Contaminant Information

Yes — treated tap water contains micro- and nanoplastics, though bottled water runs about 3× higher by particle count (Hart & Lenhart, 2025). How much is genuinely uncertain, the WHO calls it low concern at current levels, and the human health evidence is association, not proof. It's not on your CCR because there's no federal standard — only California even measures it — and reverse osmosis removes essentially all of it.

Disinfection byproducts are the chemical tradeoff of safe water. The EPA regulates four families — led by trihalomethanes at 80 µg/L — and the health risk is real but modest, most of it comes from showering, and a standard Brita doesn't remove them.

Tap water contains trace estrogens at 1-50 nanograms per liter (ng/L), primarily from human excretion of natural and synthetic hormones that wastewater treatment doesn't fully remove.

The 2014 Flint water crisis exposed what public health experts had warned about for decades: millions of Americans drink water flowing through lead pipes every day.

Your tap water might contain 'forever chemicals' that won't disappear for thousands of years. The EPA has established legally enforceable limits for PFAS at just 4 parts per trillion—imagine one drop in 20 Olympic swimming pools.

Boiling tap water does NOT remove fluoride—it actually concentrates it. To remove fluoride, you need reverse osmosis, distillation, or activated alumina filters—not Brita-style carbon filters.