New Orleans water quality

Southshore · Sewerage & Water Board of New Orleans (Carrollton) · PWS ID LA1071009 · Mississippi River (surface water)

The short answer

New Orleans water is moderately hard, chloramine-disinfected Mississippi River water. The fix: a water softener, a whole-home filter, and reverse osmosis for drinking water.

New Orleans water is treated Mississippi River water. That shapes everything: it is moderately hard, disinfected with chloramine, and runs through some of the oldest service lines in the country. Here is what that means at your tap.

What's in your New Orleans water

Your water reportNew Orleans

Sewerage & Water Board of New Orleans (Carrollton) · PWS ID LA1071009 · 2025 water quality report

Chloramine, the disinfectant · the pool taste and smell in your coffee, your ice, and the first glass of the dayCatalytic carbon takes it out at every tap

Moderately hard water · the spotting and scale that build on fixtures, glass, and inside your appliancesA water softener handles it

Lead service lines, in the published record · a lead concern the utility itself reports for older New Orleans homesCertified reverse osmosis reduces lead on the water you drink and cook with

Here is what is actually in your New Orleans water. It is treated Mississippi River water, so it needs the full stack: softener, carbon, and reverse osmosis.Ottie, your water guide.

What we'd install

Here is your system: a water softener and a whole-home filter, the setup every home on this water runs, plus certified reverse osmosis at the kitchen sink for the water you drink and cook with. The softener handles the hardness and the filter takes out the chloramine.

**Reverse osmosis**Drinking water at the kitchen sink

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What this does for your home

Less scale on your water heater, appliances, and fixtures
Softer water that ends the spotting and film
No chlorine taste or smell in your coffee, tea, and ice
Certified reverse osmosis for the water you drink and cook with
Bottled-quality drinking water on tap for pennies a gallon

Cutaway of a water heater with sediment settled at the bottom

Scale is hard on your water heater

Hard water leaves scale that lowers water heater efficiency and shortens its life. In lab testing, tankless heaters run on hard water failed from scale in under two years, while the same units on softened water kept running.

U.S. Dept. of Energy (PNNL-22921, 2013); Battelle for the Water Quality Research Foundation, 2010 (industry-funded).

Source: Sewerage & Water Board of New Orleans (Carrollton) annual water quality report.PWS ID LA1071009, verifiable in the EPA Safe Drinking Water database →Figures are as published by the system; see the original report for sampling methods and ranges.Get my written plan and price →

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You just read what is in New Orleans water. Tell us where to send the plan for fixing it.

The public recordResolved, with enforcement orders on file

EPA shows the New Orleans Carrollton plant cleared a surface-water treatment violation in early 2025, and lists two formal state compliance orders, from 2023 and 2024. The city also issued a boil-water advisory across the east bank in August 2024 after a pressure loss at the plant. The violation is resolved; the orders and advisory are part of the record.

EPA ECHO. Public records, current as of August 2026. They update quarterly. Operators: contact us to correct an error.

How we work in New Orleans

We pull the published report for the system that actually serves your address, put the recommendation and the exact price in writing before any work starts, and a licensed plumber does the install. Your neighborhood's report decides which pieces your home's package needs.

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Other Southshore areas we serve

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