see the version for your address.
Want it for your exact address? The free report matches your ZIP to this data, scores it, and shows which fix covers which flag — see your full free report. Reading tips: how to read a water report in 2 minutes.
No single filter does everything — each option covers different flags, so the right answer depends on what’s in your water and how your house is set up. You’re weighing options, not grades of good.
Good on chlorine taste and some disinfection byproducts. Cartridges fade fast — about every 2 months.
The drinking-water workhorse: handles PFAS, nitrate, arsenic and most of the hard flags — at one tap.
Treats every tap and protects pipes and appliances — usually paired with Reverse Osmosis (RO) for the kitchen.
The full breakdown of what each option does and can’t do: the honest 60-second version · all the free guides.
Type your ZIP, get the full picture free: every flag, what it means per glass, and which fix covers it. If you’d rather have a person look at it with you, the free in-home Home Water Checkup tests what no city report can see — your heater, pressure, and hardness.
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