How to Remove Aluminum Pollution From Your Faucet Water

The contamination of water by aluminum is an ever growing problem. Aluminum was first discovered in the early 1800’s but was very expensive to use – 90 dollars per pound. Then, in 1886, Charles Martin Hall developed an inexpensive method of extracting the metal from the ore.  The price quickly dropped to 2 dollars per pound and aluminum became more available. Since then it has been used in a variety of ways both as a metal (it is the third most produced metal today), and in compounds such as bauxite or alum.

But aluminum has introduced its own problems.  D.R.C. McLachlan found in a study that a relationship did exist between the number of diagnosed Alzheimer’s cases and the level of aluminum present in the drinking water supply. At least one fourth of the cases could have been prevented, he concluded, if the public water supply had had an aluminum level below 100 micrograms/liter. Other problems are also related to the presence of aluminum, such as some lung diseases.

The affect of industry on our health is just beginning to be known. After years of study, we are learning that metals like aluminum are harmful to the body when children or adults ingest them for a long period of time. The metals tend to accumulate and affect especially the nervous system.

Even the oceans contain a small amount of aluminum and the body normal contains 9ppm. But when the metal accumulates in the body, then the problems begin. Aluminum oxide and aluminum hydroxide are the most common water insoluble compounds. But other compounds cause medical problems when they leech into the water supplies.

As we learn more about the connection between Alzheimer’s and aluminum in our water source, it is bound to spur us to action. For example, when this author read the above information, we got rid of the aluminum pan we used for boiling tea.

The most important action is to immediately start filtering drinking water. Whether you get your water from a well or the city supply, aluminum will surely be present. Though cities usually have a maximum level of between 50 and 200 g/L, further filtering is still wise.

One technique is to distill your drinking water but this also removes valuable minerals and the taste. A better plan is to purchase a filter that uses an activated charcoal filter for they are able to remove 95% of the aluminum in the water. Since there is no known benefit of aluminum in the body, this is an inexpensive and healthy course of action!

The best line of activated charcoal filter we are aware of is the Berkey Filters. Whether you choose their Imperial Berkey or another model, each set of filters they ship with can be re-cleaned to purify up to 6,000 gallons of water.