HAA6Br (six brominated haloacetic acids)
Overview
HAA6Br is the sum of the six brominated haloacetic acids. None of the six is regulated. They form when a disinfectant meets organic matter in water that also carries bromide, which is common in Florida where saltwater reaches the aquifer and where source water is brackish. EPA monitored HAA6Br nationwide in 2018 to 2020 and has set no limit for it.
In Florida, HAA6Br (six brominated haloacetic acids) was found in 250 community water systems serving about 19,989,753 people. Nobody has set a legal limit for it, so no reading here counts as an exceedance and no utility is required to do anything about it.
Where it comes from: Byproduct of drinking water disinfection in water containing bromide; saltwater intrusion and brackish source water raise it.
The standards
Enforceable. A utility must stay at or under this.
Health-based, not enforceable. Often lower than the limit, sometimes zero.
Nobody has published a health goal for haloacetic acids as a total. California has published one for each acid the totals count: dibromoacetic acid 0.03 ppb, trichloroacetic acid 0.1 ppb, dichloroacetic acid 0.2 ppb, monobromoacetic acid 25 ppb and monochloroacetic acid 53 ppb, all issued 2022. Florida Water Report reads the total against the strictest of them. EPA's own health goal for dichloroacetic acid is zero. Source: California State Water Resources Control Board, MCLs, DLRs and PHGs for Regulated Drinking Water Contaminants, updated September 2025.
Health effects the EPA associates with it: EPA published no reference concentration for HAA6Br in its national survey, so there is no federal number to compare a reading against. None of the six is counted in the regulated HAA5 group, so none of them appears in the number a utility is measured against.
The health goal is set on health alone. The legal limit is set as close to it as is technically and economically feasible, so treatment cost and available technology are written into the number a utility is measured against. A system at or under the limit is meeting the standard it is required to meet. Both numbers are shown so the distance between them is visible.
What removes it
Activated carbon adsorbs them once formed. At the plant they are controlled by removing organic matter before disinfection, and by the choice of disinfectant.
Treatment guidance describes the methods generally used for this contaminant. What your own tap actually carries depends on your plumbing and your service line as much as on the utility, which is what a test at the house tells you and an annual report cannot.
Where in Florida
Highest reported levels
Showing the 25 highest of 250 systems that reported HAA6Br (six brominated haloacetic acids).
Data Sources
These figures describe water as delivered by each utility, not what your home’s plumbing adds after it arrives. Informational; not a substitute for testing your own tap.