Have you ever tasted a strange funk in your water supply, and dismissed it as your imagination, or forgotten about it within 5 minutes?
Have you ever stared at the belching factories toiling away in your city and wondered whether they affect your tap water?
Have you ever drank from a mountain stream and been astonished at the freshness of the water in comparison to your bland home supply? You have just encountered a very real phenomenon – tap water which is full of contaminants.
It might sound like a theoretical, boring scientific concept which you merely read about and watch on the news every month or so, but heavy metals, pesticides and trace chemicals in your water supply could be decreasing your vitality and happiness at this very moment…
…and that’s why anyone who cares about their health, not just their longevity, but their energy, strength, drive and mood, should invest in a household water filter.
Naturally, some regions are much more contaminated than others. The Midwest is particularly contaminated, southern Denmark is worse than northern Denmark, northern and south west England are more contaminated with heavy metals due to historic mining, and so on.
However, the vast majority of people could benefit by filtering their water supply, which is why today, we will review the best whole house water filters.
You also have the choice of reverse osmosis water filters, which we covered in this article. The choice is clear: reverse osmosis machines filter contaminants down to a lower particle size of just 0.001 microns, while whole house water filters cleanse your entire house’s supply.
If you want to turn your house into an oasis of clean water amidst a desert of pollution, here are the 7 best whole house water filters available. The most well rounded machine is the Home Master HMF2SDGC, while the best for sheer power is the Aquasana Pro.
One – Home Master HMF2SDGC
From perhaps the most trusted water filter company in existence comes the greatest whole house water filter around. The Home Master HMF2SDGC is just beaten by the Aquasana 10 Year Pro for raw specifications, but comes with a significantly lower price tag.
Firstly, the HMF2SDGC is able to filter pollutants down to the level of 1 micron. That easily beats the iSpring WGB32 at 5 microns, and obliterates cheaper models like Watts which are sometimes as poor as 50 microns. Pesticides and heavy metals will be unable to escape. The Home Master HMF2SDGC is perfectly suited to a normal sized household, with a gallons per minute rate of 20.
There’s 3 stages of water filtration, each with distinct purposes. In stage 1, there’s a sediment filter, beginning at 20 microns and ending at 1 micron to eliminate sand, dirt and grime. This progression of the size of particle filtering prevents the machine from getting clogged and forcing you to conduct manual repairs.
Stage 2 consists of an activated carbon filter made from coconut shell, for removing impurities, and freshening the water’s taste and odour. The final stage then eliminates toxic heavy metals such as arsenic, lead, and mercury.
So efficient is this combination that the Home Master HMF2SDGC can remove up to 95% of all contaminants. The machine is able to process 100,000 gallons of water per year, easily able to sustain a four person household.
Home Master is a safe purchase, with a 2 year warranty and the outstanding customer service Home Master is known for. The water filters must be replaced approximately once every year, but this whole house water filter also benefits from standardised filter sizes. They measure 20″ x 4.5″, a widely manufactured size known as “Big Blue” filters, and this gives you a choice between Home Master’s own replacement filters (which are fairly expensive) or numerous cheaper filters manufactured by third parties. The filters are also large, enhancing water flow and preventing clogging.
The only downside with this machine is that it’s inefficient at filtering chlorine, but Home Master has another option: the HMF2SMGCC, specifically designed for city water featuring chlorine and the closely related chloramine.
The HMF2SMGCC features a lower GPM rate of 10, but maintains its 4 layers of sediment filtering. The final version is the HMF2SDGC, which I don’t recommend, because while this machine does feature chlorine filtration, combined with a higher GPM rate of 20, it lacks decent chloramine filtration, making the HMF2SMGCC only half of what you need for cleansing a city supply. Chloramines are a combination of chlorine and ammonia, which are longer lasting and therefore used as a secondary disinfectant by water companies.
If you want to purify your home’s water from top to bottom, the Home Master HMF2SDGC is the all round best choice.
Amazon link: Home Master HMF3SDGFEC Whole House 3-Stage Water Filter.
Two – Aquasana 10 Year Pro
The absolute best whole house water filter available. Why? It begins with the Aquasana Pro’s micron rating. The micron system is very simple: a 5 micron filter will allow particles smaller than 5 microns to pass through, while a 1 micron filter will allow particles smaller than 1 micron.
Aquasana Pro beats even the Home Master HMF2SDGC by having 0.35 micron filter. That means that pesticides, VOCs, and heavy metals will have a near impossible task in entering your water supply.
For chlorine, the Aquasana Pro is also exceptional, exceeding the NSF’s standards and eliminating 97%. The production rate is also amazing, with the main filter (filter 2) having a lifespan of 1 million gallons, which is the longest lifespan here.
As for the filtration process, it’s another three step system. The first filter eliminates any loose sediment, banishing dirt and other particulates down to 5 microns. Aquasana claims that this filter should last for 3-6 months for city water or 3 months for well water.
Stage 2 is the biggest filter of all: the blue filter with crushed minerals and copper-zinc oxidation media, designed to suck the odours and chlorine right out of the water. Finally, there’s an activated carbon filter, for further elimination of chlorine and other villains. This particular filter should last for 6-12 months for a city supply.
As the name suggests, this whole house water filter is designed to last for ten years. Think of all the pesticides and herbicides sprayed onto nearby fields that you could avoid drinking in that time. The package comes with much of the equipment needed for installation, with brass fittings, filters and valves all ready to use. One piece of installation equipment you will need to find elsewhere is a pex crimper; the average plumber should have one in his toolbox.
This whole house water filter also has several optional upgrades, including 1) a salt free water softener, 2) additional pre and post filters for even more purification, and 3) a UV light stage designed to wipe out 99.9% of microorganisms.
Aquasana’s whole house water filter is top of the line for almost every important specification. The only flaws apart from the high price are its heavy weight and its slow gallons per minute rate of 7, but the pristine quality of that water will more than make up for it. Finally, the Aquasana Pro has a 3 year warranty and lengthy 90 day satisfaction guarantee.
If you want to leave no stone unturned when it comes to water purity, the Aquasana Pro is the ultimate whole house water filter.
Amazon link: Aquasana 10-Year Whole House Water Filter.
Three – iSpring WGB32B-PB
Not the greatest whole house water filter ever, but one with strong specifications and high trustworthiness.
Firstly, a flaw with this machine is the 5 micron filtration, weaker than our first two machines, but the results speak for themselves. The iSpring WGB32B-PB has been independently lab tested, and is able to remove 95% of chlorine, chloramine, sediment, pesticides, herbicides, rust, industrial solvents, and VOCs. Compare that to if you never managed to install a water filter at all. You’ll have just eliminated a vast swathe of pollution, including potential hormone disruptors and mood suppressors.
This water filter is certified by the Water Quality Association and the NSF, meaning that its components have integrity and are made from materials which won’t pollute the water themselves. The iSpring WGB32B-PB has a 15GPM flow rate, able to provide water for a normal sized household of 4.
There are three stages in this machine, beginning with the 5 micron sediment filter. The second stage is a carbon filter designed to remove chemicals and volatile organic compounds, while the third stage acts against heavy metals like arsenic and lead. Note that there are three variations, with the basic WGB32B being less effective for heavy metals, which is why I specifically recommend the WGB32B-PB.
This whole house water filter has a 1 year money back guarantee, and alongside Home Master, iSpring is the largest and most trustworthy water filter company, with excellent customer service. The main filter lifespan is 100,000 gallons, inferior to Aquasana but still very long.
The filters are another similarity to Home Master, using the standardised big blue filters again, allowing easy replacement with access to many different companies. The iSpring WGB32-PB’s filters are said to last for approximately one year. After installing the WGB32B-PB, you should notice fresher water almost instantly.
Overall, the iSpring WGB32B-PB is a particularly great device for city water due to its speciality in eliminating chlorine and chloramine, as well as the countless other pollutants which factories spew out.
The iSpring WGB32B-PB is another well rounded whole house water filter.
Four – iSpring WGB22B
An alternative to the iSpring WGB32PG. The WGB22 is similar in almost all aspects. Its micron rating is 5, it has a gallons per minute rating of 15, and it has a 1 year money back guarantee.
The WGB22 has a lifetime gallon capacity of 100,000 for both filters. The first filter is identical: a 5 micron polypropylene sediment filter designed to remove dirt and particulates from your water. The differences begin here, however, as this model only features one extra stage, a 5 micron coconut shell carbon filter for lightly filtering the water for chlorine and other chemicals.
The differences are simple: the filter in the WGB32 series makes it far superior for cleansing heavily contaminated water.
iSpring themselves recommends the three stage model for the dirtiest city water, saying that for water that is blatantly chlorinated or known to be rich in heavy metals, the WGB32 series is optimal. iSpring says that the WGB22B is optimal for standard municipal water supplies which are only lightly contaminated.
Actually, some people think that the average tap water supply is much more contaminated than official bodies think, since daily safety limits for some chemicals are often too relaxed, but the point is that iSpring states themselves that this model is weaker. If you’re 100% sure that your water is only lightly contaminated, the iSpring WGB22B is a good brand.
Perhaps you live in a valley far away from factories and cities; perhaps you live on a tropical island where the only threat is rain clouds that have travelled for thousands of miles. Perhaps you have the best rated water supply in the country, but are still suspicious. Either way, the WGB22 is a well built and trustworthy machine.
Five – Express Water Filter
Another top quality whole house water filter. All the basic requirements are in order, with a micron rating of 5 and a strong gallons per minute rate of 15, sufficient to supply a thirsty household of four people.
A particularly great feature of Express Water is that the first filter stage has transparent housing, allowing you to easily check when the sand, dirt and grime is building up and the filter needs replacing. Express Water is another machine with a 100,000 gallon lifetime capacity, the standard for this article.
As for the filters, the materials are expertly thought out. Stage 1 contains the familiar sediment filter, using a thermally bonded propypolene microfiber wall which is independently laboratory tasted. Stage 2 is a combination of catalytic carbon and a special kinetic degradation fluxion (KDF) filter, the latter being designed to trap heavy metals like arsenic and lead, and to obliterate bacteria, algae and fungi. Stage 3 is a 5 micron carbon block filter made from coconut shell fibers, which targets chlorine and volatile organic chemicals (VOCs).
The end result is that Express Water is effective at reducing a variety of contaminants including VCOs, chlorine, pesticides and insecticides. Any chemical trying to flow through this machine has made a fatal mistake.
The Express Water whole house water filter is also tested against a water purification standard called the NSF/ANSI 58. This is an intricate measurement system which tests all sorts of factors: safety of material in contact with water, structural integrity, efficiency rating, and of course, contaminant reduction performance. Essentially, Express Water is proven to work, and proven to contain no toxic chemicals within its own materials, which would be an instant deal breaker.
Express Water comes with many bonus features, including a pressure gauge to help you judge the water pressure. There’s also a red pressure release button to aid you when replacing filter cartridges. Replacement is easy, with simple twist-off housings and drop and go filter design. A free 6 inch filter housing wrench is also included.
A minor downside, meanwhile, is reports of slightly loose inlets and outlets, which you might have to tape up yourself. Last but not least, Express Water has a 1 year warranty.
The good thing about Express Water is that every base is covered: the filter targets heavy metals, chlorine, and pesticides alike.
Express Water’s lower micron rating makes it inferior to Aquasana Pro or the Home Master HMF2SDGC, but it’s a trustworthy and effective machine.
Six – APEX MR-3020
A lesser known whole house water filter, which claims to and probably does eliminate hundreds of different contaminants from your water supply.
The interesting thing about the APEX MR-3020 is its filtration materials. It’s a three stage system, but the second filter features activated alumina, a substance which is particularly effective at removing sodium fluoride. If you’re worried about this supposedly tooth-protecting chemical being added to the water supply, the APEX MR-3020 is perfect.
Joining the alumina is granular activated carbon, both of which filter chlorine, arsenic and other heavy metals down to 1 microns. The first stage is the familiar sediment elimination, banishing dust and grime from your water down to the particle size of 5 microns. Stage 3 also uses special materials, with a coconut shell carbon filter designed to absorb chlorine, chloramine, trihalomethanes, and trichloroethylene. According to APEX, this stage effectively eliminates pesky industrial solvents, herbicides and pesticides.
Compared to iSpring, the APEX MR-3020 has the disadvantage of poorer costumer service according to some, but it has the advantage of 1 micron filtering vs the iSpring’s 5. The gallons per minute rate is 15, decent enough although beaten by other machines. Similarly, the the main filter is effective for about 20,000 gallons of water, making this filter only suitable for smaller homes. The filter replacement time-frames are about standard: 1 year for the sediment filter, and 6-8 months for filters two and three.
The APEX MR-3020 is also NSF approved, guaranteeing its reliability and ability to fulfill the claims it makes. Another requirement for NSF approval is being BPA-free, making it confirmed that the APEX MR-3020 won’t be leaching chemicals into the water. The APEX MR-3020 is also convenient, with the filter cartridges designed for the quickest possible change.
The APEX MR-3020 is a high quality water filter for any type: city water, well water, or countryside water.
Seven – Aqua-Pure AP903
A mixed bag of a machine. So far in this article, the highest gallons per minute rate we’ve reviewed has been 15, but the Aqua Pure AP903 has a rate of 20. This will keep the water pressure low and the flow rate high, allowing this device to supply a slightly larger household than others.
Another advantage is that the Aqua-Pure AP903 requires only one filter change per year. The filters are easy to replace too, taking around five minutes by twisting the old filters off and twisting the new ones in. For a smaller machine, Aqua Pure has a decent lifespan of 100,000 gallons, matching Home Master and iSpring.
A problem, however, is that the Aqua Pure AP903 contains only 1 stage, compared to 2 or 3 for the other devices we’ve reviewed so far. It won’t be as ruthless as Home Master or Aquasana at filtering out contaminants, and what’s more, the filter will get clogged more easily. The company actually recommends using a prefilter before the water flows into the machine, which will waste time compared to the all-in-one style of iSpring models.
According to the company, this water filter is designed to filter chlorine, sediment, and odours. There’s no mention of heavy metals anywhere, nor fluoride or pesticides, and that’s why Aqua Pure is inferior for a diehard water purity enthusiast.
For those reasons, the Aqua Pure AP903 is ideal as a significantly cheaper whole house water filter.
Bonus – the advantages and disadvantages of spring water
If you don’t like the idea of filtering your whole house’s water, or are mistrustful of the machines, then spring water is another possible alternative.
Firstly, spring water is very different to mineral water. Mineral water has legal requirements for the amount of total dissolved solids (TDS), 250 parts per million, to guarantee that the bottle lives up to its name. Mineral water can also flow both over rocks and in underground rock systems.
Spring water, meanwhile, spends most of its life under the rocks. It begins when rainfall soaks into the soil and percolates down into rock layers, passing through countless interconnected pore spaces. Eventually, the water reaches a layer of rock which is impenetrable, and begins its journey through inaccessible subterranean passages to the spring source.
A sub-type is thermal spring water, defined as spring water with a higher temperature than the surrounding rock. Thermal spring water is found in volcanic regions like Iceland; the water is heated by passing close to underground magma on its journey to the surface.
Proper spring water companies select springs with proper rock types, like sandstone and limestone, to guarantee the correct mineral profile. The result? Spring water is rich in minerals like magnesium, calcium and potassium, transported from deep, dark caves right to your bottle. Both spring and mineral water can actually supply a sizeable amount of your dietary mineral requirement, and not just feeble traces; if you’re on a restricted diet like many acne patients, such water is an amazing secret.
But just as important is the cleanliness. Spring water may live its life entirely underground, but it’s still possible for humans to contaminate it.
Just as water percolates through rock, so too can chemicals. If you read the term spring water, you probably imagine clean, pristine sparkling water flowing through green valleys, maybe with happy cows on either side. However, the reality is that if spring water flows through mountains near polluted cities, it will still be full of pollution, since it will have evaporated from the factories and landfill sites. Another problem is heavy metals such as arsenic, a big problem in Texas and arid climates.
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On the other hand, spring water is undeniably less exposed to pollutants and the rocks can even remove impurities in the water. The key is therefore to research the spring location listed on the bottle. If the water is from a remote mountain source then it’s much more likely to be clean.
The good thing (or bad thing if you can sense a business opportunity) is that spring water is a term that can’t be abused too easily. The FDA, who regulates bottled water, with the EPA regulating tap water, has some strict conditions. Spring water must be “collected only at the spring or through a bore hole tapping the underground formation feeding the spring“, and “the location of the spring shall be identified“. Finally, only water that “flows naturally to the surface of the earth may be “spring water”“.
Basically, you can’t dig your way down in a manic pursuit of profit, and you can’t mix in poorer quality water.
A few accusations have been thrown around, as in 2017, Nestle was hit with a lawsuit with allegations that their “Polish spring water” bottles actually contained a mere 30% spring water. It was argued that the hailed “Polish spring” had actually dried up over 50 years ago, and that the remaining 70% consisted of groundwater from Fryeburg, Maine, the exact same source which supplied the town’s tap water. However, later inspections revealed that all of the water came from spring sources in Maine after all, and the lawsuit was thrown out in May 2018.
The good thing is that the mere existence of this case will deter other companies from trying these tricks for real. If a giant like Nestle can be sued and forced to defend themselves, then smaller producers will probably watch their step. The UK has similarly strict laws to the USA as well, forbidding dilution and requiring companies to the name the exact spring.
The good news is that if you want to, you can bypass the water companies completely: you can use this website, findaspring.com, to bottle your own water directly at the source.
Findaspring.com is a website devoted to natural springs; they have an extremely interesting worldwide map illustrating springs in countless countries. The map is nowhere near complete, but if you’re lucky, there could be a spring twenty minutes from your house.
If you hate the fact that city tap water is so unpredictable, much more so than toothpaste where you at least know your enemy, the feared sodium fluoride, you can make a weekly trek to a spring site, bringing 20 large glass bottles of water to fill for a weekly supply. Once again though, if your chosen spring is right next to a polluted city where the sky has a weird purple tinge, your pilgrimage will be pointless.
As long as the spring is known and therefore safe to drink from, and not on the edge of a crumbling cliff, nothing can go wrong. The more remote the spring, and the less agricultural land surrounds it, the better.
Overall, spring water is another option for skin-friendly water, but the words “spring water” don’t guarantee a clean drink.
The secrets of bottled water
On the other hand, your average bottled water product in a supermarket is diabolical. Why? In short, three words: repackaged tap water.
As of 2009, almost half of bottled water sold was the same water you’d drink by turning on your household tap. In fact, from 2000 to 2009, the percentage of bottled water containing tap water grew from 32.7% to 47.8%. Most people buy bottled water to 1) transport water on journeys or keep on their desk at work, or 2) to avoid the widely reported contamination of tap water, but it’s probably no different.
Not only are you not obtaining health benefits, but you’re actually wasting money. By some estimations, bottled water can cost 1900 times more than turning on your own tap.
Bottled water is also less closely regulated than tap water. The EPA requires water companies to test for contaminants daily, sometimes multiple times daily, depending on location, but the FDA requires bottled water companies to perform tests only once per week.
For certain villains, companies only have to test yearly. People in places with water fluoridation might start buying bottled water after hearing about the dangers of fluoride, but for nearly 50% of bottled water products, there’s no chance of eliminating it.
Merely being stored in plastic is a problem: a plastic bottled shipped by a warm lorry and stored in a supermarket will inevitably contain chemicals leached from the plastic, specifically phthalates. Common bottles made from polyethylene terephthalate (PET) leach this villain.
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Just recently, in April 2018, figures were released showing that over 90% of plastic bottled water contained microplastic particles, causing the World Health Organisation to awaken from its slumber and declare war. 259 bottles were tested; just 17 were free from microplastics. The bottled water tested contained an average of 325 pieces of microplastic per liter.
The worst bottle of all was a Nestle Pure Life bottle, which contained a staggering 10,390 particles per liter. Nestle Pure Life was also the most contaminated brand overall.
These microplastics are so tiny that they’re invisible to the human eye. To detect them, the scientists had to fill the water with a special dye that binds to plastic, and view them using blue light, infrared technology and special orange glasses.
Do you like hormone disruption, antioxidant depletion, and damage to neurons? Yes, you say? Then bottled water is for you.
Microplastic contamination can occur even with high quality spring water. The solution? Buy glass bottles. They’re much more expensive, but if you decide to drink mineral water or spring water for your health, it’s always going to be an investment.
Another reason to avoid bottled water is the environmental problems: a coating of plastic the size of Texas now covers the floor of the Pacific ocean. Apparently, 1500 plastic bottles are thrown away per second. The US throws away 50 billion plastic bottles every year and most are never recycled. Avoid bottled water and the dolphins will thank you.
Glass bottles are top quality (and you’ll tell by the taste), but an osmosis or whole house water filter is the best investment around for endless streams of clean water.
Remember: never let a picture of a lagoon or a tropical oasis fool you! Don’t let the company’s art and design department suck you in.
The best and worst states for tap water
Whether you need a whole house water filter also depends on luck. Different states have different laws about tap water, and differing enthusiasm about enforcing those laws.
Environmental factors can also affect contaminant levels, as can economic ones, like whether the state is heavily dependent on crops where pesticides are abused.
According to a Natural Resources Defense Council survey conducted in 2015, the single worst US state for tap water quality is Texas. The survey was grim, discovering that a colossal 43.9% of Texas residents received tap water which was inferior to national quality requirements.
In 2015 alone, there were nearly 14,000 violations of the Safe Drinking Water Act across the state. Some Texans have even been asked by local water providers to boil their water before drinking it.
One reason is groundwater sources which are naturally rich in the heavy metal arsenic, but another is that the state’s official regulators have been slow to change, for some mysterious reason.
Houston’s water is particularly funky, being the third worst city in the country according to one survey, exceeding the legal limits for arsenic, lead, benzene, and chloroform, which is a byproduct of chlorine.
Ranking in second position is Florida, where arsenic and lead contamination is high. Florida’s figures were 1653 total violations in 2015, with 37.2% of people having drinking water which missed the requirements.
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The worst city is Jacksonville, where arsenic and lead are plentiful, and the most commonly detected contaminants were trihalomethanes, cancer-causing by-products of the chemicals used to disinfect water. Jacksonville’s agricultural economy also means that pesticides and artificial fertilisers flood into the water.
Then there’s state number three, which is Pennsylvania. Like Florida and Texas, Pennsylvania will have pockets where the water is squeaky clean, but in 2015, there were 7643 violations overall and 44.1% of residents lived in areas with those violations.
The pollution capital here is Pittsburgh; drink from a tap and you will ingest lead, which has blasted through the 15ppm safety threshold since 2016 and achieved 22ppm. Construction crews are ripping up the old lead pipes on an ongoing basis, but progress is slow.
Across the whole of Pennsylvania though, over 90% of corn crops are sprayed with the toxic pesticide atrazine, which too has been detected in drinking water. The atrazine levels have frequently been declared to be “too low” to cause harm, but that’s another issue itself: there’s a huge debate about whether the safety limits for countless different pesticides are too high. 22% of private wells in corn growing regions of Pennsylvania contain atrazine; the percentage in tap water is almost certainly higher.
Fourth and fifth on the list are New Jersey and Georgia. The former’s 2015 figures for violation numbers and people living in areas with violations were 1062 and 50.1% respectively, while Georgia achieved 1870 and 37.7%.
Then we have the next 5 on the list: Puerto Rico, Washington, Ohio, California and Arizona. If you live in any of these states, there’s a chance that your water is fairly clean, so conduct some careful research, but you need to be on the alert and prepared to take action.
Proof that your tap water was contaminated will be revealed when you wake up one day with a glowing skin tone, a few weeks after installing your whole house water filter.
Denmark – the best in the world
While there’s big debate over which country has the greatest water ever, one name which frequently appears is Denmark.
Denmark used to have terrible tap water, in the 1960s when businesses could pollute the landscape to their heart’s content, but since then, factories have been forced to clean up. In 1999, Denmark began mapping the country’s entire groundwater reserves, discovering precisely which areas they needed to keep pollution free.
Danish water companies are very savvy, striking deals with nearby farmers to reduce chemical usage in the farms surrounding the groundwater reserves, doing this on a careful case by case basis. The government is actually compensating these farmers if they end up using yields, in a determined attempt to create the world’s cleanest water. Some Danish water companies even plant trees directly above groundwater sites, to purify the water which percolates below.
Importantly, Denmark has never added the chemical sodium fluoride to their water supply.
Danish tap water is so clean that there’s no need to use disinfectants like chlorine, chemicals which result in toxic trihalomethane formation. The Danish aren’t getting lazy and resting on their laurels either, as in 2017, the country’s Environmental Protection Agency developed a system for detecting microplastics in drinking water.
Consequently, according to the government, Danish tap water is superior to Danish bottled water.
Perhaps the biggest problem is pesticide contamination: desphenylchloridazone is a by-product of the pesticide chloridazone, which was banned in 1996 precisely because of fears that it contaminated ground water sites. However, chloridazone is a persistent chemical. Consequently, one study found that 1 in 10 of Denmark’s wells are contaminated with pesticides and in 26.3% of those cases, desphenylchloridazone was detected.
Additionally, many towns still have old lead piping, and can’t afford to upgrade. Both problems clearly show that even the cleanest tap water in the world still has problems.
It’s commonly claimed that Switzerland has the world’s best tap water as well, and it benefits from being over 50% mountainous, giving water plenty of space to flow and evaporate from without pollution. Switzerland is one of the few countries where the endlessly reused bottle stereotype of green trees, snow capped mountains and pristine rivers is actually true. Switzerland also outlawed the usage of lead water piping over century ago, in 1914, and countless different pesticides have been remorselessly banned.
Nevertheless, a study still found that 20% of Swiss drinking water had pesticides levels above safety limits. Atrazine and its by-product desethylatrazine were particularly high, despite being banned in 2012; just like chloridazone in Denmark, atrazine is a persistent chemical and remains in soil which then leaches into groundwater.
Apparently, the most toxic water in Switzerland comes in areas of intensive agricultural and urban development, meaning that the tap water in a forested side valley is probably safe. 60% of underground water zones are designated as protected areas and those that aren’t protected performed badly, but 60% cleanliness is still a healthy figure.
Other countries with the world’s cleanest tap water include Norway, Sweden, New Zealand and Austria.
But remember: never underestimate regional variation! It could be your downfall. For example, in the water pesticide study, wells in southern Denmark were significantly more contaminated. Also, being in Europe doesn’t guarantee anything; Ukrainian tap water is full of soviet sludge.
The menace of atrazine
Atrazine is a herbicide, a manmade chemical which doesn’t appear naturally, first registered in 1958 for usage on corn and sorghum crops.
Billions of pounds of atrazine are sprayed on American crops every year, and 75% of all US corn crops are sprayed with it. As such, the most heavily sprayed region is the so called corn belt, the upper mid west. Atrazine was banned in the EU in 2005, and earlier in countries like Austria and France, but its popularity is rising and rising in the USA…
…and consequently, atrazine is the single most common pesticide in US drinking water.
After being sprayed onto fields, the chemical spreads in runoff into lakes, rivers, deep water reserves, and eventually the pipes that feed tap water. Atrazine is so common that drinking water levels are set just like for arsenic and lead, at 5 parts per billion in Canada and 3ppb in the USA.
In 2003, the EPA actually started monitoring atrazine levels in groundwater sources, but tasked the chemical’s manufacturer Sygenta to do it. In 2012, Sygenta (the world’s largest agrochemical company) was ordered to pay 105 million dollars to fund the removal of atrazine from 1000 municipal water systems. Since then, over 1085 water-related claims have been filed against Sygenta.
Part of the problem is the persistence: atrazine has a long half life of 60-100 days; the reason for this massive variation is that atrazine is broken down by soil microbes, which vary by location.
The real killer is the byproducts, like Deethyl-atrazine (DEA) and Deisopropyl-atrazine (DIA), which persist for years. According to the World Health Organisation, atrazine persists for far longer after percolating down into ground water compared to in fields or surface level runoff.
What are the effects of this? There’s endless studies on atrazine: it’s known to damage neurons, feminise male frogs, and lower men’s testosterone levels. However, one study specifically examined women whose tap water contained atrazine.
Farmland women in Illinois were compared to farmland women in Vermont, with the former’s water containing twice as much atrazine. The Illoinis women were six times more likely to have irregular menstrual cycles, and had lower estrogen levels during a crucial period of their monthly cycle.
Interestingly, women whose tap water contained less than the EPA’s daily acceptable intake of 3ppb weren’t safe at all, still experiencing increased menstrual problems.
In fact, this study was actually documented during a 2005 drought when reduced field runoff meant that atrazine levels in water were lower than usual. Keep this example of a flawed guideline in mind when you read about other pesticides too, like pesticides in coffee beans.
Then there’s another tap water focussed study, where high atrazine levels were concentrated with higher rates of breast cancer in Kentucky. There was a “statistically significant increase” in both medium and high atrazine water.
A study on Kentucky wells and springs found that approximately one third of sites were contaminated with atrazine. Levels were below the EPA’s limit, but again, that limit is flawed. 8 out of 149 springs tested actually exceeded the safety limit; 75 of those springs contained detectable atrazine.
Going back to spring water, this study again proves that spring water isn’t as clean and pristine as its reputation suggests, and that a reverse osmosis or whole house water filter might be the way forward.
Atrazine is yet another reason to take your water purity seriously.
Conclusion
Despite the endless different intricacies of obtaining the purest water, our conclusion is fairly simple: mineral water won’t save you, bottled water definitely won’t save you, and spring water won’t save you unless you research the source carefully.
If you’re committed to clean water and acquiring the next level of health and vitality, then some sort of household water filter is the smartest and most cunning choice you could make.
Personally, I would recommend a reverse osmosis water filter, given its ruthless filtering of 0.001 microns which even the Aquasana Pro can’t match. I would then make sure that you obtain all of your drinking water from that one tap.
However, if your water is confirmed to be only lightly contaminated, by reports which you can analyse for yourself, a whole house water filter like the Home Master HMF2SMGCC might be effective enough, particularly given its strong 95% elimination rate. Remember that living in a rural area isn’t a shield, because of heavy pesticide and herbicide abuse, or even heavy pesticide abuse from years gone by (see atrazine).
If your water is heavily chlorinated, that’s another great reason to buy a whole house water filter, because you don’t want to be showering in chlorine and all of its disinfectant byproducts like trihalomethanes.
Regardless of which filter you choose, you’ll always be one step ahead of anybody who just turns on their tap and drinks, without any idea of what’s entering their body.
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