Question from Apasionato
My friend has discovered arsenic in her well water. They live in the NW Pacific area kind of in the ‘wilderness’ and not close to any factories, farms, etc that might have arsenic run-off. Their well is deep and was drilled through rock so we think the arsenic comes from the rocks naturally.
Of course, that doesn’t mean that arsenic is safe because it IS a terrible poison. My friend has attached a reverse osmosis filter to take the arsenic out of her drinking water (it is installed under the kitchen sink) which is working well, but, it only lets her use up to approx 11 gallons of water per day.
All of the rest of the house’s water has arsenic in it. So, this means that washing clothes, showering, washing hands in the bathroom, watering vegetable plants outside could be a serious issue. She and I have done an immense amount of research and have even spoken to the EPA as well as NSF and various water filtering companies. Not one, so far, has been able to tell us that it is safe to use the arsenic water for watering veggetable plants, showering, etc, although, many of them say that it IS safe, yet no one so far will stake their lives on it nor will say that they know for sure.
Soooo…does anyone here know if it is safe to water vegetable plants with arsenic water? Is it safe to shower with arsenic water?
And, is there a whole house filter that does filter out arsenic safely that has PROOF that their product works? We have looked at and spoken with Crystal Quest and Equinox but they are unable to give us scientific proof that their products do work. Also, many of these water filter companies say they are NSF certified, when in fact they are not. NSF says that they only certify water filter companies that are on their website list and the two I have mentioned are not on that list.
My friend is willing to pay a lot of $$ to get her arsenic problem taken care of.
Debra’s Answer
Readers, anyone have any experience with this, or suggestions?
Here are my thoughts…
You say you’ve done “a lot of research” yet you mention only two companies, so I don’t know what other systems you’ve looked in to.
I think you may need to go more in the direction of a specialized filter system rather than with a company that is selling filters for general use.
I searched on “remove arsenic in water” and came up with Carbtrol Arsenic Removal Systems. I have no experience with this system, but it looks like it should be able to do the job.
Here’s an article on how the city of Phoenix removes arsenic from their water supply: GFH Media Removes Arsenic in Arizona Supply. Though this is a city application, it does show it can be done, and this same filter media can be used in a whole house system.
