Bromate
Bromate forms when ozone disinfection reacts with naturally occurring bromide in source water. The EPA limits bromate to 10 ppb (0.010 mg/L), with a health goal (MCLG) of zero.
EPA MCLG
0 mg/L
EPA's health goal is zero — no known safe level of exposure. This is a goal, not an enforceable limit.
Health Effects
Classified a probable human carcinogen; long-term exposure is associated with an increased cancer risk. The risk is chronic and lifetime, not acute.
Source: EPA — IRIS Chemical Assessment Summary — Bromate (retrieved 2026-07-27)
Common Sources
- Byproduct of disinfecting drinking water with ozone
- Elevated when the source water contains naturally occurring bromide
Is your Bromate result safe? Get a free reading
The EPA MCLG for Bromate is 0 mg/L. Upload your water test (PDF or a photo) and we'll email a plain-English reading of where your result lands — and every other number — free. Educational only, no medical claims.
Your upload also helps us keep local water data accurate — we only ever share anonymized, area-level summaries.
Upload my testHow to Remove Bromate
We do not have a verified removal answer for Bromate. We haven't yet checked a home treatment method for it against a source we can cite. Naming a method we cannot source would be a guess, so these four questions stay unanswered here rather than answered wrongly:
- How do I get rid of Bromate in drinking water?
- What filter certification covers Bromate?
- Does a basic water filter pitcher remove Bromate?
- Does boiling water remove Bromate?
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Is Bromate in your water?
Bromate has been recorded above its health guideline in 81 cities, serving 4.0M people. Each system below was judged against a goal of 0 PPM.
Most affected systems, by population served
- Bergenfield, NJ792,713 people served0.00006 PPMgoal 0 PPM
- East Rutherford, NJ792,713 people served0.00006 PPMgoal 0 PPM
- Hillsdale, NJ792,713 people served0.00006 PPMgoal 0 PPM
- Northvale, NJ792,713 people served0.00006 PPMgoal 0 PPM
- Hackensack, NJ792,713 people served0.00006 PPMgoal 0 PPM
- Englewood, NJ792,713 people served0.00006 PPMgoal 0 PPM
- Rutherford, NJ792,713 people served0.00006 PPMgoal 0 PPM
- West New York, NJ792,713 people served0.00006 PPMgoal 0 PPM
- Alpine, NJ792,713 people served0.00006 PPMgoal 0 PPM
- Fort Lee, NJ792,713 people served0.00006 PPMgoal 0 PPM
and 71 more cities with a recorded result above the guideline
These are the largest systems that reported a result above the guideline — not the highest results. A city missing from this list has not been shown to be clean: it may have no Bromate result on file at all. We publish a level only where a system reported one.
Check your city or ZIP code for Bromate
Part of a group: disinfection byproducts
This contaminant is rarely measured on its own. Disinfection byproducts in drinking water covers the whole group — what they are, which limits are enforceable, and where they come from.
Others in this group
About the EPA MCLG
The EPA MCLG is the level of a contaminant in drinking water below which there is no known or expected risk to health. It is a non-enforceable public health goal, and is often stricter than the legal limit (MCL) water systems must meet.
Contaminant Type
Bromate is classified as a Disinfection Byproducts contaminant.
Related Disinfection Byproducts Contaminants
Check Your Water
Find out if Bromate is in your tap water.
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