Water filtration? Advice on next steps
May 15, 2021 11:34 AM Subscribe
I received the test results for a water sample from my home, and don't know if I should be concerned, and what my next steps should be.
If it matters, I am in Michigan, and on a municipal water system (not well water). Single family residence.
After the water in my house started to intermittently have a smell, I used an at-home test from SimpleLab Tap Score to determine, what might be in my drinking water. The results revealed these to be most notable contaminants: Lead (0.008 PPM); Bromodichloromethane (2.44 PPB); Nickel (0.02 PPM).
I don’t know how worried I should be and I’m feeling a little paralyzed in terms of what my next steps should be. Based on the results, I had a consultation for a water conditioning system. The rep stated a whole house system was $1500 and about $325 annually to replace the cartridges the system uses. (I’m not sure if that’s a fair price or not.) When I showed the rep the results from the Tap Score test, he was nonplussed, and said I shouldn’t be worried, health-wise, and that the results for these types of tests can show more elevated levels than what is actually present. Although a professional, I guess I just wanted a second opinion and help determining next steps.
My questions:
What should be my next steps?
Should I get another test done through the state lab? There’s a lot of information here, but I’ll admit to feeling a bit overwhelmed when I started looking through it.
What do those levels really mean in terms of health effects on the human body?
Would a water filtration or conditioning system rid or neutralize all the things in the sample’s test results (Lead, Bromodichloromethane, and Nickel)?
Is there a big difference between having a system installed by a professional or buying a DIY? (Money is not really an issue for this.)
Should replacing the house's plumbing be a consideration? (I was already considering moving within the next two years, but again, I don't want to put a price on protecting my health.)
Sorry for all the questions. Just feeling uneasy about this whole situation. Thanks for any advice/perspectives.
If it matters, I am in Michigan, and on a municipal water system (not well water). Single family residence.
After the water in my house started to intermittently have a smell, I used an at-home test from SimpleLab Tap Score to determine, what might be in my drinking water. The results revealed these to be most notable contaminants: Lead (0.008 PPM); Bromodichloromethane (2.44 PPB); Nickel (0.02 PPM).
I don’t know how worried I should be and I’m feeling a little paralyzed in terms of what my next steps should be. Based on the results, I had a consultation for a water conditioning system. The rep stated a whole house system was $1500 and about $325 annually to replace the cartridges the system uses. (I’m not sure if that’s a fair price or not.) When I showed the rep the results from the Tap Score test, he was nonplussed, and said I shouldn’t be worried, health-wise, and that the results for these types of tests can show more elevated levels than what is actually present. Although a professional, I guess I just wanted a second opinion and help determining next steps.
My questions:
What should be my next steps?
Should I get another test done through the state lab? There’s a lot of information here, but I’ll admit to feeling a bit overwhelmed when I started looking through it.
What do those levels really mean in terms of health effects on the human body?
Would a water filtration or conditioning system rid or neutralize all the things in the sample’s test results (Lead, Bromodichloromethane, and Nickel)?
Is there a big difference between having a system installed by a professional or buying a DIY? (Money is not really an issue for this.)
Should replacing the house's plumbing be a consideration? (I was already considering moving within the next two years, but again, I don't want to put a price on protecting my health.)
Sorry for all the questions. Just feeling uneasy about this whole situation. Thanks for any advice/perspectives.
The EPA drinking water standards are 0.015 ppm for lead and 0 ppm for bromodichloromethane. There is no current standard for nickel. The previous standard, remanded in 1995, was 0.1 ppm.
So it seems like only the bromodichlormethane is potentially a problem. It is a common byproduct of the chlorination of water as part of drinking water treatment. From the CDC:
posted by hydropsyche at 2:29 PM on May 15, 2021
So it seems like only the bromodichlormethane is potentially a problem. It is a common byproduct of the chlorination of water as part of drinking water treatment. From the CDC:
How can I protect myself and my family from bromodichloromethane?To me, this doesn't sound like something that would be worth spending thousands of dollars for a household water treatment system. I agree with metasarah that if you are still concerned your first step should be to contact your drinking water source about these results. They are required to report their monitoring of their water quality to the public, so you should be able to find those reports from your municipality or other water supplies.
Most people don’t need to take any special steps to avoid bromodichloromethane in their daily lives.
If you know that there is a high level in your water, you can take shorter baths or showers. Whenever possible, you can also open bathroom windows or use ventilation fans while bathing. Installing commercially available filter systems at home can also reduce exposures to bromodichloromethane from tap water.
posted by hydropsyche at 2:29 PM on May 15, 2021
the units can be confusing so:
Lead (0.008 PPM) is 8 ppb is 8 ug/L
EPA requires action at 15 ppb lead.
world standards are:
European Union: value limit of 0.01 mg/L or 10 ppb
Australia: guideline value of 0.01 mg/L or 10 ppb
United States: treatment-based action level of 0.015 mg/L or 15 ppb
World Health Organization: drinking water guideline value of 0.01 mg/L or 10 ppb
Canada has changed to 0.005 mg/L, or 5 ppb
Ideally it would be zero but I don't know if that's even possible.
you can mitigate the lead by letting water run for a minute before drinking.
shower,washing does not matter
Babies ,young children especially under 2 are more at risk, so bottled water for formula or for pregnant people.
---
Bromodichloromethane is 2.44 PPB
From Health Canada source from 2006:
"a separate guideline for BDCM is also deemed necessary.
The guideline for bromodichloromethane in drinking water is established at a maximum acceptable concentration of 0.016 mg/L. or 16 ppb."
It's a 67 page pdf on page 2
posted by yyz at 3:03 PM on May 15, 2021 [3 favorites]
Lead (0.008 PPM) is 8 ppb is 8 ug/L
EPA requires action at 15 ppb lead.
world standards are:
European Union: value limit of 0.01 mg/L or 10 ppb
Australia: guideline value of 0.01 mg/L or 10 ppb
United States: treatment-based action level of 0.015 mg/L or 15 ppb
World Health Organization: drinking water guideline value of 0.01 mg/L or 10 ppb
Canada has changed to 0.005 mg/L, or 5 ppb
Ideally it would be zero but I don't know if that's even possible.
you can mitigate the lead by letting water run for a minute before drinking.
shower,washing does not matter
Babies ,young children especially under 2 are more at risk, so bottled water for formula or for pregnant people.
---
Bromodichloromethane is 2.44 PPB
From Health Canada source from 2006:
"a separate guideline for BDCM is also deemed necessary.
The guideline for bromodichloromethane in drinking water is established at a maximum acceptable concentration of 0.016 mg/L. or 16 ppb."
It's a 67 page pdf on page 2
posted by yyz at 3:03 PM on May 15, 2021 [3 favorites]
If you convert the parts per billion number you got for bromodichloromethane to parts per million, you get 0.00244. Which isn’t nothing, but it’s pretty close to 0. I don’t think you need to be concerned.
posted by MadamM at 3:03 PM on May 15, 2021
posted by MadamM at 3:03 PM on May 15, 2021
Assuming that the folks above are correct about your water being safe to drink, if the smell still bothers you it might be worth investing a few bucks in a counter-top filter like this one. My city has good water - I have no idea about the state of my apartment's pipes - but I prefer the taste of the filtered water and it never smells like chlorine or anything else. I change the filter whenever it starts to take longer for the water to get through to the lower chamber even though I've never gotten anywhere near a non-zero reading on the included tester. A filter lasts me months; YMMV of course.
posted by Greg_Ace at 4:22 PM on May 15, 2021
posted by Greg_Ace at 4:22 PM on May 15, 2021
Instead of doing the whole house, you can just do the sinks used primarily for ingestion-adjacent-activities (probably all your sinks?). Incidental water consumption from the other fixtures would likely pose no statistical problem at all. Unless you’ve got like 30 sinks, doing just the under-counter filtration should cost waaaaaay less to install or maintain than what you’ve been quoted. This kind of addition is something a B- home repair human should be able to do with help from YouTube and probably, four trips to the hardware store total (if we’re being realistic). It’s not the easier home improvement job, but it’s very doable in an afternoon (being mostly hooking hoses up to other parts. This would being the price down drastically.
posted by furnace.heart at 9:46 PM on May 15, 2021
posted by furnace.heart at 9:46 PM on May 15, 2021
Yeah came to say we have a countertop dispensing reverse osmosis system (filters and lines come up from the basement). We use it only for water that’s going in our bodies (or into some plants that absolutely love RO water!). The water comes out basically distilled-equivalent. Nothing is detectable. It smells and tastes perfectly neutral. It is close to neutral PH. This despite our well water being very hard and very alkaline. The rest of the water (as does the feed to the RO system) passes through a Culligan whole house filter I change every two months that gets most of the metal, and a softener unit.
I think equivalent systems can be had for $300-$1000 depending on the amount of filtered water you want to produce. Installation is probably a few hundred if you aren’t handy with basic plumbing (it is very basic, and you can put them under a sink too, but you do have to tap the main water line and add a valve). I spend maybe $100 a year on filters for it — the main filter unit is like $50 and lasts a year. The other 3 are cotton prefilters that I change every 6 months).
I’ve had the RO water tested. It’s as pure as possible. I love this thing and will be replacing it with one that can process more than the 7-9 gallons or so a day or currently filters, but only because I’m a serious gardener and RO water is ideal for some garden purposes (seedlings, hydroponics).
It is very water inefficient, however. If you have a productive well you won’t care. But if you pay for water or live in drought country you might.
RO filtration supposedly works well for lead. I’d sure want as close to zero lead in what I drink, EPA limits or not.
posted by spitbull at 9:13 AM on May 16, 2021
I think equivalent systems can be had for $300-$1000 depending on the amount of filtered water you want to produce. Installation is probably a few hundred if you aren’t handy with basic plumbing (it is very basic, and you can put them under a sink too, but you do have to tap the main water line and add a valve). I spend maybe $100 a year on filters for it — the main filter unit is like $50 and lasts a year. The other 3 are cotton prefilters that I change every 6 months).
I’ve had the RO water tested. It’s as pure as possible. I love this thing and will be replacing it with one that can process more than the 7-9 gallons or so a day or currently filters, but only because I’m a serious gardener and RO water is ideal for some garden purposes (seedlings, hydroponics).
It is very water inefficient, however. If you have a productive well you won’t care. But if you pay for water or live in drought country you might.
RO filtration supposedly works well for lead. I’d sure want as close to zero lead in what I drink, EPA limits or not.
posted by spitbull at 9:13 AM on May 16, 2021
Here's a link to Mi Lead Safe, a Michican Government site with a link to info and resources.
One resource is link to this Pur faucet Filter to remove lead. Only lasts 3 months but you can install it yourself and it costs $35.
A bit of reassurance and buys some time.
Michigan also has a water testing lab. It charges $18 to test for lead.
You can order a half dozen water sample collection bottles from them and run multiple tests at various times . Give them a call and explain what you want.
My city has free testing and various subsidies available
. You might want to check with your town or city for something similar.
posted by yyz at 3:38 PM on May 16, 2021
One resource is link to this Pur faucet Filter to remove lead. Only lasts 3 months but you can install it yourself and it costs $35.
A bit of reassurance and buys some time.
Michigan also has a water testing lab. It charges $18 to test for lead.
You can order a half dozen water sample collection bottles from them and run multiple tests at various times . Give them a call and explain what you want.
My city has free testing and various subsidies available
. You might want to check with your town or city for something similar.
posted by yyz at 3:38 PM on May 16, 2021
Response by poster: Thank you for all the responses.
In the last several years, I've had several close family members diagnosed with and die from cancer. Also, the poisoning of the community of Flint, MI also hits close to home. Reviewing the results of the test and reading Lead and Bromodichloromethane surely caused my anxiety to spike, probably irrationally. I'll take the suggestions here under advisement and try to calm down.
posted by Apropos a pro's pose at 6:27 PM on May 16, 2021
In the last several years, I've had several close family members diagnosed with and die from cancer. Also, the poisoning of the community of Flint, MI also hits close to home. Reviewing the results of the test and reading Lead and Bromodichloromethane surely caused my anxiety to spike, probably irrationally. I'll take the suggestions here under advisement and try to calm down.
posted by Apropos a pro's pose at 6:27 PM on May 16, 2021
I am a drinking water scientist and here's my 2 cents.
All the of the results you shared are below the EPA limits (for the regulated ones) and look "normal" for drinking water. No one wants to see lead, of course, but 8 ppb is low and would only concern me if I had children in the house. The bromodichloromethane result (part of a group called trihalomethanes or THMs) is also low. If you still have lingering concerns, I would get a tap filter or pitcher filter that is rated for lead and THMs (trihalomethanes).
The only red flag that I see about this data is where it came from. I admit that I am not familiar with the testing company you used, but I work at a certified drinking water lab. There are very specific instructions for collecting and handling samples. For example, your lead results will vary according to when/how you take the sample. The proper way to test is to let the water sit in your pipes for 6+ hours. Then you pull a sample (without flushing the tap) and continue to take samples at intervals to determine where in your line the lead is. For THMs, the samples must be taken in special containers with preservatives and no headspace (air in container). The samples should be held on ice or put in a refrigerator until analyzed. I could go on and on. Like I said, I don't know the specifics of the company you used, but in general, companies that claim to test a list of analytes from one small bottle are questionable IMHO.
Instead of wondering about the numbers you got, I would call your water provider. Most utilities offer free testing (maybe not everything, but some testing) and they can offer specific help. You should also be receiving a Consumer Confidence Report (CCR) every year by mail or viewable on the water company's website. The CCR will include data on all the regulated parameters that were detected in that year or monitoring period. Lead and THMs will be included.
As far as the smell, what kind of smell are you experiencing? Is it from the cold water or hot water? Do the smell persist? Fill up a clean glass, take the water to another room away from the tap, and smell the water there. Does it still smell? Do you only smell it at one tap or the whole house?
I know this is a lot to digest, but I'm happy to answer any follow questions you have.
posted by jraz at 7:30 PM on May 16, 2021 [6 favorites]
All the of the results you shared are below the EPA limits (for the regulated ones) and look "normal" for drinking water. No one wants to see lead, of course, but 8 ppb is low and would only concern me if I had children in the house. The bromodichloromethane result (part of a group called trihalomethanes or THMs) is also low. If you still have lingering concerns, I would get a tap filter or pitcher filter that is rated for lead and THMs (trihalomethanes).
The only red flag that I see about this data is where it came from. I admit that I am not familiar with the testing company you used, but I work at a certified drinking water lab. There are very specific instructions for collecting and handling samples. For example, your lead results will vary according to when/how you take the sample. The proper way to test is to let the water sit in your pipes for 6+ hours. Then you pull a sample (without flushing the tap) and continue to take samples at intervals to determine where in your line the lead is. For THMs, the samples must be taken in special containers with preservatives and no headspace (air in container). The samples should be held on ice or put in a refrigerator until analyzed. I could go on and on. Like I said, I don't know the specifics of the company you used, but in general, companies that claim to test a list of analytes from one small bottle are questionable IMHO.
Instead of wondering about the numbers you got, I would call your water provider. Most utilities offer free testing (maybe not everything, but some testing) and they can offer specific help. You should also be receiving a Consumer Confidence Report (CCR) every year by mail or viewable on the water company's website. The CCR will include data on all the regulated parameters that were detected in that year or monitoring period. Lead and THMs will be included.
As far as the smell, what kind of smell are you experiencing? Is it from the cold water or hot water? Do the smell persist? Fill up a clean glass, take the water to another room away from the tap, and smell the water there. Does it still smell? Do you only smell it at one tap or the whole house?
I know this is a lot to digest, but I'm happy to answer any follow questions you have.
posted by jraz at 7:30 PM on May 16, 2021 [6 favorites]
This thread is closed to new comments.
If I am misinterpreting these numbers and they ARE out of range, I would start by contacting your water supplier and see what they have to say. They are required to do regular testing, and that will help tell you if it is a source issue or a pipe issue.
(What sort of smell?)
posted by metasarah at 1:49 PM on May 15, 2021 [1 favorite]