Lead in the drinking water supply is a serious health risk for children. And what makes matters worse is that it’s an infrastructure problem that may take decades to resolve. In the meantime, people are forced to take action to avoid another Flint Water Crisis. But the good news is that you can reduce lead to safe levels with a water filter.
Keep reading as we explain your water treatment options and answer once and for all — does a water softener remove lead from water?
What Is Lead?
Lead is a heavy metal in the Earth’s crust. Relatively rare in its natural form, it’s now common in the environment because of widespread industrial use. Strong yet flexible, it was regularly used in the plumbing industry until researchers discovered it was toxic to the human body.
How Does Lead Get into the Drinking Water Supply?
Some lead contamination comes from industrial waste and now-banned household products, like paint, but the majority of lead in water comes from:
- Aging underground service lines
- Lead pipes in pre-1986 homes
- Lead solder
- Pre-2014 home plumbing fixtures
Read: Signs you might have lead in your water supply.
What Are the Health Effects of Lead Contaminated Drinking Water?
Lead poisoning affects all age groups, but it’s especially hazardous for pregnant women and children.
The symptoms of lead exposure include:
- Fatigue
- Malaise
- Headaches
- Muscle weakness
- Abdominal pain
- High blood pressure
- Cardiovascular disease
- Nervous system disorders
- Seizures
- Developmental delays
- Learning disabilities
- Behavioral problems
- Infertility
- Miscarriage and more
If too much lead accumulates in the body, the effects can be irreversible.
How Much Lead in Water is Safe?
The Environmental Protection Agency set the legal limit at 15 parts per million because it’s realistic for utilities until the infrastructure is upgraded, but the consensus among health experts is that there is no safe level of lead.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends these steps for reducing lead exposure:
• Make baby formula with bottled water
• Avoid cooking with tap water
• Let water run for two minutes before drinking it
• Drink only cold tap water
• Clean faucet aerators weekly
But the Flint Water Crisis demonstrates that until underground lead pipes are replaced, excessive levels of lead in the water supply will continue to pose unacceptable health risks.
How Can I Tell if There’s Lead in My Drinking Water?
Lead is tasteless, colorless and odorless, so the only way to know if it’s in your water is to do a water test.
If you drink city water, it’s checked at the source. But since most lead contamination occurs after water leaves the treatment plant, tap water testing is the only way to detect high lead levels.
The process is straightforward — bring a drinking water sample to a laboratory or purchase a DIY test kit online. You can buy strips for as little as $20, but we recommend products like SimpleLab’s Tap Score because they rely on certified laboratories to do the analysis. Lead contamination is a serious water quality issue, so accuracy matters.
If you own a private well, the CDC recommends annual testing for other potentially hazardous substances, including nitrates and bacteria. Some states also suggest occasional testing for toxins common in your geographical area. Maine, for example, recommends doing an arsenic test every five years.
Knowing what’s in your water is the key to taking control of your water quality. Kits like TapScore can be customized to include all of your testing needs.
Does Boiling Water Remove Lead from Water?
Boiling water kills bacteria and removes contaminants with boiling points at or below 212 °F. Lead boils at 3,180 °F, so it won’t evaporate with the steam. The boiling process concentrates lead in water.
Do Water Softeners Remove Lead from Water?
Some water softeners can remove solid particles of lead from deteriorating pipes if they’re equipped with special resin. But no softener removes dissolved lead like the type found in most water.
Lead removal filters are the only effective water treatment systems for lead; however, most are compatible with water softeners.
Whole-House Versus Point-of-Use Water Filters
There are two general types of water filters — point-of-use (POU) and whole-house water filters. Each has pros and cons.
Whole-house systems, including water softeners and TAC water conditioners, are integrated into the main water line where it enters your home. Every gallon is treated before it’s distributed to taps, so your shower water is as safe as your drinking water — unless you’re dealing with lead.
A whole-home filter can reduce lead coming from underground service lines, but it can’t remove lead from indoor plumbing and fixtures. If you have lead pipes in your home, a whole-house filtration system alone may not be the best answer.
POU filters, such as faucet, countertop and undersink filters, only treat water from a single tap, usually for drinking and cooking. But they can reliably remove lead coming from indoor pipes. If you know you have lead plumbing, POU filters are less convenient than whole-home water systems, but they guarantee the purest drinking water possible.
Which Water Treatment Methods Remove Lead from Drinking Water?
There are three types of water filters recommended for removing lead.
#1 Carbon Filters
Activated carbon filters remove lead by adsorption, but they’re not all created equal. The type and quality of the carbon make a significant difference in lead reduction rates.
Garden-variety carbon filters, like the type used in refrigerators, excel at removing taste impurities, but they reduce lead by as little as 10 percent. Better POU or whole-house models eliminate 90 percent or more.
#3 Reverse Osmosis Filters
Reverse osmosis systems remove up to 99 percent of most harmful contaminants, from heavy metals to hard minerals, but they have a limited capacity. The reverse osmosis process is slow and tends to reduce water pressure, so it’s rare to find a whole-house reverse osmosis system. Most reverse osmosis units are installed on the countertop or under the kitchen sink where they can purify water for drinking and cooking purposes.
Combined with a carbon prefilter, they also remove chemicals, making them among the most comprehensive water filtration systems money can buy.
#4 KDF Filters
KDF, or Kinetic Fluxion Degradation, filtration media removes more lead, chlorine, copper and chemicals than carbon via a redox reaction. It’s not as effective at removing lead as a reverse osmosis system, but it’s popular in showerhead filters because it’s heat resistant. Hot water can damage a reverse osmosis unit.
Choosing the Right Water Filter to Remove Lead
The type of filter or filters you need for removing lead depends on your:
#1 Budget
Whole-home systems are generally more expensive than POU filters to purchase and install. They can be a better long-term value, but since lead poisoning can do serious damage to your health, the best water filter for removing lead is the one you can afford right now. Don’t wait.
#3 Lifestyle
A whole-home water filter is a good investment, but if you move, you can’t take it with you. A POU filter doesn’t require permanent changes to your plumbing pipes. Apartment-friendly, it’s connected to the cold water line with an adapter and tubing and disassembles as easily as it’s installed.
#4 Lead Levels
The more lead you have in your water, the greater the risk it poses to the body. If your lead concentration is below the legal limit, a carbon filter that removes 50-, 60- or even 70- percent of lead is sound choice. But if levels are high, the best way to protect your family from lead poisoning is with a high-efficiency reverse osmosis filter.
#5 Other Contaminants
Some types of filtration systems are better than others at removing certain impurities. A water softener, for example, reduces calcium but not lead, while a reverse osmosis system removes lead but not pesticides unless it has a carbon filter. You need a filtration system that removes all high-risk substances.
Finally, quality is critical when it comes to water filters. Like most consumer products, some don’t perform as advertised. If you need to remove lead from water, you can protect yourself by buying filters certified by the National Sanitation Foundation. NSF-certified filtration systems are rigorously tested and meet top industry standards.
Final Thoughts
Water softeners safeguard your home by removing the calcium that causes limescale. But only a water filter protects you from lead.