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Not All Water Filtration Systems are Created Equal: Looking for Lead-Free Products

By Sheryl Bjorn posted 11-09-2017 01:17

  

As we mentioned in our recent blog, there are some telltale signs to assess whether your local water dealer is truly an expert. But what about the water the water filtration systems your dealer installs? Are there certain product attributes you should be on the lookout for?

The answer is yes. It is important to select a water filtration system that can remove the harmful hexavalent chromium from your water supply. But, it’s equally important to look for a system that is made with lead-free products and reduces the presence of lead in your drinking water1.

Ensuring a home’s water supply is lead-free is a top-of-mind concern for most homeowners – and for good reason. When found in drinking water, lead can cause a variety of adverse health effects. This includes delays in physical and mental development in babies and children and kidney problems or high blood pressure in adults2.

According to The Reduction of Lead in Drinking Water Act, which redefines lead-free under the Safe Drinking Water Act, lead-free products must not contain more than 0.2 percent lead when used with respect to solder (fusible metal alloys used to join parts) and flux (a chemical cleaning agent that facilitates soldering). Additionally, such products must not exceed a weighted average of 0.25 percent lead when used with respect to the wetted surfaces of pipes and pipe and plumbing fittings and fixtures.

To make the process of selecting a water filtration system that meets these standards less daunting, Culligan advises homeowners to look for products that meet the NSF 61 Standard. This standard addresses crucial aspects of drinking water system components: whether contaminants that leach or migrate from the product/material into the drinking water are above acceptable levels in finished waters3. For example, the Culligan Aqua-Cleer® Drinking Water System and Culligan Bottle-Free® Coolers have both passed NSF 61 Standard testing. Additionally, the Aqua-Cleer® system includes a lead-free, NSF-approved faucet.

For more information on lead-free products that deliver quality of water and greater peace of mind to your household, contact a Culligan dealer near you, visit www.culligan.com or call 1-800-CULLIGAN.

1Impurities are not necessarily in your water.

2 The United States Environmental Protection Agency, http://water.epa.gov/drink/contaminants/basicinformation/lead.cfm

3 NSF International http://www.nsf.org/business/water_distribution/standards.asp?program=WaterDistributionSys

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