Is Rochester, NY Tap Water Safe to Drink?

Where Does Rochester Get Its Water?

Rochester, NY is served by two main utilities: the Monroe County Water Authority and the City of Rochester's water system. Both draw from surface water sources in the region, with treatment handled at several plants before water reaches your tap.

The Monroe County Water Authority operates multiple treatment facilities, including the Hemlock Filtration Plant, Shoremont Water Treatment Plant, Webster Water Treatment Plant, and Corfu Water Treatment Plant. The City of Rochester's system also contributes to supply within city boundaries.

Booster stations, including facilities in East Henrietta and Pembroke, help maintain water pressure across the service area. Together these systems cover all 20 ZIP codes included in recent EPA monitoring.

How Is Rochester Tap Water Treated?

Water in Rochester goes through several treatment steps before reaching your home. These include coagulation, filtration, and granular activated carbon, which is effective at removing organic compounds and some contaminants including certain PFAS. Additional steps include softening and other filtration processes to meet federal quality standards.

Disinfection uses free chlorine to kill bacteria, viruses, and other pathogens. A residual level of chlorine is maintained throughout the distribution system to protect water quality as it travels through pipes to your home. This is standard practice and the reason tap water may have a faint chlorine smell or taste.

The combination of granular activated carbon and multi-stage filtration reflects a treatment approach designed to address both conventional contaminants and emerging ones like PFAS, though no treatment process removes all trace compounds entirely.

What's in Rochester Tap Water?

The most widely detected substance in recent EPA testing was lithium, found in all 20 monitored ZIP codes at a maximum level of 9 micrograms per liter. Lithium in drinking water does not have an enforceable federal maximum contaminant level; the 9 µg/L reading is below levels currently associated with health concern, and no ZIP codes were flagged as above any guideline.

Several PFAS compounds were also detected. PFTrDA reached a maximum of 0.007 µg/L, which is exactly at EPA's current drinking-water standard for that specific compound. Three additional PFAS, including 6:2 FTS, PFBA, and HFPO-DA, were each detected at up to 0.005 µg/L, at or at the reporting threshold. None of these values exceeded enforceable EPA limits.

PFAS are a broad class of synthetic chemicals used in industrial processes and consumer products for decades. Their presence at trace levels in treated municipal water is common across the United States, particularly in areas near historical industrial or firefighting-foam use. The levels detected here are not above federal enforcement thresholds.

Health Risk Profile for Rochester

The most notable regulatory touchpoint is PFTrDA, detected at 0.007 µg/L, which equals EPA's current drinking-water standard for that compound. The other PFAS detected are at or below their reporting thresholds, meaning actual concentrations in finished water may be lower than the listed values. No contaminant in the Rochester data set was measured above an enforceable federal limit.

Sensitive groups, including infants, pregnant individuals, and people who are immunocompromised, may want to take extra precaution with PFAS exposure even at low levels. EPA has acknowledged that some PFAS can accumulate in the body over time, and current research on long-term health effects continues to evolve. For these groups, a certified home filter can be a practical step.

If you want additional protection, look for a filter certified to NSF/ANSI standards, NSF/ANSI being an independent third-party certification program that verifies a filter actually removes what it claims. For PFAS, choose a filter certified to NSF/ANSI 58 (reverse osmosis) or NSF/ANSI P473 (covers PFOA and PFOS, and many units also address related compounds). For chlorine taste and odor, NSF/ANSI 42 covers that separately.

Lithium at 9 µg/L is far below levels studied in health research contexts, and no federal enforceable drinking-water limit exists for lithium. EPA has issued a non-regulatory health reference level for guidance purposes only. At the concentrations measured in Rochester, lithium is not considered a drinking-water health risk under current federal guidance.