Virginia water treatment
Virginia's water systems treat tap water to the federal standard. EWG testing still finds contaminants above its health guidelines in every Virginia water system on our map. Here's how your water is treated, what's left in it, and how to treat it at home.
How Virginia water is treated
Most Northern Virginia homes drink treated Potomac River water. Fairfax Water treats Potomac and Occoquan Reservoir water for most of Fairfax County; Arlington buys finished water from the Washington Aqueduct, the same plant that supplies DC; Alexandria is served by Virginia American Water. Farther out, towns and counties run their own plants, and many rural homes are on private wells.
Every public system filters its water and disinfects it with chlorine or chloramine so it stays safe on the way to your tap. That disinfection is essential, and it is also where the most widespread problem starts: the chlorine reacts with organic matter in the pipes to form trihalomethanes and haloacetic acids, after the water has left the plant.
Treating it at home
What's left in treated water forms or arrives after the plant, so the fix has to be at the tap. A reverse osmosis system under the kitchen sink covers the widest range: disinfection byproducts, PFAS, chromium-6, nitrate and radium. Carbon filters handle the chlorine taste and many byproducts, but not dissolved metals or nitrate.
The Sanavia Hydra is a 5-stage tankless reverse osmosis system. In an independent lab test of an Arlington tap, it cut total trihalomethanes from 58 ppb to 2.79 ppb. We install it across Virginia's DC suburbs for $1,250, or it's $999 to fit yourself.
Virginia tap water's 5 most common problems
Times over EWG's health guideline, which is stricter than the legal limit. Source: EWG Tap Water Database, one system per county and town on the map.
Virginia water systems we cover
Each has its own report of what EWG and EPA testing found, compared with health guidelines.
- Arlington County WaterArlington, VA
- Virginia American Water (Alexandria)Alexandria, VA
- Fairfax WaterReston, VA
- City of Manassas ParkManassas Park City, VA
- City of ManassasManassas City, VA
- PWCSAPrince William County, VA
- Loudoun WaterLoudoun County, VA
- Stafford County UtilitiesStafford County, VA
- Town of WarrentonFauquier County, VA
- King George Co. CourthouseKing George County, VA
- City of FredericksburgFredericksburg City, VA
- Town of BerryvilleClarke County, VA
- Town of CulpeperCulpeper County, VA
- Stratford HarbourWestmoreland County, VA
- Spotsylvania County UtilitiesSpotsylvania County, VA
- Town of WashingtonRappahannock County, VA
- Town of Front RoyalWarren County, VA
- Milford Sanitary DistrictCaroline County, VA
- Frederick WaterWinchester City, VA
- Town of OrangeOrange County, VA
- Town of TappahannockEssex County, VA
- Town of WarsawRichmond County, VA
- Town of MadisonMadison County, VA
Virginia water treatment questions
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A real person on our team answers. Call or text (571) 397-4798, or send us a message.
Virginia's public water systems treat river, reservoir and well water at their own plants: they settle and filter it, then disinfect it with chlorine or chloramine so it stays safe in the pipes. The Virginia Department of Health regulates them under the federal Safe Drinking Water Act.
Virginia's public water systems meet federal legal limits, but EWG testing finds contaminants above its stricter health guidelines in every Virginia water system on our map, most often trihalomethanes (TTHMs). Legal and health-optimal aren't the same thing.
For drinking water, a point-of-use reverse osmosis system under the kitchen sink covers the widest range of what's found in Virginia tap water: disinfection byproducts, PFAS, chromium-6, nitrate and radium. Test first, so you treat what's actually in your water.
Test it first: private wells aren't covered by any utility's testing, and nitrate, arsenic, radium and bacteria are the common concerns. A reverse osmosis system treats most dissolved contaminants at the tap; bacteria needs disinfection such as UV.
Yes. We're based in Arlington, we test water free at your tap anywhere in Northern Virginia, and we install the Hydra reverse osmosis system across Virginia's DC suburbs for $1,250, or $999 to install yourself.
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