Why You Should Filter Your Tap Water in Australia

Do you really know what is in your water? Here, we explore the likelihood of harmful contaminants within your tap water and what to do to protect the health of you and your children.

If you have watched the film Dark Waters, you will be aware of, and most likely worried about, the potential for contamination of our water supplies.

There are literally billions of different pollutants that could make their way into our raw water supplies. As it is not feasible to test for every possible contaminant, water to be used to supply our cities and towns is tested for the most probable and harmful contaminants given the location of the water source.  For example, water from a river that flows through agricultural land may be tested for common fertilisers.  The water treatment processes for that particular water source are then selected based on the results of these tests.

However, it is possible there are still harmful contaminants in the water when it reaches our homes and communities. A range of worrying pollutants is per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), referred to as forever chemicals.

In Australia, our water quality is guided by the Australian Drinking Water Guidelines (ADWG) which lists upper safe limits for over 300 possible contaminants.  The ADWG are updated regularly to account for advances in medical and scientific knowledge.  However, changes are only made when there is a large body of evidence to support the change, and often this can take many years, sometimes decades. 

Recently, scientific research into the prevalence, harm and management of PFAS has increased considerably. The world’s leader in PFAS research is the United States with nearly 3,000 published papers in the last 5 years (compared to less than 500 by Australia). In the US, drinking water quality is governed by the national Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) through the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA).  The EPA also maintains a list referred to as the Contaminant Candidate List (CCL) which helps prioritise scientific research to understand if a contaminant needs to be included in the SDWA. In April 2024, the US EPA announced it had sufficient scientific data to conclude that no level of PFOS/PFOA (PFAS or forever chemicals) in drinking water is safe and will legally enforce a maximum limit of 4 parts per trillion in five years. By comparison, currently, the ADWG allow up to 70 parts per trillion of PFOS and 560 of PFOA.

So, what can we do? How do we protect our families?

In addition to this announcement, the US EPA committed $1 billion towards addressing PFAS contamination.  In Australia, the National Health and Medical Research Council is responsible for the ADWG and has committed $8 million of funding between 2020 and the end of 2025 for PFAS health related research. Many of these studies are due for completion in 2025. Read the annual progress reports for the studies here (Annual progress reports | NHMRC).

Until Australia and the ADWG catch up to the science, it is likely there will be PFAS and other contaminants in our drinking water.  Removing these through filtration prior to drinking is a very effective way of reducing our exposure to these forever chemicals and protecting our family’s health. This can be achieved by installing an under sink filtration system for home use, combined with the use of the Access Filter Straw when away from home.

Ensuring your family is only drinking water that has been filtered will help protect the health of you and your children into the future.