If you receive your water from a public water supply, it should be safe to drink. The United States Environmental Protection Agency sets standards for public water supplies that limit the levels of contaminants. The water is tested regularly to ensure that these standards are met. You may find out the results of tests on a public water supply by contacting your water utility or the Minnesota Department of Health.

If you’re still concerned about the tap water you drink, home water treatment units can be a good solution. But water filters aren’t always necessary. Before you buy a home water unit learn as much as possible about the tap water in your home. You should check with your local water supplier and ask for the annual water quality report. Note that some contaminant levels remain constant throughout the year, while others vary according to season, weather, or from house to house.

Water purification pitchers are an affordable and commonly used home water treatment device. Most water pitchers use granular- activated carbon(1) and resins to bond with and trap contaminants.These filters are effective at improving the taste of water, and many will also reduce lead and other contaminants.

Reverse Osmosis Units: Reverse osmosis units force water through a semi-permeable membrane under pressure, leaving contaminants behind. Reverse osmosis units use approximately three times as much water as they treat, but they are effective in eliminating all diseasecausing organisms and most chemical contaminants

Which system you need depends on the type and amount of contaminants in the water, other chemicals in the water, water use and exposure pathways that need to be eliminated. Exposure pathways are the ways chemicals enter your body. Some chemicals may cause harm if they are ingested, some if they are inhaled, and some if they enter through the skin. Sometimes people are exposed through a combination of exposure pathways.

An under-sink filter protects people from ingesting the chemical — by treating the drinking or cooking water only from that tap. It will not protect people from inhaling the chemical while showering or bathing, prevent the chemical from being absorbed through the skin, or protect other water faucets. Inhalation is a concern when the chemical easily evaporates from the water into the air.

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A whole-house filter system treats all water traveling to any faucet or fixture in the home. It removes the chemical before it can be ingested, breathed in, or absorbed by the skin during washing or bathing.

Home Water Treatment Units:

Point-of-Use Devices

Point-of-use (POU) water treatment devices are designed to treat small amounts of drinking water for use in the home. These devices can sit on the counter, attach to the faucet, or be installed under the sink. They differ from point-of-entry (POE) devices, which are installed on the water line as it enters the home and treat all the water in the building.

It is important to distinguish between home treatment for health protection and home treatment for aesthetic reasons. Water treatment units are most appropriately used for the removal of substances that affect the physical or aesthetic quality of water—taste, color, and odor. Before installing a POU device for health-related substances, it is important to evaluate the alternatives. Removing a contamination source or replacing the unsafe water supply with a safe one is more appropriate than treating the water. The use of water treatment units for reduction of health- related substances should be done only under emergency conditions or in situations where other alternatives do not exist. In these cases, the treatment units should be designed to handle the contaminant of concern, be tested periodically to ensure effective performance, and have some duplication or redundancy to provide added protection if one unit fails.

(1) What is granular activated carbon (GAC)?
Granular activated charcoal is made from raw materials (such as coconut shells or coal) that are high in carbon. Heat is used to increase (activate) the surface area of the carbon; this is why these filters are sometimes referred to as “charcoal” filters. The activated carbon removes certain chemicals that are dissolved in water passing through a filter containing GAC by trapping the chemical in the GAC. However, other chemicals, like sodium or nitrate, are not attracted to the carbon and are not removed

Eventually, the ability of the GAC to bind and remove chemicals is used up and new, or regenerated, GAC is needed.

It is very important that the type and concentration of contaminants, and water use, be known in order to determine the correct size of system. All treatment systems require proper installation, periodic monitoring and maintenance.

Note: A reverse osmosis (RO) drinking water system may also remove certain organic chemicals. Check your RO system owner’s manual for additional information, or talk to your dealer.

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