Does Water Filter Remove Lead? Your Ultimate Guide to Lead-Free Water at Home!

Does a water filter help removing lead in your water?

Today, we are going to answer the question of whether or not water filters remove lead. 

Lead contamination in drinking water and tap water has been an increasing concern for many people across the country. 

Water filters have been touted as a solution by some, but how effective are they really? 

Mainly, does a water filter remove lead from your water?

In a nutshell, a water filter does help you removing lead from your water. The right water filter can help you eliminate and filter out lead from your tap water.

Further down this blog post, we will discuss lead contamination in drinking water and tap water, what it is, why it’s dangerous, and most importantly: does a filter work at removing lead from your drinking water?

So if you are interested in learning more, keep on reading.

What is Lead?

It’s hard to believe that lead contamination is still a problem in the 21st century. 

Lead is a toxic metal that can be found in many different products, including paint and water. 

In small doses, lead may not cause any severe problems to your health. 

However, if toxic levels build up over time, lead can become harmful for people and animals who come into contact with them!

Even though this toxic heavy metal was banned from paint and gasoline decades ago, it still lurks where you might not expect it. 

The truth is that lead contamination is a significant problem in many US cities with old pipes.

Today many water sources contain lead due to the corrosion of pipes or metal fixtures at home or public buildings such as schools, government offices, and hospitals.

Can You Get Lead Poisoning from Water?

If you’re like me, you’re always on the lookout for healthy ways to live a long and happy life. 

One way to do this is by drinking water that doesn’t contain lead contamination! 

Lead contamination in drinking water and tap water has been an increasing concern for many people across the country. 

So here’s the bad news:

Yes, you can get lead poisoning from your water. 

One famous case of lead poisoning from water is the Flint Water Crisis that happened back in 2014. 

There, the water source was contaminated with lead due to corrosion of pipes or metal fixtures in homes and public buildings.

Lead poisoning can have adverse effects on the brain, kidneys, and reproductive system of adults and lead to developmental delays in children.

To learn more about the effects of lead on your health, you can visit this page by the US Environmental Protection Agency.

Can Water Filter Remove Lead?

So what causes lead to getting into our water?

Well, as we have discussed before, the lead in water comes from several sources, including:

  • Old plumbing fixtures with lead solder or brass fittings.
  • Aging pipes that contain lead (lead can dissolve into water when it passes through the pipe and be carried to people’s taps).
  • New construction materials such as galvanized nails that could leach lead.

To get rid of this problem once and for all, consider installing a water filter in your house.

In many cases, water filters can remove lead contamination from your tap water.

One way to know if a filter does this is by looking at its specs and reviews on the company’s website that sells it.

So before you go out and buy one, be sure to check for certifications like NSF/ANSI 42 or 53 (DWT), WQA Gold Seal certification, and so on.

This will help ensure that it will improve the taste of your water and keep harmful contaminants like lead away! 

Let’s talk about the correct type of water filter you can install at home to remove lead.

What Type of Water Filter Removes Lead?

A water filter is a great way to remove lead-contaminated water from your tap.

Here are some water filters that can remove lead from your water:

Reverse Osmosis (RO)

This water filter removes contaminants from tap water because it forces the water through a semipermeable membrane that blocks particles larger than 0.0001 microns in size, including lead and other heavy metals.

RO removes lead and other contaminants such as chlorine, fluoride, arsenic, pesticides, and more. 

This type of water filter can be expensive, but it’s worth your investment because you won’t have to worry about lead contamination anymore! 

Activated Carbon Filter 

This water filter also removes lead by trapping it in activated carbon granules, a highly porous material. 

By definition, activated carbon is an organic compound that has been treated to create very open spaces on the surface and throughout the interior to be able to adsorb substances more efficiently than would otherwise be possible.

Activated charcoal can remove lead up to 99% from your drinking water.

Distillation System 

This water filter removes lead by boiling the contaminated water and capturing steam, condensing it back into liquid form. 

This process is known as distillation, an effective way of removing contaminants from drinking sources during natural disasters like hurricane Katrina where industrial-scale boilers were unavailable when clean running tap-water was scarce.

If you’re looking for the best way to remove lead from your water, I recommend getting a reverse osmosis system. 

Besides removing lead, it also removes other pollutants like bacteria and viruses that can’t be removed by any filtration systems on this list.

Also read: Does Water Filter Remove Parasites?

Can Microfiltration Remove Lead?

Microfiltration is the most basic type of water filtration and removes lead-based on size. 

Lead particles are too big to fit through micro-holes, so they get filtered out by this type of system when using a mesh filter like a tea strainer or cheesecloth.

Of course, lead can still seep through if there’s an opening in the surface that lets contaminants go past, but due to its low cost, it remains a popular option among households worldwide who don’t have access to better options.

That is why you must use a high-quality microfiltration system for your water to be completely clean and healthy. 

A low-quality filter will only remove lead, which means it won’t remove other contaminants like bacteria or viruses.

Does a Carbon Filter Remove Lead?

Yes, a carbon filter does remove lead from your water. However, you need to choose the right carbon filter.

A water filtration system with activated carbon filters works by filtering the water through carbon beads inside an airtight container called a canister. 

When you pour water into the top, it travels down to these charcoal pellets that are coated in adsorptive chemicals and captures heavy metals like lead from your drinking water during this process.

The porous structure of activated coal makes it very good at capturing toxic substances. 

It has lots of little gaps between each piece which give pollutants plenty of room for capture while allowing other material to just pass right on through. 

Activated charcoal will also not release any harmful or useless elements back into the drinking water as they’re captured, so there’s no reason to worry about lead leaching back into the water.

How Do You Test for Lead in Water at Home?

It’s essential to have clean drinking water at home. 

One of the most common questions I hear from my friends is, “should I test for lead in my water?” 

I don’t typically recommend testing your own water because it can be misleading and isn’t always accurate, depending on what kind of surface you’re sampling from.

But if you want to know how to test for lead in water at home, it’s pretty easy.

Testing typically involves taking a sample of whatever surface you’re sampling from – whether it’s sink faucet or running tap water – then sending this sample out to a lab for testing. 

Here are the steps to test water at home:

  1. Take a sample of the water from your tap or sink faucet by dipping it in an unused container (such as a yogurt cup, milk jug, or small jar) and take it to the lab for testing.
  2. Leave about two inches of water in your home’s hot-water tank overnight so that lead particles settle at the bottom before taking this sample to be tested.
  3. Send out samples taken with ungloved hands for lead content analysis.

Taking a home lead test kit is one way to ensure that your water and pipes in the house are safe. Although, it’s not always accurate! 

The kits on Amazon have mixed reviews, too – some people say they work well while others report them being inaccurate or poor quality.

Conclusion: So Does Water Filter Remove Lead?

To conclude, the right water filter can remove lead from your tap water.

You have two options that I can recommend: reverse osmosis or activated carbon filters.

Both of these systems effectively remove lead from your drinking water, and each has its own advantages to consider when deciding which one is best for you.

Final Words

So there you have it!

Do water filters remove lead? 

Yes! When you filter your drinking water, the lead will be filtered out.

The next time that someone asks about whether or not a water filtration system can reduce lead exposure in their home—you know exactly what to tell them.

If you still have more questions about this topic, feel free to let me know!

Similar Posts