HomeAbout Us Products Compare Reviews Guides

The Dangers of Lead

It has no taste, no smell, and no color. It is the most terrifying silent threat in your pipes.

How Does Lead Get In?

The water leaving the municipal treatment plant is strictly tested and essentially guaranteed to be free of lead. However, the miles of underground pipes carrying water to older suburbs—or the very pipes inside your walls—were likely manufactured with lead or lead solder before global bans were enforced in the 1980s and 90s.

If the city water chemistry becomes slightly acidic (like the tragedy in Flint, Michigan), it becomes highly corrosive, slowly melting the internal lead lining of the pipes directly into the drinking water.

Boiling Water Makes It WORSE

The biggest myth in water safety is the boiling method. Boiling water only kills biological threats (bacteria). If you boil water containing lead, the pure steam evaporates while the lead remains. You have actually hyper-concentrated the heavy metals, making the water significantly more toxic than before you boiled it.

How to Filter Lead Successfully

Cheap pitcher filters will not stop lead. To effectively eradicate lead from drinking water, you must use one of the following technologies:

  • Reverse Osmosis (RO): The absolute best method. The atomic weight and size of lead makes it physically impossible to penetrate an RO membrane.
  • NSF-53 Certified Carbon Blocks: Some dense, specialized carbon blocks are chemically engineered to adsorb lead. Always check the box for the strict "NSF/ANSI Standard 53" certification.