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3/14/2025
WT Staff
 Got water questions? Give us a call at 877-52-WATER (877-529-2837), or email us at info@wtla.us
March 14, 2025 108 pm CDT
My on-the-counter water filter insert says "not for producing drinking water"
Can raw water or water of questionable quality be made safe for drinking with my on-the-counter or pitcher-style filter?
Emphatically, no!
Countertop filtration or pitcher filtration is intended for use with potable water, to elevate taste and odor characteristics and to remove particulates. This is to say, standard in-home water filtration units are to be used with drinking water provided by a licensed facility, where trained water technicians operate within a regulated environment, monitoring and reporting water quality to ensure finished water meets the National Primary Drinking Water Regulations.
The National Primary Drinking Water Regulations establish maximum contaminant levels (MCLs) for various contaminants. The State monitors contaminant levels to ensure they remain close to the national standards while also issuing "notification levels" for contaminants not regulated by the EPA. Your municipal drinking water facility is required to disclose any deviations from National Standards. Full disclosure of local water quality issues as they arise allows water customers to respond appropriately to safeguard health, potentially implementing additional measures, in-home filtration.
The MCL for a given contaminant may not be safe for everyone, and may not be ideal for anyone over the long term. Sensitive Populations Advisories are issued for young children, pregnant women and those with compromised immune systems, even when the water is meeting the standards. Naturally occurring elements in raw water such as fluoride, arsenic and manganese may well be within the national MCL, yet there are advisories for sensitive persons to consider another water source, such as bottled water. A warning statement from Ohio EPA for fluoride above the MCL reads, "Children under nine should be provided with alternative sources of drinking water or water that has been treated to remove fluoride in order to lessen the risk of cosmetic discoloration of their permanent teeth."
Long term consumption of water with acceptable levels of arsenic is associated with negative health effects for everyone. Likewise, disinfection by-products are linked to higher incidence of cancers in the general population. A recent meta-analysis indicates MCL for disinfection by-products should be considerably lower than the current regulation, for total trihalomethanes and halo-acetic acids. If your local water supply has detectable levels of these contaminants, additional in-home filtration is indicated.
Do read the filter manual or info sheet
Instructions and caveats including the fine print accompanying your pitcher-style water filter may indicate "not for producing potable water", or a similar message. Do not attempt to produce sanitary drinking water from non-potable or natural sources using such a filter. Drinking raw, improperly treated water can cause gastrointestinal problems such as diarrhea, vomiting or fever at the least, can lead to more serious complications including death.
Public water systems regulated under the Safe Drinking Water Act are those providing water for human consumption to at least 15 service connections or average 25 average people per day, for at 60 days per year or more.
See the latest WTLA.us Drinking Water Facilities Serious Violator List, here.
See our previous WT Responds: To boil, or not to boil? here.
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