What type of water filter do I need to remove Uranium and Lead?
Do I need a reverse osmosis system, or another filer, to remove higher-than-normal lead and uranium?
or can I use Pur or Brita type to *sufficiently* do the job? I have an infant, he is my world and it is my job to protect him the best way I can. So, you can imagine why the contaminants are a major concern here.
Our last house had great water quality so we have a faucet-mounted Brita… we’d love to buy a new filter and call it a day.I think Brita and the like are able to get rid of lead, but uranium?
So be brutally honest, if I have to shell out the big bucks for reverse osmosis let me know! And please, don’t just say "Move away" or "Don’t drink the water". Those aren’t options : )
I live in a rocky area, like a Native American mountain area. The uranium is not exceeding legal limits but the level is just higher than other areas. The lead is due to a shooting range near the lake we live on. Both substances in my water are above California "health guidelines" due to the lack of enforced federal guides keeping us safe, so this is what I’m going by.
http://projects.nytimes.com/toxic-waters/contaminants/ct/new-haven/ct0606011-quonnipaug-hills–section-i
I appreciate the info in advance!
Last time I posted a question, someone said something about reverse osmosis being costly to operate and wasteful of resources. I wasn’t aware how many gallons are thrown away by the process! Thanks!
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Filed under: Water Filter System
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Let me first tell you that the Lead is not from a shooting range. Lead is a decay product of Uranium. If there is Uranium there will be Lead. Use whatever makes you feel better. I would not be worried about those levels. Any filter that can remove Lead will also remove Uranium.
Edit: Joe, lead shot was not removed because of water supply problems. It was because birds ingest grit to grind their food in the crop. Lead shot is about the same size as the sand/ pebbles that waterfowl swallow to help digest food. In the crop it is ground down to a fine powder and moves to the stomach and intestines where it reacts with digestive acids to become soluble. Even that has been questioned because the original report was speculation and not based upon any data showing increased blood level of lead in the birds.
ANY lead at the shooting range is metallic and NOT water soluble, so THAT is NOT the source of the lead in your water. It would take several thousand years of chemical reactions to change it into anything water soluble by NATURAL action.
Lead is the "end product" of the decay of uranium.
Neither are soluble in metallic form.
We would need to know the composition of the compound of lead or uranium to tell you what would be best, but MOST semi-soluble compounds would be removed by either the Pur or Brita type.
I used to haul Uranium from mines in Colorado, and saw LOTS of miners and their families, with NO evidence of ill-effects from being around "raw" uranium from BEFORE birth on. (Some were second generation, or longer, miners who had lived there ALL THEIR LIVES and had families of their own!)
Most of these "alleged" safe/unsafe levels of NATURALLY OCCURRING chemicals found in the soils and/or water are because of the "governmental urge to control" and bear little relation to actual harmful levels. It is man’s "manufactured" waste that is the main problem.
Example: Lead in paint IS a problem, but lead in the ground is less than 1/1,000,000 the concentration of lead in paint, even where being mined AND the lead in paint is a manufactured compound, NOT pure lead.
You are probably fine as is, but I would like to interject my opinion here.
Reverse Osmosis units cost about 300-400 dollars to buy and are easy to install. I hardly consider that expensive with regards to the safety of children. RO is not an expensive process and does not "waste water". Culligans water is RO, and they charge the same as spring/mineral water.
Someone mentioned that lead is not water soluble. It isn’t ‘instantly’ water soluble, but there is a reason that lead supply pipes are regulated/banned. In Ontario, poultry/fowl hunters are banned from using lead shot due to possible water supply contamination.