Water filter for those concerned about traces of iodine in our tap water?
Hi, I'm a physicist at UCB and LBL and saw discussion on this forum about concerns of leakage of rain water into the tap water supply in the bay area. Given the extreme amounts of precipitation over the last week one could indeed imagine that rain water will make up a significant portion of our tap water from now until the near future. To my surprise I was told by a customer service rep of the company new wave enviro, that makes a popular faucet water filter (which I use) that the Granualated Activated Carbon (GAC) stage in it should remove iodine as well as heavier metals (such as cesium). If this is true (thoughts by others here?) it would be a simple way to err on the side of caution. I don't know if other filters such as Brita have the same property.
I called New Wave Enviro
I called New Wave Enviro just now and must have gotten a different rep, because she told me No the 10-stage filter would not remove radioactivity -- I told her what you said, and she said well, it might remove a percentage of iodine and cesium. Another question I asked her was about chloramine, which EBMUD uses instead of chlorine, and she said it would remove the chlorine part but not the ammonia. She said you would have to use reverse osmosis or distillation to remove any of the things I asked about.
It is really a question of
It is really a question of efficiency. Indeed, GAC will remove iodine but I'm not sure what the exact efficiency is. Always ask for this number if your are truly concerned. We will be testing tap water and creek water shortly to determine the dilution factors within our water supplies. We may also test some of these filters to work out the real efficiency.
It is really a question of
It is really a question of efficiency. Indeed, GAC will remove iodine but I'm not sure what the exact efficiency is. Always ask for this number if your are truly concerned. We will be testing tap water and creek water shortly to determine the dilution factors within our water supplies.
Awesome, thanks for testing
Awesome, thanks for testing the creek and tap water.
This work is so interesting and it is remarkable that you are the only ones doing it. Big Kudos from all of us at the physics department.
I am curious about this too.
I am curious about this too. I understand that distillation will remove all radionuclides except Tritium, which is a radioactive isotope of hydrogen. I read somewhere that reverse osmosis will do it too but I cannot find that reference now. As for carbon filter, I don't know.
It seems like nobody on this
It seems like nobody on this forum knows an answer to this question. Perhaps we should ask somewhere more appropriate, like ni the chemistry department?
We have been looking into
We have been looking into various filtration systems and my research into the topic shows that reverse osmosis has been shown to remove some heavier metals and some radioisotopes, however activated carbon filters are the standard in iodine and cesium removal.
Great, thanks! Do you know
Great, thanks! Do you know if all the standard consumer filters like "New Wave Enviro" and "Brita" should work for iodine and cesium?
Are those twist on
Are those twist on refridgerator filters activated carbon?
From my research, I think
From my research, I think that Carbon filters do quite well on Iodine but not so well on Cesium. Can anyone verify this?