CR's Guide to Better, Safer Drinking Water
Many Americans still drink water with unhealthy levels of toxic chemicals, heavy metals, bacteria, and other contaminants. Here’s how to test yours and clean it up.
Fifty years ago, Consumer Reports published a groundbreaking investigation into the nation’s drinking water. The report was titled “Is the Water Safe to Drink?” (Download a PDF of this three-part series from the June, July, and August 1974 issues of Consumer Reports magazine.)
The answer, for the most part, was no. Our water was often contaminated with bacteria, viruses, asbestos, and lead. Testing and treatment were inadequate. Money to fix the problem was almost nonexistent. And new concerns—including “thousands of new synthetic compounds” about which little was known—were emerging.
Later that year, the federal Safe Drinking Water Act was passed with Consumer Reports’ strong support. It was a triumph of consumer protection that authorized the new Environmental Protection Agency to set legal limits on contaminants in drinking water.
Today, while the nation’s water is in many ways safer than ever, it remains vulnerable to threats old and new, says Ronnie Levin, an instructor in environmental health at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston and the lead author of a September 2023 review of U.S. water quality in the Journal of Exposure Science & Environmental Epidemiology.
Compared with half a century ago, she says, “a lot of things are better, but a lot of things, surprisingly, are not.”
True, the EPA has set limits on many contaminants, like arsenic—but experts warn that those limits are often too high. We can kill pathogens in our water but still suffer disease outbreaks when treatment falls short, and research has identified risks posed by byproducts of the disinfectants used to kill those germs. What’s more, millions of Americans drink water from private wells that remain entirely unregulated.
Perhaps most alarming, we know much more about the health risks of the thousands of synthetic compounds that CR warned about so long ago. Especially concerning are per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS. These “forever chemicals” are ubiquitous in consumer products, persist both in the environment and in our bodies, and have been linked to some cancers, immune problems, female infertility, and other health conditions.
Almost half the nation’s tap water could contain at least one of these harmful chemicals, according to a recent estimate from the U.S. Geological Survey. And tests by CR a few years ago detected PFAS in 117 of 120 water samples taken from taps across the country, with more than a third of those above a level that CR’s scientists said should be the maximum.
How to Check Your Drinking Water
One key outcome of the Safe Drinking Water Act was requiring water utilities not only to test water but also to make the results public. That was a game-changer in raising awareness about water quality and has helped communities and individuals address problems as they emerge.
But those reports, called Consumer Confidence Reports or CCRs, are far from perfect. They can be difficult to get and even harder to interpret. They may include only contaminants that utilities are required to test for, which means emerging concerns, such as PFAS, can be omitted. They primarily measure contaminants in the water leaving treatment plants, not those that can enter water along the way to your home or in your home, such as lead. And they can’t help at all if your household is among the estimated 23 million that get water from a private well.
Here’s how to get a fuller picture of your water quality, whether you get it from a public utility or a private well.
If Your Water Comes From a Public Utility
That’s most of us: Ninety percent of Americans get drinking water from one of the 148,000 public systems overseen by the EPA.
Get a copy of your water report. Despite the limitations of CCRs, start by getting a copy of your report. If you pay your own water bill, you should receive your CCR around July 1 each year. If you don’t receive yours, contact your water supplier. If you rent or live in a condo, ask your landlord or building manager for it. You can also look for the report on the utility’s website or search for it on the EPA’s website. Utilities serving more than 100,000 people must make them available, and some smaller ones do it voluntarily.
Make sense of your report. Focus on the summary near the top of each report that shows whether any contaminants were found above government cutoffs and, if so, what the health risks are, what’s being done to fix the problem, and what you should do in the meantime. If you have questions, call your local supplier or the EPA’s Safe Drinking Water Hotline at 800-426-4791.
See whether the report includes PFAS. A growing list of states now require monitoring for some PFAS, and similar measures could be available soon in many other states. So check your report to see whether it includes information about PFAS.
Compare EPA cutoffs with other expert recommendations. One criticism of CCRs and the approach to water safety in general is that safety thresholds are often too high. For example, the EPA’s maximum contaminant level for arsenic is 10 parts per billion. But CR and other experts say tap water should have no more than 3 ppb. So see “What Shouldn’t Be in Your Water,” below, which gives information about common contaminants in drinking water. You can also learn more about contaminants in your local water, as well as recommendations from the Environmental Working Group for safer levels, by typing your ZIP code into the EWG’s Tap Water Database.
Decide whether to test your tap water. Here are some factors for two common contaminants that can help you decide whether to test your water.
Lead
Your CCR will show an average lead level based on water taken from a limited sample of homes in your community, not specifically your home. So you may want to test even if your report doesn’t show any lead. That can be an especially good idea if you live in a home or apartment built before 1986, or if there’s a pregnant person or young child in your home.
PFAS
Consider testing if your report doesn’t include information about these chemicals or if the thresholds it uses are above the levels that CR recommends. (That’s 0.004 parts per trillion for PFOA and 0.02 ppt for PFOS, two compounds that raise particular concerns; 5 ppt for any other PFAS; and 10 ppt for total PFAS.) Testing may make even more sense if you live near a known or suspected site that could be contaminated with PFAS. Such sites can include manufacturing plants, airports, and military bases. One source of information is the map maintained by the EWG.
If You Have Well Water
If you’re among a minority of Americans who depend on a private well, you’re largely on your own. You’ll likely have to get the water tested yourself and choose what contaminants to test for. To help decide which to focus on, ask your county health department what concerns are common to your area and whether programs exist to help cover the cost.
All well-water drinkers will want to check for bacteria. If you live near farmland, nitrates—which can come from animal manure—and pesticides may be an issue. Radon—a naturally occurring radioactive gas that can get into water from soil—can be a problem in some places, so the EPA recommends you test for that, too. For lead and PFAS, consider the same factors as those listed above.
The EPA recommends that well owners test their water every year. And test immediately if there are reports of contaminated groundwater in your area; if there are significant changes near your well caused by flooding, construction, or other activities; if you’ve replaced or repaired any part of your well system; or if you notice a change in the color, taste, or smell of your water.
How to Test Your Tap Water
See CR’s advice on home test kits that detect PFAS and other contaminants.
What Shouldn't Be in Your Water
The Environmental Protection Agency regulates about 90 contaminants. Some are familiar, such as E. coli and lead. Others are not. Ever heard of pentachlorophenol, a type of “discharge from wood-preserving factories”?
The EPA has set limits for how much of each can be in drinking water. But Kelly Hunter Foster, senior attorney at the Waterkeeper Alliance, says those can be higher than recommended for protecting health. For example, the “public health goal” is zero for benzene, but the EPA allows drinking water to have 0.05 parts per million of that chemical. The Environmental Working Group website lists the federal legal limit for the compounds, plus its lower recommended levels.
Below, we’ve broken contaminants into groups and describe how they get into water, and how they can affect your health in the short and long term. We also provide information about some contaminants, such as PFAS, that aren’t yet federally regulated.
Regulated
Microorganisms
Examples: Giardia lamblia, E. coli, Legionella.
How do they get into water? Improperly treated human waste and animal manure. Small, remote areas are more likely to have challenges because of insufficient resources and because the farther water must travel to its destination, the more the disinfectants used to treat it may lose their potency.
What are the risks? Gastrointestinal illness, Legionnaires’ disease.
Disinfection Byproducts
Examples: bromate, haloacetic acids, trihalomethanes.
How do they get into water? Chlorine and other disinfectants used to treat water can interact with organic matter to produce other toxic chemicals. Certain byproducts, while less harmful in the short-term than bacteria, can be a risk to health over a long period of exposure.
What are the risks? Bladder cancer, liver and kidney problems, anemia, reproductive effects.
Heavy Metals
Examples: lead, copper, arsenic, mercury.
How do they get into water? Lead and copper can leach from pipes going into a building or from plumbing and fixtures inside. Arsenic and mercury occur naturally and are made more prevalent by industrial manufacturing waste.
What are the risks? High blood pressure, kidney and liver damage for adults, learning deficits and developmental harm to infants and children.
Nutrient Pollution
Examples: nitrate, nitrite.
How do they get into water? Excess nitrogen and phosphorous come from fertilizers, detergents, animal manure, cars, sewage plants, and other sources, and can trigger algae blooms that can be toxic to wildlife and humans.
What are the risks? A blood disorder called blue baby syndrome in infants.
Pesticides and Herbicides
Examples: alachlor, atrazine, glyphosate.
How do they get into water? The chemicals mostly come from the runoff of agricultural sites. Small amounts from individual home use, improperly disposed of, can also add up.
What are the risks? Cardiovascular and kidney problems, reproductive difficulties.
Radioactive Material
Examples: alpha/photon emitters, beta photon emitters, radium, uranium.
How do they get into water? These materials come from the erosion of natural deposits of radioactive minerals and emissions and waste from the nuclear energy industry.
What are the risks? Cancer, kidney damage.
Unregulated
PFAS
Examples: PFOA, PFOS, and thousands of related chemicals that make products nonstick, water-resistant, and more.
How do they get into water? Industrial waste, recycled human waste used as fertilizer on farms, and waste from countless consumer products. Some states mandate testing and treatment of some PFAS, but federal limits are pending.
What are the risks? Cancer, fertility issues, developmental problems, endocrine disruption, high cholesterol.
Microplastics
Examples: Tiny particles of plastic, some visible only by microscope.
How do they get into water? Plastic products come apart with use and time, breaking into ever tinier fragments, which can make their way into lakes, rivers, and oceans. Plastic fibers even wash off of clothes into our water supplies.
What are the risks? There’s no scientific consensus, but thy may be linked to inflammation and increased exposure to chemicals that can disrupt hormones.
Other Contaminants
Pharmaceuticals, fracking-related contaminants, cyanotoxins (from blue-green algae), perchlorate (also known as rocket fuel), and 6PPD-quinone (from road tires) are just a few of the contaminants that many experts say could be getting into our water and harming our health but aren’t currently regulated at the federal level.
What to Do If You Have Water Trouble
If your local water report (the CCR) reveals contamination or your water test comes back with alarming results, how concerned should you be, and how quickly do you need to act? That depends on what you find.
If the test shows bacteria—such as E. coli or Legionella—contact your health department right away for help interpreting the results. Depending on what type of bacteria the test finds, you may need to stop drinking the water entirely until it has been treated. That’s especially important if there are people in your household who are vulnerable because they are older, very young, or pregnant.
For lead, take kids who have been drinking the water to a doctor to check for high blood levels of this heavy metal. Consider doing this for adults, too. The next steps depend on blood levels.
While PFAS in your water is alarming, testing your blood isn’t routinely recommended. People who live in communities with known or suspected PFAS contamination are an exception. They may want to discuss the pros and cons of blood testing with a provider, according to guidance from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. But while such testing has recently become more widely available, it’s still expensive and limited in the number of PFAS it can detect. And such tests won’t tell you whether your health has been or will be affected. Plus, like many other contaminants, PFAS pose long-term rather than immediate health risks. So the best advice is to continue routine health checkups with your doctor while trying to avoid additional exposure.
Whatever the contaminant, also contact your public water utility and health department to let them know what you’ve found so that they can investigate and coordinate a fix, says Erik Olson at the Natural Resources Defense Council. If the utilities aren’t responsive, contact your elected officials to put the pressure on.
Whether what you’ve found is potentially harmful to your health or just makes your water look, taste, or smell bad, there are steps you can take to get rid of the contaminants, starting by using a filter.
Pick a Filter, but Not Just Any Filter
Whatever your water problem is—a bad smell or taste from something like sulfur, an immediate health risk from bacteria or viruses, or a long-term potential health threat from PFAS, lead, or many other contaminants— there’s a filter that can fix it.
“Don’t panic,” says Eric Yeggy, director of technical affairs at the Water Quality Association. “There are really simple, in-home treatment solutions for virtually every water problem that you’re likely to encounter.”
But the trick is to find one that works for your specific problem. And that’s not always easy.
1939
“How Safe is Your Water?” CR’s first investigation into the nation’s water supply focused on the risk of sewage, filled with bacteria, backing into homes and apartment building plumbing, due to inadequate building codes.
August 1974
CR’s three part-investigation that concluded that the nation’s water was often contaminated with lead, asbestos, and bacteria, and played a role in the enactment later that year by Congress of the Safe Drinking Water Act.
1980
“The Selling of H2O.” CR taste tested leading bottled waters, as well as New York City’s tap water, and concluded that the NYC water tasted best.
1990
“Fit to Drink?” A deep dive into the hype of water companies selling water treatment and water filter systems, plus a guide to what really works.
2019
CR tests that found high arsenic levels in Penafiel Bottled Water prompts Keurig Dr Pepper to stop selling the product.
2019
“Should We Break Our Bottled Water Habit?” A CR investigation charts how bottled water companies capitalized on fears about tap water quality to boost sales, despite limited oversight of the industry, contributing to plastic pollution.
2020
“What’s Really in Your Bottled Water?” CR’s tests of 47 bottled waters found PFAS in several, especially carbonated ones.
2021
“How Safe Is Our Drinking Water?” CR worked with 120 volunteers across the country to test their water and found PFAS, lead, and arsenic in nearly all samples.
2023
CR partners with Mississippi Spotlight and the Mississippi Center for Investigative Reporting to test the state’s water for PFAS, lead, and other contaminants.
2024
50 years after the passage of the Safe Drinking Water Act, CR reports on growing concerns about PFAS in tap water, and identifies home water filters that can remove the dangerous contaminant.
Editor’s Note: This article also appeared in the January 2024 issue of Consumer Reports magazine. It has been updated to include additional information about blood tests for PFAS.
