Lead in Water

children's protest in Flint

Do water pitcher filters block lead?  Maybe....

• Recently, CLASH Communications did a deep dive into water filters and lead safety. Official guidance on pitcher filter systems like the one I use at home are hard to find. But wading through a ton of gobblety-gook, this CDC webpage revealed an important clue. Look at the filter to see if it says NSF/ANSI standard 53 for lead removal. 

• Armed with this knowledge, I ran to the cupboard and pulled out a fresh filter. The wrapper said "NSF certified" and had the logo, but in small print said NSF standard 42 and didn't mention lead. Hum. I thought maybe that's because I bought a generic brand? I went on amazon and checked the Brita replacement filters. Same logo but no mention of lead. 

• Eventually I did find some filters that fit my pitcher and had the NSF certified logo  and the words "Standard 53" and "lead" on the label.  But I had to dig. All the filters sold on Amazon had the NSF certified logo, but I had to use the software magnifier tool over the product photo to find the words "Standard 53" and "lead". They do not appear in the product descriptions. 

• Ironically there didn't seem to be a big price differential between NSF standard 42 filters and NSF standard 53 filters. More on lead and water here. 

A journey through the maze of information on lead in water breaks down to several different topic areas. 

Neither EPA nor CDC has much to offer in layperson's language. Here's what CLASH has discovered.

• Things you can do at home to reduce lead exposure. CDC says: 

  • You can reduce or eliminate your exposure to lead in tap water by drinking or using only tap water that has been run through a “point-of-use” filter certified by an independent testing organization to reduce or eliminate lead. Look at the product to see if it says NSF/ANSI standard 53 for lead removal. "NSF certified" does not mean that the product removes lead look for Standard 53. 

  • You can flush your water to reduce potential exposure to lead from household lead plumbing. This is especially important when the water has been off and sitting in the pipes for more than 6 hours. Before drinking, flush your home’s pipes by running the tap, taking a shower, doing laundry, or doing a load of dishes. The amount of time to run the water will depend on whether your home has a lead service line or not, and the length of the lead service line. Drink or cook only with water that comes out of the tap cold. Water that comes out of the tap warm or hot can have higher levels of lead. Boiling this water will not reduce the amount of lead in your water.