Arsenic

Arsenic is particularly troublesome in the western United States.  When rocks erode, Arsenic naturally leaches into water supplies; although, some Arsenic is released into the environment from industrial sources.  The Sierra Club says, “Arsenic is one of the most prevalent contaminants of health concern in drinking water.”  The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) estimates that more than 56 million Americans in 25 states drink tap water with unsafe levels of arsenic – and that is just in the 25 states that reported arsenic information. 

Arsenic has long been known as a poison.  In fact, today, scientists have shown Arsenic in drinking water to cause a variety of cancers (bladder, lung, skin, kidney and liver) as well as arterial damage, tumor growth, birth defects and reproductive problems. 

Although the EPA has proposed a lower standard for Arsenic in drinking water (10 ppb rather than the current 50 ppb), the standard will not be enforced until 2006.  And even at 10 parts per billion, Arsenic is estimated to cause cancer in 1 in 500 people drinking 2 liters per day.  The US Public Interest Research Group recommends a stronger standard of 3 ppb. 

The NRDC states that bottled water is not necessarily less likely to have Arsenic in it.  They recommend that those who are concerned about Arsenic in their drinking water purchase a filter that is certified to reduce Arsenic.  Certification ensures that a water filter actually does what its literature says it can do. 

The new Multi-Pure Plus Arsenic series is certified by NSF International to reduce ArsenicV from tap water, as well as Chloramine, Lead, PCBs, MTBE, Mercury, Asbestos, VOCs and many more contaminants of health concern.

 

Chloramines

Over the past year, chloramines (a mix of chlorine and ammonia) has been introduced by many public water utilities throughout the country, causing millions of people to be concerned about possible adverse effects.  There are many unknowns about chloramines and/or possible chloramine by-products.  this shift by public water utilities to a new water disinfectant, is driven by the need to balance the use of chlorine to protect against microbes - such as those that cause dysentery and cholera - with the need to keep the dangers of the disinfection process to a minimum.  But there are many who ask whether chloramines will result in new, unidentified by-products that may be as or more harmful to human health as the by-products of chlorine which has been used in the United States since 1908.

Today, there is no NSF standard for testing drinking water treatment devices for chloramine reduction; however, development of a standard is in process.  Multi-Pure Drinking Water Systems has dedicated significant research and development efforts to engineer a carbon block filter that is more effective in reducing chloramines.  We recently had a major breakthrough and have developed a filter that is most effective in reducing this substance.  We have just completed testing in our own laboratories, and are taking this filter to NSF International for performance testing.  Although the NSF Standard has not been released, as soon as testing is done by NSF to verify that the new materials achieve effective chloramine reduction, Multi-Pure will be able to make  this aesthetic claim.  When the Standard is finalized, then the Chloramine claim will be listed under NSF Standard 42, Aesthetic Effects along with Chlorine and Particulates.  Multi-Pure Corporation will be the first to respond to consumer demand for a filter that effectively reduces chloramines.

MTBE (Methyl Tert Butyl Ether)

The second most frequently detected volatile organic chemical in groundwater, MTBE, ahs been found form coast-to-coast.  In 1991, EPA approved MTBE as an air cleaning gas additive against high smog and carbon monoxide in dense urban areas.   Today, MTBE is a suspected chemical carcinogen, which the US Geological Survey has found in more than a quarter of the nation's shallow urban wells and in streams, lakes, rain and snow, and even in remote rural areas.

The Association of California Water Agencies reports that California and about a third of the rest of the country now use gasoline with high levels of MTBE; the rest use gas with low levels of the chemical.  Steve Hall of the Association says, "Even if MTBE were banned today, years would be required to remove it form the nation's water, and the cost could run into billions of dollars."

Although the EPA classifieds MTBE as a possible human carcinogen because laboratory rats and mice that breathe or drink it have developed lymphoma, leukemia, testicular tumors, thyroid tumors and kidney tumors, so far, the EPA has resisted calls to ban MTBE.  The MTBE industry has a powerful lobby, we are told, and is at work to halt legislative action preventing its use.  However, one of the subtleties of the MTBE scare in tap water across America is that MTBE is considered a fast-leaching compound.  EPA has recommended voluntary new maximum levels in drinking water of 20-40 ppb.

The US Geological Survey reported that MTBE does not biodegrade; it can effect water supplies for years.  Meanwhile, the EPA announced it expects to make public this Summer a national study showing MTBE has contaminated water in almost every state in the U.S.

Clearly MTBE has become "the next big water contaminant" behind Trichloroethylene, Cryptosporidium, Lead, and Trihalomethanes.  The good news is it can be removed by adsorption using activated carbon.  Although the EPA has not regulated MTBE, NSF is nearing completion of the development of a standard for it.