Water Quality

This annual report shares the results of the most recent water quality monitoring, as required by the Safe Drinking Water Act. It explains where your drinking water comes from, what it contains, and the steps we take to keep it safe. Each year, we publish this Water Quality Report, also known as the Consumer Confidence Report.

Learn what’s in your drinking water. This analysis shares information about minerals like calcium, as well as alkalinity, hardness, and other water quality characteristics from Lake Michigan and your tap.

PFAS are long-lasting, man-made chemicals used in many industrial and consumer products that can persist in the environment, accumulate in the human body, pose health risks, and enter drinking water through industrial use, waste, and environmental contamination.

Find additional information about the Lead and Copper Rule and sampling results.

Fluoride is a naturally occurring element found in many ground and surface waters. In the 1920s and 1930s a link was made between fluoride concentrations in drinking water and a reduction in tooth decay. In 1945, Grand Rapids became the first city in the world to fluoridate its drinking water to study this link. The Grand Rapids water fluoridation study was originally sponsored by the U.S. Surgeon General but was taken over by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) shortly after NIH's inception in 1948. During the 15-year study, researchers monitored the rate of tooth decay among Grand Rapids' almost 30,000 schoolchildren. After just 11 years, the cavity rate among Grand Rapids children born after fluoride was added to the water supply dropped more than 60 percent. This finding, considering the thousands of participants in the study, amounted to a giant scientific breakthrough that promised to revolutionize dental care, making tooth decay for the first time in history a preventable disease for most people. You can read more about this study and the history of fluoride in our drinking water from the NIH. Since that time, thousands of studies have been conducted over the past 60 years to confirm these findings.

The City of Grand Rapids’ drinking water is carefully fluoridated to the optimal level established by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services guidelines. This level, 0.7 milligrams per liter, is the optimal level according to these U.S. agencies as well as the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy. The City monitors and measures the concentration of fluoride to assure it remains within this guidance. You can find a copy of our annual water quality reports on our website. This report lists the amount of fluoride in our drinking water.