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Three Things That Work, and One Sentence That Complicates It
This is the one place on the site where the most important fact is a limitation, and it comes from EPA rather than from us.
The takeaway
EPA states that granular activated carbon, ion exchange and reverse osmosis point-of-use systems can greatly reduce PFAS, under NSF/ANSI 53 for point-of-use and NSF/ANSI 58 for reverse osmosis. It also states that current certification standards do not yet indicate a filter will remove PFAS to the levels EPA has now set.
Source: U.S. EPA, Identifying Drinking Water Filters Certified to Reduce PFAS.
The technologies EPA names
Granular activated carbon, which traps material as water passes through a porous medium. Ion exchange resin, which uses beads that attract and hold it. And reverse osmosis, which forces water through a barrier in multiple stages.
EPA states that the GAC, IX and RO point-of-use systems studied can greatly reduce PFAS levels.
Source: U.S. EPA, Identifying Drinking Water Filters Certified to Reduce PFAS.
The standards that apply
NSF/ANSI 53 for point-of-use systems claiming PFAS reduction, and NSF/ANSI 58 for reverse osmosis systems.
Both are different from the certification you would look for on a lead claim, which is the whole point of reading the mark rather than the category.
The caveat, in EPA’s own words
EPA says that current certification standards do not yet indicate that a filter will remove PFAS down to the levels EPA has now set for a drinking water standard, and that it is working to update certifications to match the new requirements.
So a certified product is evidence of tested reduction against the standard as it stands. It is not, today, evidence of reduction to the new regulatory level. Anybody telling you otherwise is ahead of the agency.
And the maintenance sentence
EPA is explicit: filters are only effective if they are maintained according to the manufacturer’s instructions for how long the filter or membrane will last before it needs replacing.
On this particular class of contaminant that is not a detail. A medium that has reached its capacity is not a partly working filter. What that means in a kitchen.
What we are not going to add
A view on whether you should be concerned, a threshold to compare your own report against, or a product. The first is a matter for you and your water system, the second changes and is published by EPA rather than by us, and the third is not a thing we sell or recommend.
Read your report before you buy anything.It is published about your own system, it costs nothing, and it is the only thing that turns “I want a filter” into a question with an answer. If you do want something installed after that, we will route you to a contractor covering your area, matched on your ZIP code — you are never charged. Filtration is only our subject — every sort of plumbing job can be routed from here.
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