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New York's Response To PFAS Contamination

Industrial factory at night
Analies Dyjak @ Tuesday, March 24, 2020 at 11:23 am -0400

Analies Dyjak, M.A.  |  Policy Nerd

Per and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) are a category of emerging contaminants that are known to be harmful to human health. Because they are also unregulated, municipalities are not required to remove them from drinking water. To overcome the federal government's lack of action on PFAS, many states have decided to begin their own regulatory process. In 2016, New York State proposed drinking water regulations for PFOA and PFOS. Is New York doing enough to protect residents from PFAS contamination in drinking water?

Why Are PFAS Such a Big Problem In New York State?

The Environmental Working Group (EWG) mapped out areas of the country that have high PFAS levels in drinking water. The map shows several “hot spots” throughout the entire state of New York. One of the major reasons for this is that New York is home to a conglomerate of industrial practices including materials processing, textile manufacturing, industry and machinery services, that have been associated with PFAS contamination in drinking water.

Active PFAS Lawsuits

In November of 2019, New York State sued multiple PFAS manufacturers and distributors, including 3M, Chemours, Dupont, and others. The suit was brought on by New York State Attorney General Letitia James after state attorneys determined that these companies were discharging these contaminants into the environment despite knowing their toxicity. This is not the first time a state has brought suit over PFAS contamination. Minnesota and Michigan were both involved in huge lawsuits regarding the same type of PFAS contamination.

What About The Other 4,000 Types of PFAS?

The current criticism in the water quality world is that lawmakers are focusing their efforts on only two of the several thousands different types of PFAS. The fear is that chemical manufacturers will be able to make replacement chemicals that operate similar to PFOS and PFOA, and could be just as toxic. This technique has been used by major PFAS manufacturers including 3M, Dupont, Chemours, and others.

For perspective, in 2015, Dupont began producing GenX which they claimed was an alternative to PFOA. In 2018, the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry determined through toxicological data that exposure to GenX could be “suggestive of cancer.”

Our Take:

Any action taken by states to address PFAS contamination in drinking water is a good thing. However, there are numerous limiting factors that prevent states from going “far enough” to make a meaningful impact on public health. In terms of New York State, legal action against powerful companies can take years to resolve. Immediate action should be taken to protect people in PFAS “hot spots” throughout New York.
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Why Most Water Filters Don't Actually Work

Pristine water pouring into cup
Analies Dyjak @ Thursday, March 19, 2020 at 1:09 pm -0400

Analies Dyjak, M.A. & Dr. Eric Roy, PhD

People are often under the assumption that cheaper water filters are “better than nothing,” and opt for a quick and easy solution to a very complicated nationwide problem. We saw this first hand in a recent Duke University/NC State PFAS Study. Whirlpool, Samsung, Berkey, and Aquasana actually put a significant amount of PFAS (which is a probable human carcinogen) back into the filtered water. This article will address why low-end water filters don’t actually work as well as you might think. 

Why Do Most Water Filters Not Work?

The short answer to this is because companies choose to develop products that are easy to market, instead of developing products that actually work. Most consumers incorrectly assume that if the water tastes and smells good, that the filter is also removing harmful chemicals. There are three main reasons why the most commonly used water filters do not remove contaminants like lead, PFAS, and arsenic:

  1. Wrong Active Filtration Media: There are different types of filtration media (e.g. carbon, ceramics, ion exchange) that remove different contaminants. Inexpensive filters that are geared to make water taste better typically just use granular carbon. This does nothing to remove lead, chromium 6, etc.

  2. Wrong Pore Structure: The pore structure of the overall filter is a major factor in how effective the filter is. If the pores are too open (as is the case with pitchers and low-cost systems that use granular media), the water doesn’t have enough contact time with the media, so the contaminants flow through the filter. On top of contact time, the wrong pore structure can lead to “dead end pores” which decreases the contaminant removal capacity and kills flow rate.

  3. Wrong Testing Conditions: Filtration companies often use marketing gimmicks to imply performance against contaminants that actually matter. This includes things like a TDS Meter, “The Red Dye Test,” and not showing performance data throughout the lifetime of the filter. Companies that use these gimmicks often have their performance problems exposed when 3rd party groups actually do the tests correctly. 

How Hydroviv’s Approach is Different: 

Hydroviv is different from other water filter companies because we optimize each system we sell according to the customer’s water quality data. This ensures that the active media blend and pore structure will actually work. This is why Hydroviv filters outperform others against contaminants like PFAS, which are extremely hard to remove.

Our Take: 

Before purchasing a water filter, it’s important to ask for third-party test data under relevant conditions. Ask to see data for the contaminants actually found in your water, and demand to see data that were collected throughout the filter's lifetime, especially for PFAS. Be extremely cautious when companies make claims like “99.99% removal of contaminants,” because they’re only talking about the contaminants that they tested their system against. If you’re curious about what’s in your drinking water, send an email to hello@hydroviv.com and our Water Nerds would be happy to help you out.

Other Articles We Think You Might Enjoy:
PFAS: Everywhere We Look We Find It
5 Problems With Reverse Osmosis Water Filters
How To Filter Chromium 6 From Drinking Water
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Does California Have A Lead Problem In Drinking Water?

California Capitol building with state flag
Analies Dyjak @ Monday, March 16, 2020 at 12:16 pm -0400

Analies Dyjak, M.A.  |  Policy Nerd

With nationwide focus on synthetic contaminants like PFAS, we wanted to address an under-reported problem in California tap water. Lead contamination has been flying under the radar in the years following the Flint, Michigan lead crisis. Although Flint brought attention to lead contamination, it’s still a major nationwide problem, even in 2020. California has older lead-containing infrastructure in all major cities throughout the entire state. To make matters worse, utility companies are only required to test a handful of homes to determine city-wide lead levels. This article highlights California cities with the highest lead concentrations, and how you can remove it from drinking water. 

Where In California Has The Highest Levels of Lead?

Major cities across the entire state of California have lead levels that are well above what health officials claim to be safe. For a bit of context, the current lead levels in Flint, Michigan are 4 parts per billion:

Los Angeles: 5.2 parts per billion 
San Francisco: 6 parts per billion
San Jose: 5 parts per billion
Oakland: 2.4 parts per billion
Irvine: 5 parts per billion

How Much Lead Is Allowed In California Tap Water?

The current “Action Level” for lead in drinking water is 15 parts per billion. Dr. Jennifer Lowry, who is a chair member at the American Academy of Pediatrics says that "most existing lead standards fail to protect children. They provide only an illusion of safety.” People are surprised to learn that any amount of lead is even allowed in tap water. The reality is that lawmakers must weigh the harm to human health with the cost of removing it. 

Is There A “Safe” Level of Lead?

For children, absolutely not. In fact, all major U.S. health agencies agree that there is no safe level of lead for children. The health agencies listed below all agree that any level of lead can cause the following: 

Department of Health and Human Services: decreased intelligence, behavior problems, reduced physical stature and growth, and impaired hearing.
American Academy of Pediatrics: irreversible cognitive and behavioral problems, lower IQ scores and academic performance, inattention, impulsiveness, aggression and hyperactivity.
Environmental Protection Agency: damage to the central and peripheral nervous system, learning disabilities, shorter stature, impaired hearing, and impaired formation and function of blood cells. 
Center for Disease Control: damage to the brain and nervous system, slowed growth and development, learning and behavior problems, and under-performance in school.

Not All Water Filters Remove Lead

It’s important to point out that not all water filters remove lead from drinking water. People are often under the assumption that their pitcher or counter filters take care of “everything” that might be in their drinking water. This is almost never the case. We wrote an in-depth article discussing why some water filters fail to remove lead, which can be found here. Additionally, some mass-produced water filters do not maintain the lead removal capabilities for the entire lifetime of the filter. When purchasing a water filter, make sure to ask for removal data at the beginning and end of the filters lifetime.

Do Hydroviv Water Filters Remove Lead?

Yes! Hydroviv Undersink and Refrigerator Line water filters are NSF certified to remove lead from drinking water.

Other Articles We Think You Might Enjoy:
What Is 123 TCP and Why Is It In California Tap Water?
How Does Lead Enter Drinking Water?
Is The "Erin Brockovich Chemical" Still A Problem In California Drinking Water?
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PFAS: Everywhere We Look, We Find It

US Map on blue background
Analies Dyjak @ Tuesday, March 10, 2020 at 5:03 pm -0400
Our analysts are finding PFAS everywhere we look. It's such a widespread problem that some state and local governments are beginning to allocate considerable resources to try and mitigate exposure. If PFAS data aren't available for your city, it probably means no one has tested for it yet! We wanted to provide information about some of the major PFAS "hot spot" and how to remove it from your drinking water.
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How Did Hydroviv Perform in a Duke PFAS Removal Study?

Magnifying glass in front of flowing water faucet
Analies Dyjak @ Wednesday, February 26, 2020 at 4:36 pm -0500

Analies Dyjak, M.A.  |  Eric Roy, Ph.D.

Duke University and NC State researchers recently published a study that examined the effectiveness of residential water filters against PFAS. We believe that this study is extremely important because PFAS are toxic and unregulated, which means that individuals shoulder the burden to remove them from drinking water. While we were excited to be part of this study, Hydroviv is NOT endorsed in any way by Duke University, NC State, or any of the researchers, nor did we pay any money to be part of the study.

How Effective Were Hydroviv Water Filters in Removing PFAS?

Five Hydroviv filters were tested as part of this study, four of which use currently-available active media blends. For these core formulations, the researchers tested two Under Sink Filters that connect directly to the faucet and two Refrigerator Line filters that connect to the water line that feeds the refrigerator. In all four cases, any water with PFAS present in the unfiltered samples had undetectable (below the Method Detection Limit (<MDL)) levels of PFAS after the water was filtered through a Hydroviv filter (blue text in the table below). The results here are consistent with an earlier test report that looked at PFAS removal rates. We assembled the relevant data from the more recent study for our filters in the table below. 

Duke PFAS Water Filter Study

How Did Other Common Whole House, Pitcher, and Refrigerator Filters Perform?

Unfortunately, some of the most popular pitcher, refrigerator, and whole house filters did not perform well. Alarmingly, some systems by Berkey, Aquasana, Samsung, GE, and Brita, actually had HIGHER PFAS LEVELS in the filtered water than the unfiltered sample, because of over-saturation and low quality filtration media. The red text in the table below shows detectable PFAS levels in water filtered by other major brands.Duke Water Filter Study PFAS

How Did Reverse Osmosis Water Filters Perform?

This study evaluated a number of quality water filters that use reverse osmosis (RO) technology. In each of the RO systems that were tested, any water with PFAS present in the unfiltered sample also had undetectable levels in the filtrate.

If You’re Considering Purchasing a Water Filter That Was Not Part of this Study

The advice we give people looking for a water filter that removes PFAS is to ask the manufacturer for 3rd party test data for PFAS removal (not just PFOA/PFOS) at the beginning and end of the filter’s advertised lifetime. Unfortunately, there are a lot of water filter brands (including filters that performed horribly in this study) that show test data that were conducted when the filter cartridges were fresh, and do not show PFAS test data for the end of the advertised filter life (which they base off chlorine removal). Fortunately, Hydroviv’s Under Sink and Refrigerator Line Filters were tested at month 1 and month 6 as part of this study, as well as the filters that were tested as part of the NC State/CFPUA study several years ago.

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