Water filter service in Albany, NY

What is in the water in Albany

Albany is served by Albany Water Board .

Source water: The Alcove Reservoir in the Town of Coeymans, formed by a retention dam across the Hannacrois Creek near the village of Alcove, about 20 miles south west of the city in the Heldeberg Mountains. It holds 13.5 billion gallons, of which around 12.1 billion are available for use. The Basic Creek Reservoir in Westerlo is a secondary source, used to augment flow into Alcove and hold its level up rather than supplying the city directly. Reported by City of Albany for 2024.

Water travels from Alcove through a 48 inch cast iron supply conduit to the Feura Bush filtration facility in the Town of Bethlehem, roughly halfway to the city. Treatment there runs pre-oxidation, disinfection, coagulation, sedimentation, filtration, and adjustment of pH and alkalinity, with a chlorine residual maintained through distribution. Ultraviolet disinfection is used at the Loudonville Reservoir. The alkalinity adjustment is the part that matters for household plumbing, because it is what stops the water dissolving metal out of the pipes it travels through.

These figures describe the distribution system. Your own tap can differ, and for lead it very likely does.

We do not yet hold a sourced figure for every field on this page. Where something is missing it is left blank rather than estimated, because an unsourced number here would look like information.

Buildings and plumbing in Albany

Albany has an ownership quirk that changes the whole conversation: the city does not own any part of the service line. Every line is privately owned, so replacement has historically been the property owner's cost and decision, and the city's role has been to assist rather than to carry out. More than 700 lead services have been removed since 2019, with around 12,000 still to go and a target of 2034. Grants have been available at 1,000 dollars toward a half replacement and 2,000 dollars for a full one from the main to the meter. That position improved sharply in 2025, when construction began on a 12.9 million dollar project covering nearly 2,500 lines across all fifteen wards, concentrated on streets with pre-1975 mains. It is the first project under the state's 100 million dollar Lead Infrastructure Forgiveness and Transformation programme, and replacement under it is free to the occupant, whether owner or renter. The city publishes a dashboard where you can look up your own address.

PFAS in Albany

Albany has taken the protect-the-source approach rather than relying on treatment alone. Nearly 6,400 acres of woodland surround the Alcove Reservoir, and the Water Board worked with the Nature Conservancy and the Mohawk Hudson Land Conservancy to preserve that land permanently, funded partly through the sale of carbon credits. Land that cannot be developed cannot become a contamination source. New York State limits PFOA and PFOS to 10 parts per trillion each and also regulates 1,4-dioxane, so check the current city report for the measured results before deciding whether treatment is indicated at your tap.

Source: City of Albany, 2024. More on confirming and treating this on our PFAS page.

What this means in practice

• Chlorine and chloramine taste. Confirm with free and total chlorine test strip, plus the utility report for the disinfectant type.
• Lead in drinking water. Confirm with certified laboratory analysis of a first-draw tap sample.
• PFAS. Confirm with certified laboratory analysis using an epa-approved pfas method.

What these figures mean for filter choice

Lead is a plumbing question rather than a supply question in Albany, as it is everywhere. What that means practically is that a filter certified under NSF/ANSI 53 for lead at the tap you drink from sits downstream of the entire problem, whereas a whole-house filter at the point of entry sits upstream of nearly all of it and costs several times more.

Filters that apply here

• Lead reduction filters. Point-of-use filters certified for lead under NSF/ANSI 53.
• PFAS reduction systems. Reverse osmosis or a certified activated carbon system aimed at per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances.
• Under-sink carbon filters. A carbon block cartridge on the cold line under the sink.
• Reverse osmosis, tank. A membrane system under the sink that produces treated water to a dedicated tap and stores it in a small pressure tank.
• Whole-house filtration. A filter plumbed into the main line where water enters the building, so every tap, shower, and appliance downstream is fed treated water.

Installation in Albany

• Free water testing. Typically 45 to 60 minutes.
• Whole-house filter installation. Typically 3 to 5 hours.
• Under-sink reverse osmosis installation. Typically 2 to 4 hours.
• Repair, any brand. Typically 1 to 3 hours.

Renters, co-ops, and businesses

• Options for renters
• Co-ops and condos
• Offices and commercial sites

Local programmes

• Lead service inventory dashboard and replacement grants. Look up your address, see completed and planned work, and apply for the replacement grant. Replacement under the 2025 state-funded project is at no cost to owners or renters.

Nearby areas

• Colonie, NY , Albany County
• Troy, NY , Rensselaer County
• Schenectady, NY , Schenectady County
• Utica, NY , Oneida County

Sources

• City of Albany, 2024.
• City of Albany, 2024.
• City of Albany, 2026.
• Population: US Census Bureau sub-county population estimates, Vintage 2024 (POPESTIMATE2024).