Testing your water and detecting arsenic is never good news. But rest assured there are reliable steps you can take to protect your health.
Arsenic is a well known human carcinogen that occurs naturally in groundwater. Public water systems are regulated by the US EPA to never exceed 10 parts per billion (ppb) of arsenic concentration, but health research demonstrates that no level of arsenic is safe to drink.
In fact, EPA proposed 5 ppb as a standard in 1996. Levels this low have shown statistically significant impacts on IQ among children, but economic requirements for setting maximum contaminant levels have kept the official threshold higher than levels harmful to health.
If you want to remove arsenic from your tap water, there are a few important things you need to know.
What Is “Total Arsenic”?
Your total arsenic concentration is generally comprised of two common oxidation states (or forms): arsenic III (aka arsenite) and arsenic V (aka arsenate).
In drinking water, we are usually worried about Arsenic V. If you drink water with Arsenic V, however, it is quickly converted to Arsenic III–which is more toxic and bioreactive inside your body.
Does the Source of My Water Make a Difference?
The source of your water makes a difference to the amount of arsenic III versus arsenic V in your water. This matters for choosing appropriate treatment options.
If your water is coming from a community or public water treatment system and that treatment system uses chlorine for disinfection, then you can generally assume that most arsenic in your water is in arsenic V form.
If your drinking water comes from a groundwater well and there is no chlorination (or other oxidative step) installed as existing treatment, then you can’t be sure what fraction of your total arsenic is comprised by arsenic III or arsenic V.
A type of water quality test called Arsenic Speciation can help determine if your total arsenic is mostly arsenic III or arsenic V.
Does Reverse Osmosis Remove Arsenic?
Reverse Osmosis water treatment technology can reliably remove arsenic V but does not reliably remove arsenic III.
If your water’s arsenic is all or mostly arsenic V then you can reliably use reverse osmosis technology to remove arsenic from your drinking water for a Point-of-Use (POU) under the sink.
If your water’s arsenic is mostly comprised of arsenic III then you will either need a special treatment technology OR you will need an additional treatment step to remove Arsenic for treatment.
Reverse osmosis should ONLY be used for arsenic removal for under the kitchen sink filtration (POU). Some companies like to make you believe this is the best Whole House treatment but it is expensive (up to $15,000.00 or more), waste water, and only removes Type III Arsenic.
Pure Water Solutions (541-890-2751) provides other ion exchange and filtration-based treatment options that operate at up to 10 GPM, are affordable and can operate for as little as $5.00 per month for life without ever having to change expensive media, Filters, waste water, and you do not have to purchase expensive pumps, holding tanks and a commercial grade Reverse Osmosis Systems.
Note: We do offer commercial grade Reverse Osmosis Systems but they are used for Briny (salty) wells and other more difficult to remove contaminants only when absolutely needed.
Do I Need Whole Home Water Treatment to Remove Arsenic?
Pure Water Solutions has 5 different methods to remove Arsenic from one sink or Whole treatment for arsenic removal in every tap in the house.
In order to keep costs down, a Pure Water Solutions Reverse Osmosis (RO) should ONLY be used for arsenic removal for under the kitchen sink filtration (POU) which is Guaranteed to remove both Type III and Type V Arsenic using our advanced 10 stage filtration system.
What to Do If You Have Arsenic in Your Well Water?
Assuming you do not currently have a detailed water lab report of your top 35 – 50 contaminants in your well, the next step might be to test your water using a certified laboratory. The final report will be emailed to you giving you all the required info needed to contact Pure Water Solutions (541-890-2751) for a Professional no obligation consultation and detailed Guaranteed filtration quote, if needed.
If you are concerned or worried about the water quality in your home please contact Pure Water Solutions (541-890-2751) for a no obligation consultation and affordable Money Back Guaranteed water filtration Solution. We can make any water Perfect – Guaranteed. (see our reviews » )
We use environmentally safe high-tech filtration systems with both the industry’s top digital control valve and advanced medias. Our systems last 25 – 30 years, have a 10 Year warranty and are virtually maintenance free filtered water without paying for a lifetime of ongoing annual service calls. All systems are installed by a Licensed Plumber.
