A Guide to Choosing Drinking Water Filters

By Julie Perry

Consumers need some guidance when they are selecting drinking water filters.

Since, there is little regulation concerning what a drinking water filter should and should not do, there are some pretty bad products on the market.

For example, one popular drinking water filter only removes chlorine and odor.

While that's an important issue for taste, it's not an important health issue.

Chlorine has very low toxicity to humans and exposure to it is considered a minor health risk.

On the other hand, scientific researchers consider exposure to the byproducts created during chlorination a significant health risk.

Those byproducts are referred to as THMs or trihalomethanes and only a few drinking water filters remove them.

The popular ones that you see in department stores and advertisements do not remove THMs.

For example, performance data sheets reveal that PUR, Brita and Ever-Pure remove only chlorine, lead and cysts.

The risk of exposure to THMs has primarily to do with its carcinogenic nature.

Studies have shown that people who drink waters containing the chemical have an increased risk of bladder and rectal cancer, as well as other types of the disease.

Several studies have shown that trihalomethanes enter our bodies through the skin during a shower and are also inhaled, as they are vaporized when heated or boiled. Exposure, then, can occur in the shower or in the kitchen, when unfiltered water is used for cooking. Inhalation seems to greatly contribute to the cancer risk.

So, not only do you need a drinking water filter that removes THMs. You also need a device for your showerhead that does the same thing. The contaminants can only be removed by an adsorptive block.

Interestingly, the most expensive whole house purifiers on the market do nothing to remove the contaminant. Reverse osmosis is often mentioned in a comparison of drinking water filters. Reverse osmosis does nothing to remove chlorine or THMs, even though the units cost thousands of dollars.

MTBE is another compound that is NOT removed by a reverse osmosis, a PUR or a Brita drinking water filter. In fact, there are only two drinking water filters on the market that WILL remove it.

MTBE is a common groundwater contaminant, today.

It was used primarily as a gasoline additive to prevent "knocking".

Only years later did we learn that the compound seeps out of underground storage tanks and eventually comes flowing through our tap.

The health consequence of frequent low level exposure is unknown. It may be a carcinogen. It might not be. But, when you consider all of the other cancer causing chemicals that we are definitely exposed to on a daily basis, you might want to limit your exposure whenever possible.

You can get a drinking water filter that removes MTBE, pesticides, herbicides, cysts, lead and chlorine, as well as byproducts of chlorination and industrial processes, without having to spend thousands or even hundreds of dollars. You just have to know which drinking water filters to pick.

Hopefully, this information will help you make a healthy choice.


Julie Perry graduated with a Diploma in Applied Science and is a fully qualified Naturopath. On her web site http://www.healthysafewater.com you will find out a practical and simple way to always have fresh, healthy water throughout your home. Learn what to look for when choosing drinking water filters.
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