Mara Hoplamazian

If you find out your water has PFAS in it and your water system isn't treating it, you might want to get a treatment system in your own home.

It's important to do some research about that.

Not all water filters are the same, and some aren't as effective for PFAS.

There's three kinds of water filters that are generally effective.

One is granular activated carbon.

One is ion exchange resin.

And then there's reverse osmosis.

Those three things are generally sort of effective for treating PFAS.

And you'll also want to look for a filter that is certified.

You can check out the National Sanitation Foundation website to see if a particular filter you're interested in treats the kind of PFAS that you're trying to target.

And generally, you'll want to look for the letters NSF ANSI 53 or NSF ANSI 58.

What about if you're drinking bottled water?

I mean, some people will do that instead to try to avoid any contaminants that might be in the tap.

For bottled water, I think it really depends on what your levels are that you're trying to avoid.

So if you have really high levels in your tap water or in your private well,

bottled water might have lower levels than that and could be a better option.

In the 2025 statement from the U.S.

Food and Drug Administration, they shared results from testing of bottled water that they collected from stores across the U.S.

between 2023 and 2024.

10 of the 197 samples that they took had detectable levels of PFAS, but the FDA said none of those levels would have exceeded the federal levels, the maximum contaminant levels that the EPA set.