Water Quality

We monitor for potential contaminants and key constituents to ensure that your drinking water is of high quality.

As a public water system (PWS), the City of Flagstaff is required under the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) to monitor for potential contaminants - chemical and biological - to ensure that we are providing clean drinking water to citizens. They include:

  • Microbial contaminants, such as viruses and bacteria, which may originate from sewage treatment plants, septic systems, agricultural livestock operations, and wildlife
  • Inorganic contaminants, such as salts and metals, which can occur naturally or result from urban stormwater runoff, industrial or domestic wastewater discharges, oil and gas production, mining, or farming
  • Pesticides and herbicides, which may come from a variety of sources, such as agriculture, urban stormwater runoff, and residential uses
  • Organic chemical contaminants, including synthetic and volatile organic chemicals (SOCs and VOCs), which are byproducts of industrial processes and petroleum production and can also come from gas stations, urban stormwater runoff, and septic systems
  • Radioactive contaminants, which can be naturally occurring or be the result of oil and gas production and mining activities
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The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) specifies levels of each potential contaminant that are safe for human consumption.

Source Water Assessment Program

The Arizona Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) administers the Source Water Assessment Program (SWAP) as part of the nationwide Safe Drinking Water Act. This program evaluates all sources of water that provide drinking water to public water systems, and rates the level of risk (threat) to the water integrity, termed source water protection. Flagstaff has an overall low risk rating in the SWAP evaluations. Read the entire report.

Annual Reports

We publish annual reports on drinking water quality summarizing the results of this monitoring. You can download them here or email the Water Quality Team with your contact information if you want to receive a printed copy. For questions about water quality, call the Lake Mary Water Treatment Plant at 928-774-0262.