Drinking Water Quality

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The Village of Oswego produces safe, high-quality drinking water sourced from eight wells located throughout the Village. All of these wells are considered deep wells and draw water from a sandstone aquifer. Wells are tested on a routine basis to ensure the safety of drinking water, and Oswego Public Works crews treat your drinking water to maintain safety and great taste, straight to your tap, at a fraction of the cost of bottled water.

Tap water is just as safe as bottled water and more environmentally sustainable, and contains naturally occurring minerals, such as fluoride, that contribute to good overall health.

Each year, the US EPA and the Illinois EPA require that municipalities produce and distribute Water Quality reports, called the Consumer Confidence Report, to residents.

To receive a print copy of the 2023-2024 report, please call Public Works at 630-554-3242.

Lead in Drinking Water

Lead is harmful to human health, especially for children, and sometimes finds its way into drinking water supplies through aging infrastructure, most often from corroding pipes in a home or service lines that run water from municipal water main to homes.

In 2017, the Village of Oswego’s lead content in its municipal water supply was 0 ppb. However, lead can enter drinking water when it is leached from corroded lead-containing pipes and fixtures in or leading up to homes. The most common problem is with brass or chrome-plated brass faucets and fixtures with lead solder, from which significant amounts of lead can enter into the water, especially hot water. Homes built before 1986 are more likely to have lead pipes, fixtures and solder.

The Village of Oswego treats municipal drinking water with anti-corrosive chemical that reduces the amount of lead that leaches into drinking water supplies from pipes and fixtures in homes.

The US EPA and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention agree that there is no known safe level of lead in a child's blood. If you are concerned about the levels of lead in your home’s drinking water, you can have your water tested by a lab certified by the Illinois EPA.

For more information on lead in drinking water, visit the US EPA’s website.

You can also find more detailed information about lead in drinking water in the Village's Lead Brochure.

Radium in Drinking Water

Radium is a naturally occurring radioactive element that is present in rocks and soil in the Earth’s crust. Small amounts can also be found in groundwater supplies, including throughout northern Illinois. Radium in water may pose a hazard to human health when the water is used for drinking or cooking. The Village of Oswego uses a filtration process to remove radium, and the Village's radium disclosure is available here. The radium level at each well is below the Environmental Protection Agency's maximum allowable level of 5 picocuries per liter.

View the Oswego Radium Disclosure

Where can I get more information?

More information on radium in drinking water can be found at the following websites:

Fluoride in Drinking Water

Fluoride is safe and effective in preventing tooth decay in both children and adults. Naturally occurring fluoride levels from the deep sandstone aquifer meet EPA and Illinois Department of Public Health standards for drinking water, and no additional fluoride is added at any of the well sites.

Boil Orders

In the event of a water main repair, natural disaster or other impairment of the Village's water treatment facility, the Village will issue a boil order via local news media, social media, email notification, and this website. Read more on what to do during a boil order, as well as boil order guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

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