Does Your Water Contain an Unsafe Level of Chromium?

Today, I’ll continue my review of some of the more common drinking water contaminants with a look at Chromium. I’ll touch on how Chromium can affect water quality and share information on things you can do to minimize your family’s exposure to the contaminant.

Chromium is a naturally occurring element widely used in industrial and manufacturing processes. It usually gets into our drinking water supply through the erosion of natural deposits, and from discharges from steel and pulp mills. Consuming water containing Chromium at levels equal to or greater than 0.1 mg/L can cause adverse health effects.

Fortunately, Chromium is one of the drinking water contaminants regulated by the EPA. This means public water companies are required to monitor their water supply for Chromium and work to ensure the water they provide their customers does not exceed the legal limit for the contaminant. However, even with this standard in place, it’s still possible for your tap water to contain excessive amounts of Chromium.

How Chromium Can Affect Water Quality and Your Health

Both natural processes (e.g., erosion of naturally occurring deposits in the Earth’s crust) and human activities (e.g., waste disposal) can contaminate our water supply with Chromium.

What is Chromium, exactly? Chromium is an element used to manufacture metal alloys like stainless steel.

How can drinking water that contains Chromium affect your health? If you consume water that contains elevated levels of Chromium for a prolonged period, you may develop allergic dermatitis.

At what level can Chromium cause health problems? Chromium is known to cause adverse health effects when its concentration in drinking water is at or above 0.1 mg/L.

In an effort to protect our health, the EPA established legally enforceable standards to limit the amount of Chromium in our drinking water. Public water companies are required to ensure the concentration of Chromium in the water they provide their customers is kept at or below 0.1 mg/L.

Given available treatment technology, water utility companies should be able to provide drinking water that meets this quality standard. From 2010 to 2019, it appears they did just that. I reviewed the EPA’s water violation data covering the same period, and I didn’t find a single violation for Chromium.

Does Your Drinking Water Contain a Harmful Amount of Chromium?

Public water companies are required to provide customers with an annual water quality report, also known as a Consumer Confidence Report (CCR). Inside this report, you’ll find important information about your drinking water, including where it comes from, and whether it tested positive for any regulated contaminants like Chromium.

If you’re curious to know how much Chromium was found in your city’s drinking water, grab a copy of the latest CCR and look for the section of the report that covers “Inorganic Chemicals.” Here, you’ll find test results for Chromium as well as other contaminants like Antimony, Arsenic, Barium, and Cadmium.

How to Interpret Your Water Quality Report

When looking at your water quality report, you can expect to see test results for Chromium reported in Parts per Billion (ppb). 1 mg/L equals 1,000 ppb, so 0.1 mg/L is equivalent to 100 ppb.

Will You Be Notified If Your Water Contains an Unsafe Level of Chromium?

In addition to providing you with an annual quality report, your water company is required by the EPA to notify you if they identify a problem with your drinking water.

If your water company delivers water that could negatively impact your health, they have to notify you of the situation within the timeframe set by the EPA. Depending on the severity of the issue, the company is given 24 hours to 30 days to provide this notice.

If your city’s water exceeds the Maximum Contaminant Level (MCL) for Chromium, your water company must notify you within 30 days of the violation. Typically, you will receive this notice via the media or through the mail.

What Can You Do to Remove Chromium from Your Tap Water?

Fortunately, if you want to limit your family’s exposure to Chromium, there are several affordable yet effective options for removing the contaminant from your tap water.

But how can you tell which products work and which ones don’t? Well, if you want peace of mind, I recommend choosing a water treatment product that is certified by NSF International (NSF) to be effective at removing Chromium from water.

What does the NSF certification represent? When a product is NSF certified to remove Chromium, you can rest assured that:

• the manufacturer’s contaminant reduction claims have been verified;
• the system was tested to confirm it adds nothing harmful to the water;
• the system has been found to be structurally sound;
• the product’s advertising, literature, and labeling have all been verified as accurate;
• and there is testing in place to determine whether the quality of the product is consistent over time.

Do all NSF certified water filters work against Chromium? Water treatment devices can earn certification for meeting one or more NSF standards or protocols. But only certain NSF certified products, like Reverse Osmosis devices that meet NSF standard NSF/ANSI 58 for Chromium, are certified to reduce the amount of the Chromium in your water.

One such product, OptimH2O Reverse Osmosis + Claryum by Aquasana, is NSF certified to remove up to 97% of the Chromium found in your tap water. This device requires installation underneath your sink, so the manufacturer recommends enlisting the help of a professional to make sure it gets done right.

3 steps for selecting the right water treatment system for your family:

1. Review your area’s annual water quality report to find out what’s in your drinking water.
2. Determine which contaminants you’d like to reduce from your water.
3. Select a water treatment product that is NSF certified to work effectively against those contaminants you’d like to reduce from your tap water.

Just remember, no matter which water treatment product you choose, you need to make sure to perform the routine maintenance suggested by the manufacturer. This will help keep the device in proper working order and limit your family’s exposure to Chromium.