Unlike people in many parts of the world, Americans take clean, safe drinking water for granted. But according to the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), 7 million Americans get sick (and some die) from drinking contaminated tap water each year.
How do our water supplies get contaminated? Water pollution comes from industrial livestock and agricultural farming runoff, industrial waste, as well as from urban living.
How is our drinking water regulated? The Environmental Protection Agency sets and enforces the National Primary Drinking Water Standards, which set acceptable levels for many known toxins. Many health professionals believe these standards are unacceptably lax; others criticize the effectiveness of the EPA's regulation.
Looking back on one year -- 2002, some EPA officials estimated that only 81% of the jurisdictions monitored by the EPA had safe drinking water. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) monitors much of the nation's stream water and has found chemicals found in drugs, detergents, disinfectants, insect repellents, plastics, and personal care products, including many suspected hormone disruptors.
While drinking water is treated and filtered by municipalities, the sheer numbers of toxins found in stream water are alarming to say the least. And many of these toxins, such as arsenic and rocket fuel, remain in drinking water even after treatment.
THE BOTTOM LINE:
Filtering water is an easy and fairly effective measure that will protect your family from contaminated drinking water. Drinking tap or bottled water may present risks.
OPTIONS & RECOMMENDATIONS:
First, find out if there's a problem with your water by obtaining a copy of your water quality report, which water utilities are required to send to customers annually. If you have not received a copy, request it from your local water supplier or the EPA's Safe Drinking Water Hotline (800/426-4791), or you can view it here online.
If your water comes from a private well, the EPA recommends that well owners test annually for nitrate and coliform bacteria, and more frequently for radon or pesticides, if those are a problem in your area. Check with your local health department to find out which contaminants are common where you live. National Testing Labs can do the testing by mail. See their web site for more information about testing or call 1-800/458-3330).
If your water is contaminated, or if it bears objectionable tastes or odors, you may wish to buy a filter. Filters come in several varieties. Determining which kind you need depends on which pollutants you want removed, so be sure to check to see if it's certified by the National Sanitation Foundation (NSF) to reduce the specific contaminants found in your water.
- Most carafes and faucet units utilize carbon filters. These contain a carbon-activated filter that adsorbs lead, chlorine byproducts, and some organic chemicals as well as odors and tastes. They won't remove heavy metals, pesticides, nitrites, bacteria or microbes, but they are the least expensive filter type and are sufficient for most needs.
- Ceramic filters, often combined with carbon filters, will remove bacteria, cysts, asbestos and sediments.
- Distillers boil water into steam, then condense it back into water in a separate chamber, leaving behind particles and dissolved solids. Since water is heated, distillers kill microbes. They eliminate many other pollutants, including arsenic, but not volatile organic chemicals and chlorine, which are usually removed by an accompanying carbon filter.
- Installed in shower heads, copper/zinc alloy systems (or KDF) remove chlorine, chloroform and heavy metals, reducing contaminants that can be inhaled and absorbed through the skin in water and steam.
- Reverse-osmosis systems, typically expensive and difficult to install, operate by pushing water through a membrane, then flushing away a few gallons of contaminant-containing water for every gallon purified. These systems remove industrial chemicals, heavy metals, nitrates and asbestos, but not chlorine byproducts, radon or certain pesticides. An additional carbon filter on the purifier rectifies the problem somewhat. (As these filters waste enormous amounts of water and flush contaminants back into the water supply, they should not be considered a solution to water contamination.)
- Some purifiers also use ultraviolet light, which kills some bacteria. It is intended as supplemental treatment to filtration -- not a way to eliminate illness-causing pathogens.
When considering all these varieties of filters, also keep in mind some basic questions:
1. Is it certified to remove the particular contaminants in your water?
2. Is an expensive model really worth the money? (Except in cases of extreme contamination, probably not.)
3. Is it easy to install, change, and clean?
4. Will it provide a steady rate of flow rate throughout its life span?
5. Does it waste water?
6. Does it take out beneficial minerals along with pollutants? What to look out for
In cases of lead or other contamination, or when tap water that meets federal requirements still bears an objectionable taste or smell, carafe or faucet-mounted filters may help. However, each filter reduces only selected contaminants, so be sure you know which pollutants you're targeting before purchase, and select one that is certified by the National Sanitation Foundation (See Resources) to remove those particular contaminants. For basic filtering and taste improvement, Brita pitchers are a best buy. Pur filters, while excellent at removing a wider variety of contaminants, tend to clog in regions with sediment in the water, making them quickly unusable. However, in areas with little sediment but with herbicide or other chemical contaminants that Brita filters can't remove, Pur is the least costly option.
RECOMMENDED PRODUCTS:
Here are some of the best filters, according to National Sanitation Foundation certifications and Consumer Reports' August 2000 and October 1999 ratings.
Pur Ultimate FM-4010L - Faucet-mounted $50 $96 Carbon 29, including lead, THMs, microbes, alachlor, atrazine, benzene, chlorine, mercury, styrene, 2,4-D, MTBE, perchloroethylene, toluene, trichloroethylene. See www.pur-water-filters.com or call 800/PUR-LINE
- Pur Ultimate CR-900 Carafe $28 $78 Carbon 24, including lead, THMs, microbes, atrazine, benzene, cadmium, chlorine, mercury, MTBE, perchloroethylene, toluene, xylenes Pur Plus FM-3000 (or FM-3550) Faucet-mounted $35 $72 Carbon 14, including lead, microbes, chlorine, atrazine, mercury, 2,4-D Pur,
- Brita Pitcher Carafe $20 $27 Carbon 12, including lead, chlorine, copper, zinc, mercury, cadmium, xylenes, benzene, perchloroethylene, toluene Culligan FM-15 Faucet- mounted $17 $60 Carbon 5: Atrazine, microbes, lead, lindane, turbidity, chlorine Culligan Polar Bear 26-M Countertop $600 ? Distiller 11, including arsenic, lead, cadmium, mercury and fluoride Culligan AC-30
Aqua-Cleer®Good Water MachineTM Culligan AC-30L Nitrate Plumbed in to separate tap $875 (with installation) $298 Reverse Osmosis 12, including arsenic, lead, microbes, arsenic, copper, fluoride, radium
Pure Water Mega-Classic Plumbed in to separate tap $1,999 $45 Distiller 11, including arsenic, cadmium, copper, fluoride, lead, mercury, selenium Gaiam Terracotta Ceramic Water Filter Crock $159 $59 Ceramic, Carbon, & Particle 25, including chlorine, aluminum, asbestos, lead, some pesticides, microbes, bacteria
Gaiam UV Water Filter Plumb-in to tap $489 $125 Ultraviolet 23, including aluminum, benzene, bacteria, chlorine, copper, microbes, lead, mercury, some pesticides
OTHER CONSIDERATIONS:
If you have concerns about water purity, there are several other means of handling contaminants.
To kill bacteria and parasites, boil water vigorously for one minute.
To decrease lead from pipes in old homes and neighborhoods, let water run for at least one minute before using in the morning; drink and cook with only cold water.
Chlorine and THMs will dissipate from tap water if you leave it in an open container in the refrigerator for a few hours, or boil it for one minute.
TIPS FOR CONSERVING AND PROTECTING OUR WATER SUPPLY
- Reduce water waste. Given that the average faucet flows about three gallons of water per minute, in order to avoid wasting water turn off the tap while you brush or wash. Turning on the shower only to wet down, soap up and rinse off reduces water use from as much as 40 gallons down to 5. A low-flow shower head, which costs less than $5, can save approximately 20,000 gallons of water per year for a family of four, the EPA estimates. Water gardens in the evening or early morning to reduce evaporation to sun, and landscape with plants that are native to your area, requiring about half as much water.
- Help protect our rivers, streams and wetlands. Campaign to limit development around reservoir watersheds.
- Refuse to use yard pesticides and fertilizers, which run off or seep into groundwater, and dispose of leftover paints and other household chemicals through your community's hazardous waste collection program - don't pour them down the drain.
- Use biodegradable cleansers and detergents, and buy food that's organically grown, in accordance with watershed-protecting farming practices.
- When it comes time to move, avoid areas built up around water reservoirs.
RECOMMENDED THIRD PARTY LINKS:
Campaign for Safe and Affordable Drinking Water, www.safe-drinking-water.org, 202/895-0420, Ext. 109
Clean Water Lead Testing Inc. provides lead testing for $17. www.leadtesting.org, 828/251-6800
Consumer Reports' water filter ratings, www.consumerreports.org, 800/896-7788 H2ouse Water Saver Home, www.h2ouse.net
"It's only water, right?" Consumer Reports, August 2000. www.consumerreports.org
Making Sense out of Drinking Water "Right to Know" Reports. www.pirg.org/reports/enviro/water/MakingSense.pdf
National Drinking Water Clearinghouse, www.nesc.wvu.edu/ndwc/ndwc_index.htm, 800/624-8301
National Sanitation Foundation, www.nsf.org, 800/673-6275
New York City residents can order free tests through the city's Department of Environmental Protection, 718/DEP-HELP.
Olson, Erik D. Bottled Water: Pure Drink or Pure Hype? Natural Resources Defense Council. 1999. www.nrdc.org/water/drinking/bw/exesum.asp
Protecting Groundwater from Pesticides: A Clean Water Action Guide. Friends of the Earth. www.foe.org/safefood/groundwater/
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Safe Drinking Water Hotline, 800/426-4791, www.epa.gov/safewater/
RECOMMENDED MEDIA (Video, Audio, Books):
Book: Water: The International Crisis, by Robin Clarke
