Erie, Pennsylvania
Erie Water Quality
Every drop comes from Lake Erie. The 2025 report shows no water quality violations, moderate hardness and disinfection byproducts worth a look.
Lake Erie only · no 2025 water quality violations · TTHM highest average 68.4 ppb · 6.97 gpg · lead 90th pct 1.08 ppb.
The short answer
Erie's water comes only from Lake Erie, treated at Erie Water Works' Chestnut and Richard S. Wasielewski plants. The utility reports no water quality violations in 2025, and lead was 1.08 ppb at the 90th percentile, with none of 82 homes over the action level.
The figure to watch is total trihalomethanes: the highest running annual average was 68.4 ppb against a limit of 80, and single samples reached 103 ppb. Hardness averaged about 7 grains per gallon.
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Tell us your Erie address. We confirm coverage first, then schedule a licensed technician to test at your tap — no charge, no obligation.
What filtration does — and does not
Lake water is moderately hard and chlorinated, so the questions are byproducts, chlorine taste and scale.
Where Erie water comes from
Source and service area named in Erie Water Works' 2025 Water Quality Report.
Lake Erie
Erie Water Works draws exclusively from Lake Erie surface water. The utility has a 2025 Source Water Protection Plan.
Two treatment plants
Water is treated at the Chestnut and Richard S. Wasielewski plants and disinfected with sodium hypochlorite. Fluoride has been added since 2002.
Service area
Erie, Lawrence Park, Wesleyville, Harborcreek, Millcreek and parts of Summit and Greene townships.
What the 2025 data actually says
Limits are fixed. Results are system figures from the utility's tables, not a reading at your tap.
TTHM: highest average 68.4 ppb
The highest running annual average for total trihalomethanes was 68.4 ppb (limit 80), with individual samples from 13.9 to 103.0 ppb.
HAA5: highest average 39.5 ppb
Haloacetic acids had a highest running annual average of 39.5 ppb (limit 60), with samples from 8.4 to 52.6.
Lead: 90th percentile 1.08 ppb
None of 82 homes sampled exceeded the 15 ppb action level. Copper's 90th percentile was 0.131 ppm.
Hardness about 7 gpg
Hardness averaged 119.4 mg/L, or 6.97 grains per gallon (range 6.40–7.58). Dissolved solids averaged 187.9 mg/L and pH 7.85.
Chlorine and fluoride
Chlorine's highest monthly average was 1.46 mg/L. Fluoride was 0.58 mg/L at one plant and 0.47 at the other (Pennsylvania limit 2).
No water quality violations
Erie reports no water quality violations in 2025 and one minor reporting violation: a coliform check-sample form filed late in August 2025. Four of 1,812 samples were coliform-positive; all follow-ups were negative.
Erie next to Pittsburgh and Detroit
Pittsburgh treats river water from the Allegheny. Among our Pennsylvania city pages, Erie is the one that draws from a Great Lake.
Across the lake system, Detroit also treats Great Lakes surface water, with its own report and its own numbers. In eastern Pennsylvania, Allentown relies on springs and the Lehigh River.
Where these figures come from
Everything on this page traces to Erie Water Works' 2025 Water Quality Report (PWSID 6250028).
- Erie Water Works — 2025 Water Quality Report (PDF)
- Erie Water Works publishes a service line inventory online and asks customers whose line is listed as lead status unknown to complete its survey.
Matching treatment to the finding
Disinfection byproducts and moderate hardness are the usual reasons Erie homeowners add treatment.
Carbon for byproducts and chlorine
Activated carbon reduces trihalomethanes and chlorine taste. Whole-house carbon covers showers as well as the kitchen tap.
Softening is optional at 7 gpg
About 7 grains per gallon is moderately hard. Some homeowners add a softener for scale; a tap test tells you whether it is worth it.
RO for drinking water
Reverse osmosis at the kitchen tap reduces byproducts, dissolved solids and fluoride for drinking and cooking.
Check your service line
If Erie Water Works lists your line as lead status unknown, its survey and a tap test answer the question.
How the free test works
A licensed technician tests at your kitchen tap, walks the plumbing, and tells you which of the findings above applies to your house and which does not. There is no charge and no obligation.
Seamless Home is the licensed contractor of record on the work that follows. Installation is performed by vetted installing partners engaged as our subcontractors, and the workmanship obligation stays with us. Coverage is confirmed per service area rather than promised as blanket availability.
What a water treatment job with us covers
Installation and replacement of whole-home and point-of-use treatment, specified against what your water actually contains.
Sediment filtration
Installation of the first stage that protects everything downstream of it, sized to the service line and the household draw.
Softening
Installation of ion-exchange softening where hardness is the problem, including the drain connection the plumbing code treats as indirect waste.
Carbon filtration
Installation of carbon stages for taste, odour and disinfection by-products, specified from your utility's own water quality report.
Reverse osmosis
Point-of-use installation at the kitchen sink where the target is dissolved solids rather than whole-home flow.
Disinfection
Installation of UV or equivalent treatment where the supply is a private well or is otherwise not continuously disinfected.
System replacement
Replacing equipment that has reached the end of its service life, including the discharge and air gap details an inspector looks at.
This is installation and replacement work, specified from a published water quality report or a test of your supply — not from a sales chart. Coverage is confirmed per service area rather than promised as blanket availability.
What the work actually looks like
Treatment equipment is plumbing. Most of the job is the connection, the drain and the code detail behind it.
Erie water, answered plainly
Where does Erie get its water?+
Exclusively from Lake Erie. Erie Water Works treats it at the Chestnut and Richard S. Wasielewski plants.
Is Erie water safe to drink?+
Erie Water Works reports no water quality violations in 2025. It had one minor reporting violation, for a coliform check-sample form filed late in August 2025.
Why are trihalomethanes high in Erie?+
Trihalomethanes form when chlorine reacts with natural organic matter in lake water. Erie's highest running annual average was 68.4 ppb, under the 80 ppb limit, though single samples reached 103 ppb.
Is Erie water hard?+
Moderately. Hardness averaged 119.4 mg/L, or 6.97 grains per gallon, in 2025.
Does Erie add fluoride?+
Yes, since 2002. The 2025 results were 0.58 mg/L at one plant and 0.47 at the other.
Where do these figures come from?+
From Erie Water Works' 2025 Water Quality Report. Third-party aggregators are not used.
Related resources
Home water purification and treatment
The national service page behind this one.
Learn more →Pittsburgh water quality
Allegheny River water, free chlorine and lead at a 20-year low.
Learn more →Allentown water quality
Springs and the Lehigh River, with PFOA and PFOS near 6 ppt.
Learn more →Detroit water quality
Another Great Lakes surface water system.
Learn more →All home services
Water, battery, HVAC and solar under one licensed contractor of record.
Learn more →Get a free test at your tap
A licensed technician tests at your kitchen tap and tells you which findings apply to your house — disinfection byproducts, chlorine taste, or hardness. No charge, no obligation, and coverage confirmed at your address first.
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