CBC MARKETPLACE: YOUR HOME » WATER
Home water filters: Which one's best for you?
Broadcast: November 14, 2000 | Reporter/Producer: Ines Colabrese; Research: Mike Gordon

Ever since water contaminated with E. coli killed seven people in Walkerton, Ontario earlier this year, Canadians have been paying more attention to the serious concerns with their tap water.

So it's no wonder that many people are looking for ways to make sure their water is safe to drink. This often means buying a water filtration device for the tap, the fridge or for something you can take with you in the car.

But do these products make water safe to drink?

We set out to give you the tips on how to best shop for water filters. Along the way, we found three filters that claimed they got rid of E. coli. And some surprising details about Canadian standards.

Shopping for a home water filter system can be a daunting task.

Many Canadians have gone through the process that Anne Clifford and her husband Mike did recently: they went shopping for a home water filtration system. Anne and Mike live in Toronto with their four-year-old son.

"My biggest concern is for my child and other children," Anne Clifford told Marketplace. "Although I'm not concerned with the bacterial content in the water in the city, I am concerned about the amount of chemicals we consume."

Toronto relies heavily on chlorine to kill bacteria in its water supply. It also uses filtration beds made up of layers of granular activated charcoal, sand and rock.

Millions of Canadians have to rely on wells for their water. Usually, the water is of excellent quality. But well water can become contaminated with bacteria. The biggest fear, of course, is E. Coli.

That's led many Canadians to shop for water filters to resolve their fears. But right now, there are no federal regulations requiring any of these products to have any government approvals. So when you venture into the Marketplace, you're on your own.

No regulations for filters

Dr. Barry Thomas knows all about water filtration devices. He worked as a leading toxicologist with Health Canada for the past 30 years. His special interest was water filters.

"We protect food. We protect drugs. We should protect the products that treat our drinking water," Thomas told Marketplace. "And I think the public has a right to this protection."

For now, we are on our own, trying to make our way through the sales pitches of hundreds of products.

"We protect food. We protect drugs. We should protect the products that treat our drinking water," says Dr. Barry Thomas, Health Canada toxicologist.

We came across a few of them for this story:

• The Bottom's Up Filter sells for about $40; works on any fresh water source; says it gets rid of Giardia, cryptosporidium and E. Coli
• The Rainfresh ceramic filter sells for about $200; packaging says it traps and kills bacteria and fecal coliforms, including E. coli
• The Doulton ceramic filter sells for just over $300; says it eliminates 99.99 per cent of E. coli in water

Marketplace wanted to see if these systems would make water contaminated with E. coli safe to drink. So we asked the companies for the scientific studies that showed the products were effective.

We received the documents. Then we erased all mention of the companies. We sent that data off to regulators and scientists; organizations like the United States Environmental Protection Agency.

EPA sets high standards

The EPA has set a high standard for E. coli removal from water. It is law in the United States. Here in Canada, no such law exists, so water filtration products do not have to live up to the EPA protocol. But, if a water filtration company asks, Health Canada recommends that any product sold to reduce E. coli should adhere to the tough EPA standard.

When EPA scientists test these products, they start with heavily contaminated water. To be successful, a product would have to remove at least 99.9999 per cent of the E. coli from the water. The EPA considers any less a health hazard.

American regulations say water filtration devices must adhere to specified standards. There are no Canadian regulations requiring these products to have any government approvals.

The EPA standards are also applied by NSF International, the leading North American expert in testing and certifying water filtration devices. The not-for-profit organization charges companies for testing to verify that products live up to their claims.

Marketplace also asked the scientists at NSF to look at the scientific studies the companies sent to us.

Checking the studies

First NSF checked the studies that came with the Bottom's Up product. NSF found that while the Bottom's Up studies made reference to the EPA protocol, they did not actually follow it.

We took NSF's concerns to the Bottom's Up distributor in the Toronto area, Terry Walsh.

Marketplace: NSF scientists say that in one of your studies you cite the EPA guide standard and protocol for testing microbiological water purifiers, but that the test didn't actually follow the protocol.

Walsh: Well, now, I think you'd have to talk to the manufacturer about that because, I mean, I go by the information that he provides me from the labs and that's what I have to follow.

Mark Jost, vice president at NSF International, helped check out the scientific data on the water filters we looked at.

Marketplace put the question to company owner Carl Palmer. He wrote: " We were assured by each independent lab that they followed strict EPA protocols methodology...We do not doubt the credibility of each laboratory listed."

NSF also looked at the scientific data behind another product: the Rainfresh ceramic filter. It's sold in Canadian Tire stores.

The company owners would not talk to us on camera. But last September, they were featured in a Toronto Star article. They told the newspaper they took water from a pond north of Toronto, put it through their filter and drank from it. They said that proved Rainfresh got rid of most E. coli.

Mark Jost, one of the scientists at NSF, said that's not a very scientific study.

"In the standards that were referenced in most of the literature that we saw, you have to follow an EPA protocol for purifiers," Jost said. "That challenge is for over a million organisms per hundred millilitres. You cannot say that pond water has that type of contamination."

Terry Walsh, distributor for Bottom's Up water filter.

The formal, scientific study sent to Marketplace by the Rainfresh company said they had removed even more E. coli than is called for by the EPA standard. But when the NSF scientists looked at the study, they found they had done an easier test, which didn't meet the EPA standard.

The company, Envirogard, wrote: "Our tests proved directly that our ceramics are effective. Anyone who claims otherwise is wrong."

Finally, we asked the EPA to comment on the scientific studies of the Doulton ceramic filter. It's made in England and sold throughout Canada.

When the EPA looked at Doulton's scientific studies, it pointed out that the laboratory which performed the studies didn't appear to follow the EPA protocol. We asked the makers of Doulton for their response. Head office in England told us they stand by the scientific evidence they gave us and they take issue with being assessed against the EPA protocol.

With regard to the EPA standard, they wrote: "…it has not been accepted globally as the best or the only way to test this type of water filter device."

The Doulton filter will get rid of E. coli. And that's true of all three products we've looked at. But the question for the EPA is not whether the products get rid of E. coli, but by how much.

Ralph Suppa, spokesperson for the Canadian Water Quality Association.

Based on the material the EPA read, the agency tells us that none of these three filters demonstrates by the studies they supplied that they meet the EPA standards.

But, the EPA adds, to say the filters don't work would be inappropriate.

The studies for E. coli reduction just aren't conclusive by EPA standards. And what about the other water filters on the market? It can be tough to know which work and which don't because there's no regulation of the industry.

Regulation is what Health Canada's Barry Thomas has been calling for. That would mean products would have to be sold certified, assuring shoppers the products can do what they say they do.

"The latest information I've seen is about two-thirds of the drinking water treatment devices on the market are not certified," Thomas said. "So the consumer could have some difficulty finding certified products."

Health Canada has twice tried to introduce laws that would force companies to certify their products. Twice, the proposed law was voted down.

The Canadian Water Quality Association represents about half the water filter manufacturers in Canada. Ralph Suppa is the association's spokesperson.

"We have not seen any persuasive, scientific evidence to demonstrate that our products need to be legislated," Suppa told Marketplace.

Suppa added that legislation would put some of the association's members out of business.

For now, Health Canada and the Canadian Water Quality Association remain in a stalemate.

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