New York City water has a reputation that precedes it. Bagels and pizza, the folklore goes, taste better in New York because of the water. The city’s tap water gets served at high-end restaurants. Residents who move away often report missing it.
Some of this is genuine. The source water is unusually good for a major metropolitan system. But “unusually good” doesn’t mean contaminant-free, and the reputation sometimes leads people to skip precautions that make sense in their specific building or neighborhood.
What Makes NYC Water Different
NYC’s water supply comes from 19 reservoirs in three watershed systems: the Catskill system, the Delaware system, and the Croton system. Together they cover about 2,000 square miles of protected land north and northwest of the city.
The Catskill-Delaware system, which supplies about 90% of the city’s water in most years, draws from upland reservoirs in the Catskill Mountains where land use is strictly controlled. Very little development, no heavy industry, and agricultural activity constrained by watershed rules. The water enters treatment with low turbidity and low contamination levels.
The city adds fluoride (to 0.7 mg/L, the HHS-recommended level for fluoridation), uses chloramines for disinfection, and runs the water through ultraviolet treatment. NYC has a federal filtration waiver for its Catskill-Delaware water, meaning it meets strict standards for a protected watershed without full filtration. The Croton system does go through full treatment including filtration at the Croton Water Filtration Plant, which opened in 2015 after years of delays.
The result: soft water (1-3 gpg) with low mineral content, consistent turbidity, and a milder taste than most large city water systems. That’s the basis for the reputation.
What the DEP Data Actually Shows
NYC’s Department of Environmental Protection publishes an Annual Water Quality Report with detailed testing results. The 2023 report shows, among other things:
Fluoride: consistently at 0.7 mg/L, stable. Turbidity: well below the MCL across both systems. Total trihalomethanes: below the 80 µg/L MCL. Lead: random sampling of distribution system below 5 ppb in most recent testing.
The EWG Tap Water Database covers NYC DEP data and has flagged, in recent years, chromium (total, at low levels), some disinfection byproducts, and historically some PFAS detections in water sourced from the Croton system. The Catskill-Delaware water shows lower contamination than Croton.
Meeting federal MCLs doesn’t mean zero contamination. It means contamination below the regulatory limit. The EWG uses stricter health guidelines than EPA MCLs and will show detections that are below legal limits but above their health thresholds. This is worth understanding when reading any database that uses EWG data.
The Chloramine Question
NYC switched from free chlorine to chloramines (monochloramine, formed by adding ammonia to chlorinated water) for most of its distribution system. Chloramines are more stable than free chlorine, meaning the disinfectant residual lasts longer as water travels through miles of pipes. They also produce lower levels of trihalomethanes (THMs), one of the main disinfection byproduct concerns.
Two things follow from this that affect household filtration:
Standard activated carbon, which works well at removing free chlorine, removes chloramines less effectively. If you’re filtering for taste and odor in NYC, a catalytic carbon filter (like KDF-55 media combined with carbon, or dedicated catalytic carbon blocks) performs better than standard granular activated carbon for chloramine reduction.
Chloramines and lead pipes interact in a way worth noting: a 2007 study in Environmental Health Perspectives (Edwards and Triantafyllidou, 2007) found that chloramine disinfection in DC water was associated with higher blood lead levels in children because chloramine chemistry affects lead oxide passivation layers on old pipes differently than free chlorine. NYC has addressed its lead pipe situation through service line replacement programs, but older building plumbing internal to the building is outside the utility’s control.
The Lead Risk: It’s About the Building, Not the System
The DEP’s lead results measure water at random taps across the distribution system. Those numbers look good. But that’s not the same as knowing what comes out of your tap in your specific apartment.
NYC has an enormous stock of pre-1940 housing. Buildings in the Bronx, Brooklyn, and parts of Manhattan built before 1940 often have lead service lines connecting the building to the main, and lead solder throughout interior plumbing. NYC has a service line replacement program, but it’s focused on the public portion. Internal building plumbing is the building owner’s responsibility.
If you’re renting in a pre-1940 building, you can request lead testing from your landlord in some circumstances. You can also buy a $25 lead test kit from a certified lab (not an at-home strip test, which is less reliable) and test your tap water directly. A certified lab lead test costs about $25-40 and gives you an actual ppb number.
If you confirm lead, a NSF 53-certified filter rated specifically for lead removal handles it at the drinking tap. NSF 58 RO also removes lead completely. Most pitcher filters (except Clearly Filtered) are not certified for lead reduction at meaningful levels.
When to Filter in NYC
For most residents in post-1986 buildings: a basic carbon pitcher filter or faucet filter addresses the chloramine taste and gives you cleaner-tasting water. It’s a preference decision, not a safety necessity.
For pre-1940 buildings: a $25 lead test first. If lead comes back below 5 ppb, you’re fine with a carbon filter or nothing. Above 5 ppb, add a certified lead-reduction filter. See our pitcher filter reviews for options.
For anyone near the Croton system (portions of upper Manhattan, the Bronx, and some supply areas) who wants to address the slightly higher contamination levels in Croton-sourced water: an NSF 58 RO at the kitchen tap is the most thorough option.
The how to read your water quality report guide explains how to find your specific system’s results and interpret what the numbers mean.