Reports about forever chemicals in drinking water across the country and here in Florida have been the cause for alarm for some.
These forever chemicals aren’t broken down easily by the body, or in nature, and in small amounts over a prolonged time can cause cancer as well as miscarriages.
This month, The Orlando Sentinel has been reporting on what’s known as PFAS chemicals that are found in water among other places.
The EPA’s senior science analyst Sydney Evans said the good news is that three common water filters she studied can take most of these chemicals out of drinking water.
“There were three that removed the PFAS down below detectable levels. So that was the Berkey, the Clearly Filtered and the ZeroWater," said Evans.
A fourth filter also does an almost perfect job, taking these chemicals out of drinking water, or tap water used to cook, clean and brush teeth.
“And then there was one more that came very, very close at 98% reduction," said Evans. "And that was an Epic Water filter.”
The bad news is these filters don’t work on 1,4-dioxane, the chemical The Orlando Sentinel found in tap water in Lake Mary, Sanford and Seminole County.
Evans said for now, only reverse osmosis works on that chemical. And it's a costly and expensive process.
A US Geological Survey found half of the nation’s tap water has at least one or two of these forever chemicals.
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