reclaim the lost water for household uses other than drinking.

OZONE OR OZONATION Ozone combines with many metals, making them easier to filter. Small filters designed for drinking water don’t emit harmful levels of ozone into the air, but whole-house filters may.

Trace Chemicals,
Traces of Anxiety?
3.

FOLLOW THE SCHEDULE Neglecting to change filters is the number one cause of failure of any system, says Snyder. A filter’s capacity to remove contaminants decreases over time and can

become ineffective. Small filtration units usually have inexpensive, replaceable cartridges, but whole-house systems may require monitoring, regular service visits or expensive filters. Before buying a filter, find out if it has a simple light, readout or other device to alert you when maintenance is needed. Then ask yourself, will you do the necessary upkeep?

When all is said and done, you may decide that filters are more trouble than they’re worth—and that’s okay. “There are a great number of consumers who are perfectly satisfied with their tap water,” says Andrew.

Within the last few years, there has been a growing awareness— and fear—of traces of drugs and chemicals from agriculture, industry and consumer products that wind up in tap water.

Most contaminants are difficult to trace to a particular source, but pharmaceuticals are introduced largely through human excretion into wastewater. But are the levels really that high? “The highest concentrations that were ever detected in drinking water,” said the Southern Nevada Water Authority’s Shane Snyder at a recent Senate hearing, “is like one second in 760 years—or one dose of medication in the scope of a lifetime.”

Still, Snyder doesn’t dismiss the problem. Zero pharmaceuticals or chemicals in our drinking water would be ideal, but he says the environmental and financial costs of removing them are prohibitive. Water treatment systems can waste huge amounts of energy and water, especially considering that only a tiny amount of the water that goes through them is used for drinking.

Most home water filters aren’t up to the task of removing the thousands of chemicals used in pharmaceuticals, personal care products, agriculture and industry. Even water bottlers are struggling with ways to remove them. In the meantime, Snyder says that home carbon filters are effective at removing some of the drugs in our tap water.

Maintain your filters: This carbon filter will do wonders for bad tastes and odors— but only if you remember to replace it every three months.