Lead powered the industrial revolution. Soft and pliable yet strong, it has unique properties that make it an ideal metal for plumbing applications. But what we know now that no one knew then is that lead in drinking water is toxic to the human body.
So, how do you get it out? Does activated carbon remove lead from water, or do you need an alternative filtration method? Keep reading as we answer these questions and many more.
How Does Lead Get into Our Drinking Water Supply?
Lead is the 38th most abundant chemical element in the Earth’s crust. Part of a class known as heavy metals, it’s common in the environment and naturally present in some water sources. But the majority of lead contamination in drinking water comes from lead service lines, plumbing fixtures and industrial waste.
Further reading: Signs of lead in drinking water
What Are the Health Effects of Lead Contamination in Tap Water?
Lead in drinking water affects all age groups, but it’s particularly devastating to children. Their bodies absorb it better, so even small amounts are dangerous.
The Human Health Effects Include of Lead:
- Fatigue
- Muscle aches
- Weakness
- Abdominal pain
- Hearing loss
- Infertility
- Miscarriage
- Learning disabilities
- Cognitive dysfunction
- Developmental delays
- Low IQ and more
Seizures, coma and death have occurred in severe cases.
Recognizing that it will take decades for public water systems to mitigate the risk of lead contamination at the community level, the Environmental Protection Agency set the legal standard for lead in tap water at 15 parts per billion. Children’s safety advocates, however, recommend one part per billion or less.
If you have children in your home, it pays to be proactive with drinking water filtration.
What is Activated Carbon?
Activated carbon is regular carbon made from materials like wood, peat, coal, corn husks, and coconut shells. Further refined by heating it to increase its surface area, the final product consists of carbon particles with excellent adsorption properties.
How Does an Activated Carbon Filter Work?
Activated carbon acts through physical adsorption, meaning that contaminants cling to its porous surface. A single gram of activated carbon can have a whopping surface area of 32,000 square feet.
Activated carbon can also neutralize substances via a chemical reaction. The two processes combined make activated carbon filters among the most versatile and effective for cleaning up contaminated drinking water.
Do Activated Carbon Filters Remove Lead from Drinking Water?
Regular carbon filters, also known as charcoal filters, remove some lead tap water — 10-40 percent at most. But special activated carbon filters can remove up to 99 percent of lead and other heavy metals from your drinking water depending on their quality – have a look at this top rated whole house lead removal filter.
What Other Harmful Contaminants Do Activated Carbon Filters Remove?
Activated carbon filters remove most hazardous contaminants, including some that make drinking water taste and smell bad, such as:
- Free chlorine
- Pesticides
- Herbicide
- Organic contaminants
- Chlorine byproducts, such as bromates and trihalomethanes
- Select heavy metals, including lead
- Volatile organic compounds and other chemicals
What Activated Carbon Filters Don’t Remove
Activated carbon filters don’t reliably remove:
- Fluoride
- Minerals (total dissolved solids)
- Some heavy metals, such as arsenic
- Microbiological contaminants, such as bacteria, viruses and parasites
- The best activated carbon filters may remove some of these substances, but not a high enough percentage for comfort.
Activated carbon alone, for example, can’t make pathogen-contaminated water potable. For that, you need a water purification system.
Are All Activated Carbon Water Filters the Same?
Not all activated carbon filters are created equal. They vary significantly in quality and contaminant reduction capabilities.
Types of Activated Carbon Water Filters
These types of activated carbon water filters are the most popular:
Granular Activated Carbon Filter
Granular activated carbon, or GAC filters, consist of loose, activated carbon particles. Also known as activated charcoal, this filter media is popular in refrigerator filters because water passes through it quickly. It doesn’t impede water flow.
Activated Carbon Block Filter
Activated carbon block filters are made from a single piece of high-quality carbon. Unlike GAC filters, water passes through them slowly, so a higher percentage of contaminants is removed. The downside of carbon block filters is that they may reduce water pressure.
The best carbon block filters are made of coconut shell. Harder than activated carbon made from other sources, it’s particularly dense and has an optimal surface area.
Catalytic Activated Carbon Filter
Catalytic activated carbon filters work the same way as carbon block and GAC filters, but they’re chemically enhanced, so they’re better at removing certain substances. They reduce higher percentages of most contaminants plus others that standard activated carbon can’t, including chloramines, a chlorine alternative, and hydrogen sulfide gas.
The drawback to catalytic activated carbon water filters is their cost.
Are Activated Carbon Filters the Best Choice for Removing Lead from Drinking Water?
Even the best lead removal filter is unlikely to remove as much lead as a reverse osmosis filter, but some come close. Contaminant reduction capability depends primarily on quality.
While carbon block filters are usually superior, some granular filters are equally effective, especially if they’re enhanced with specialty media, like KDF. Avoid bargain brand charcoal filters.
How you use and maintain activated carbon filters also matters. You can maximize lead removal by using only cold water and changing the filter cartridge as recommended. The replacement cartridge should be of equal or better quality. Stick with activated carbon filters certified by the National Sanitation Foundation — they’re independently tested and guaranteed to perform as advertised.
If your water is heavily contaminated or you have children in the house, reverse osmosis filters remove lead that activated carbon filters miss, and they’re less maintenance intensive. And most reverse osmosis filtration systems also come with granular activated carbon or carbon block filters to improve your water’s taste and protect the RO membrane. It’s comprehensive protection.
Testing Your Drinking Water for Lead Contamination
Most lead contamination occurs after water leaves the treatment plant, so the only way to know if your tap water contains lead is to test it. Laboratory testing is the most precise, but you can use DIY test strips.
If you don’t have a lab nearby, you can purchase a home test kit online. We like SimpleLab’s Tap Score because it’s affordable, accurate and straightforward to use. Kits include everything you need — see our top list here.
You can choose from single tests that identify specific contaminants, like lead, or panels that look for the most common contaminants in city or well water from lead to volatile organic compounds.
A few weeks later, you’ll get a full report on your drinking water quality with objective recommendations for filtration systems if you need one. SimpleLab’s tap water reports also include general information about water quality in your area.
Knowing with certainty what’s in your drinking water is the key to making sound filtration decisions.
Choosing the Best Lead Reduction Water Filter
If a tap water test shows low levels of lead in your drinking water, a coconut shell activated carbon filter may be all you need to reduce it to negligible amounts.
But if lead levels are high or you need a water purification system for other stubborn contaminants, a reverse osmosis filter may be a better choice. RO systems work by forcing water through tiny pores, removing a greater concentration of lead than activated carbon filters.
Among activated carbon filters, you can choose from whole-house systems that filter water throughout your home or point-of-use options, like water filtration pitchers or undersink filters.
Whole-house filters are ideal if your water also contains skin-irritating contaminants, like chlorine molecules. But point-of-use filters are budget-friendly, and they produce plenty of filtered water for drinking and cooking. If you have $30, you can improve your water quality with an activated carbon faucet filter or filter pitcher.
Reverse osmosis filters are the gold standard for removing contaminants, but they’re slow compared to activated carbon filters. Water flows through them too slowly to keep up with whole-house demand, so most are undersink filters. Combined with an activated carbon prefilter that removes aesthetic impurities, they produce the highest-quality filtered water that money can buy.
Final Thoughts
Lead’s impact on health can be irreversible, so whether you choose an activated carbon or a reverse osmosis filter, filtered drinking water is safer for your family. Public water systems in the US are struggling to reduce lead levels and improve overall water quality, but it takes time. Until they do, home water filtration remains the best solution.