Drinking, Cooking and Bathing Water Contaminants
Contaminants Overview
It’s relatively easy to find a massive amount of data about home water purifiers and filters and what they claim to remove or adequately reduce to improve the quality of our drinking, cooking and bathing water.
We have gathered some of the more popular brands and their claims on our Home Water Purifier Comparisons page.
What’s not so easy to is to pull together all of the acronyms and industry jargon so we can make sense of the ‘code’ used by most of the manufacturers and distributors so you can evaluate the specifications upon which we must ultimately base our decisions.
Below we have tried to gather and explain most of the primary contaminants that frequent the charts and graphs that make comparison easier, but meaningless unless you know something about the elements being discussed.
Chlorine
Description: Many water suppliers add a disinfectant to drinking water to kill germs such as giardia and e coli. Especially after heavy rainstorms, your water system may add more disinfectant to guarantee that these germs are killed.
Some people who use drinking water containing chlorine well in excess of EPA’s standard could experience irritating effects to their eyes and nose. Likewise, excessive chlorine consumption can produce stomach discomfort. (Source – EPA)
Resources:
http://www.epa.gov/ogwdw/hfacts.html
Lead
Description: Lead typically leaches into water from plumbing in older buildings. Lead pipes and plumbing fittings have been banned since August 1998.
Children and pregnant women are most susceptible to lead health risks.
For advice on avoiding lead, see EPA’s lead in your drinking water fact sheet. (Source – EPA)
Resources:
http://www.epa.gov/ogwdw/pubs/lead1.html
Cysts
Description: A cyst is a closed pocket or pouch of tissue. It can be filled with air, fluid, pus, or other material.
“The most commonly identified cysts are Giardia and Cryptosporidium. These are widespread intestinal parasites that cause diarrheal illnesses in people and some wild and domesticated animals.” (Source - Department of Environmental Protection Commonwealth of Pennsylvania)
Cryptosporidium is a parasite that enters lakes and rivers through sewage and animal waste. It causes cryptosporidiosis, a mild gastrointestinal disease. However, the disease can be severe or fatal for people with severely weakened immune systems. (Source - EPA)
Resources:
http://www.epa.gov/ogwdw/hfacts.html http://foodsafety.psu.edu/GAPs/Crypto_Giardia_PADEP.pdf
http://resources.cas.psu.edu/WaterResources/pdfs/giardia.pdf
http://extoxnet.orst.edu/faqs/safedrink/microorg.htm
www.consumerfed.org/pdfs/vulnpop.pdf
THMs
Description: Trihalomethanes (THMs) such as chloroform, bromoform, bromodichloromethane (BDCM), and chlorodibromomethane are the most prevalent class of disinfection by-products (DBPs) found in treated water.
Chlorination by-products in drinking water come from the reaction of chlorine with organic material in the water. This reaction occurs naturally or originates from municipal, agricultural, and industrial wastes. (Source - Environ Health Perspect)
Resources:
http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=1247485
http://www.simplesteps.org/content/view/0/219/41
VOCs
Description: Volatile Organic Chemicals (VOCs) are carbon-containing compounds that evaporate easily from water into air at normal air temperatures. (This is why the distinctive odor of gasoline and many solvents can easily be detected.)
VOCs are contained in a wide variety of commercial, industrial and residential products including fuel oils, gasoline, solvents, cleaners and degreasers, paints, inks, dyes, refrigerants and pesticides.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that Volatile Organic Chemicals are present in one-fifth of the nation’s water supplies.
Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) studies suggest that 3 - 6% of public water supplies and about 2 - 4% of all water supplies in Minnesota contain detectable amounts of VOCs. (Source - Minnesota Department of Health)
Primary VOC elements:
- Acrylamide
- Benzene
- Carbon Tetrachloride
- Chlorobenzene
- Epichlorohydrin
- Ethylbenzene
- o-Dichlorobenzene
- Styrene
- Tetrachloroethylene
- Toluene
- Trichloroethylene
- p-Dichlorobenzene
- 1,2,4-Trichlorobenzene
- 1,2-Dichloroethane
- 1,1,1-Trichloroethane
- 1,1-Dichloroethylene
- 1,1,2-Trichloroethane
- cis-and trans- 1,2-Dichloroethylene
- Dichloromethane
- 1,2-Dichloropropane
- Vinyl Chloride
- Xylenes
Resources:
http://www.nrdc.org/media/pressreleases/041123.asp
http://www.epa.gov/safewater/contaminants/index.html#organic
http://www.health.state.mn.us/divs/eh/hazardous/topics/vocs.html
Lindane
Description: Lindane is an organochlorine insecticide that has been used in agriculture and as a treatment for headlice and scabies.
In humans, lindane primarily affects the nervous system, liver and kidneys, and may be a carcinogen and/or endocrine disruptor. (Source - EPA)
Resources:
http://www.epa.gov/OGWDW/contaminants/dw_contamfs/lindane.html
http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?tool=pubmed&pubmedid=18335094
Alachlor
Description: Alachlor (Lasso) is a herbicide used on row crops. Potential health impacts associated with Alachlor (Lasso) include cancer, cardiovascular or blood toxicity, developmental toxicity, endocrine toxicity, immunotoxicity, kidney toxicity, and skin sensitivity. (Source - Environmental Working Group)
Resources:
http://www.ewg.org/tapwater/contaminants/contaminant.php?contamcode=2051
www.epa.gov/ogwdw/contaminants/dw_contamfs/alachlor.html
www.oehha.ca.gov/water/phg/pdf/alach_c.pdf
www.water.ncsu.edu/watershedss/info/herbicd.html
Atrazine
Description: One of the nation’s most widely used weed-killers. Atrazine is a herbicide used on row crops. Potential health impacts associated with Atrazine include cancer, endocrine toxicity, gastrointestinal or liver toxicity, immunotoxicity, neurotoxicity, reproductive toxicity, and skin sensitivity. (Source - NRDC)
Resources:
http://www.nrdc.org/health/pesticides/natrazine.asp
http://www.ewg.org/tapwater/contaminants/contaminant.php?contamcode=2050
Benzene
Description: Benzene is a chemical from factory pollution, leaching landfills and gas storage tanks. Potential health impacts associated with Benzene include cancer, cardiovascular or blood toxicity, developmental toxicity, endocrine toxicity, gastrointestinal or liver toxicity, immunotoxicity, neurotoxicity, reproductive toxicity, respiratory toxicity, and skin sensitivity.
An Environmental Working Group analysis of Benzene tests reported by 31,920 public water suppliers in 42 states shows that between 1998 and 2003, 1.7 million people in 200 communities drank water contaminated with Benzene. In 116 of these communities, tap water was contaminated at levels above health-based thresholds. (Source - Environmental Working Group)
Resources:
http://www.ewg.org/tapwater/contaminants/contaminant.php?contamcode=2990
http://benzene.legalview.com/
http://www.eprf.ca/ebi/contaminants/benzene.html
MTBE
Description: EPA has not established a maximum legal limit in tapwater for this contaminant. MTBE is a fuel additive used as an octane enhancer in unleaded gasoline; its ban or phaseout is in progress in 16 states as of December 2005.
Potential health impacts associated with MTBE include cancer, developmental toxicity, gastrointestinal or liver toxicity, kidney toxicity, neurotoxicity, and skin sensitivity.
An Environmental Working Group analysis of MTBE tests reported by 16,866 public water suppliers in 30 states shows that between 1998 and 2003, 32.7 million people in 632 communities drank water contaminated with MTBE. In 18 of these communities, tap water was contaminated at levels above health-based thresholds. MTBE remains unregulated in tap water, without a maximum legal limit. (Source - Environmental Working Group)
Resources:
http://www.ewg.org/tapwater/contaminants/contaminant.php?contamcode=2251 http://www.munley.com/toxic_mtbe_toxins_exposure.html
TCE
Description: Trichloroethylene (TCE) is a man-made chlorinated solvent, used primarily to remove grease from metal parts and textiles. In addition to TCE, related chlorinated solvents, or volatile organics compounds (VOCs), include Perchloroethylene (PCE), mainly used as a dry cleaning agent with some industrial applications including degreasing, and Dichloroethane (DCE), a breakdown product of both PCE and TCE. (Source - Encyclopedia of Earth)
Resources:
http://www.eoearth.org/article/TCE_contamination_of_groundwater
www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/02/080228100728.htm
General Resources:
http://www.epa.gov/safewater/contaminants/index.html#listmcl
http://www.epa.gov/ogwdw/hfacts.html
http://www.vermontdrinkingwater.org/forms/lab%20guidance.pdf
http://www.water-research.net/helpguide.htm
http://www.safe-drinking-water.org/rtk.html
http://www.eoearth.org http://www.nrdc.org/water/drinking/uscities/pdf/chap05.pdf
