Mount Morris's water system shows 12 contaminants above independent health guidelines. Legal limits and health guidelines are two different lines. Both are shown below, with sources, along with what a water filtration system in Mount Morris should actually address. Call (815) 420-4731.
All 12 of them, worst first, from Mount Morris's own published tests. Tap any contaminant to see what it is, how it gets into the water, and what long-term exposure is linked to.
Long-term exposure: Associated with thyroid and immune effects. EPA regulates it as of 2024 under a combined hazard index rather than a number of its own.
A shorter-chain forever chemical that was marketed as the safer replacement for the older ones. It moves through soil faster, which is exactly why it reaches drinking water wells.
Handled by: Reverse osmosis
Long-term exposure: The research behind EPA's own limit associates long-term elevated exposure with increased bladder cancer risk. Several studies also flag effects during pregnancy.
Nobody added this. TTHMs are the sum of four byproducts that form when the chlorine used to disinfect your water meets leaves, algae and other organic matter in the source. The disinfection is necessary. The byproducts are what it costs you.
Handled by: Carbon filter at the main line
Long-term exposure: EPA classifies it as a probable human carcinogen. Long-term exposure is associated with liver, kidney and intestinal effects.
Forms when chlorine meets naturally occurring bromide in the source water. Of the four trihalomethanes, this is one of the two the research treats most seriously.
Handled by: Carbon filter at the main line
Long-term exposure: Linked to kidney and testicular cancer, thyroid disease, elevated cholesterol, reduced vaccine response in children, and pregnancy complications. EPA set the first federal limit for it in 2024 at 4 parts per trillion.
A forever chemical. It does not break down in the environment and it does not break down in you; its half-life in the human body is measured in years. Manufacturing, firefighting foam and older consumer products put it in the groundwater.
Handled by: Reverse osmosis
Long-term exposure: Radium is radioactive. The body treats it like calcium, so it deposits in bone, and long-term exposure raises bone cancer risk.
Northern Illinois sits on a deep sandstone aquifer that is naturally radioactive. The radium comes up with the water. The federal limit of 5 picocuries per liter was set in 1976 and has not been revisited since.
Handled by: Water softener (EPA-recognized ion exchange), or reverse osmosis
Long-term exposure: EPA classifies it as a possible human carcinogen; animal studies show liver damage at sustained exposure.
Another chlorine-plus-bromide byproduct. It travels with the other three, so where you find one you almost always find all four.
Handled by: Carbon filter at the main line
Long-term exposure: Same concern as nitrate alone: oxygen transport in infants at high levels, and cancer and thyroid associations in long-term studies below the legal limit.
The combined measurement of both forms of the same farm runoff. Reported together because they convert back and forth in the body.
Handled by: Reverse osmosis
Long-term exposure: Classified by the international cancer agency as possibly carcinogenic to humans, with liver and kidney effects at sustained high exposure.
The most common of the four trihalomethanes, and usually the largest single share of the total. It forms in the pipes on the way to your house, which is why the level at your tap can be higher than the level leaving the plant.
Handled by: Carbon filter at the main line
Long-term exposure: In infants under six months it interferes with the blood's ability to carry oxygen, which is the reason for the federal limit. Newer research associates long-term exposure well below that limit with colorectal cancer and thyroid effects.
Fertilizer and manure that ran off the fields and soaked down into the aquifer. This is farm country, so nitrate is the signature local contaminant. Levels climb in spring after application and after heavy rain.
Handled by: Reverse osmosis
Long-term exposure: Associated with immune suppression, thyroid disease, liver effects, and some cancers. EPA set its first federal limit in 2024 at 4 parts per trillion.
The other headline forever chemical, and the one most often traced to firefighting foam used at airports and training sites. It accumulates in blood serum and stays there for years.
Handled by: Reverse osmosis
Long-term exposure: EPA classifies it as a probable human carcinogen, with liver and kidney effects at high sustained exposure.
The bromine-heaviest of the four trihalomethanes. It shows up when the source water carries more bromide, which deep Illinois wells often do.
Handled by: Carbon filter at the main line
Long-term exposure: The second major byproduct family. Long-term exposure is associated with increased cancer risk, and some studies flag developmental effects.
HAA5 is the sum of five haloacetic acids, formed the same way the trihalomethanes are. Federally capped at 60 parts per billion. The independent health guideline is 0.1.
Handled by: Carbon filter at the main line
Levels are the utility's own most recent published test results as compiled by the EWG Tap Water Database. "Times over" compares against EWG's independent health guideline, not the federal legal limit; this system meets federal limits.
Installed by a licensed Illinois plumber, tested at handoff, first year of care included. Pick one and change anything: the installed total follows you.
Sources: EWG Tap Water Database, Mount Morris · Lead information for this utility · Illinois EPA Drinking Water Watch
Nearby: Chadwick · Lanark · Forreston · Leaf River
The report is free, the call is 15 minutes, and nobody ever comes to your house to sell you. One licensed crew. A limited number of installs each month.