You can't see them, smell them, or taste them, but PFAS, the “forever chemicals,” are in the tap water of millions of US homes, and once they're in your body they stay for years. Enter your ZIP and find out whether they're in yours, what the testing actually shows for your water system, and the filter that gets them out.
Each figure in the brief traces to a primary EPA, ATSDR, or NSF document you can open and check, so you can act on it, or take it to your utility, without taking our word for it.
2023–2025. Every US public water system serving ≥3,300 people is required to sample for 29 PFAS analytes plus lithium. The largest single PFAS dataset ever collected, interim summaries published quarterly at ncod.epa.gov.
Finalised April 10, 2024, published 89 Fed. Reg. 32532 (April 26, 2024). First federally-enforceable MCLs for six PFAS: PFOA, PFOS, PFHxS, PFNA, HFPO-DA (GenX), and a Hazard Index for the mixture.
The only consumer-grade filter certification that means "removes PFOA + PFOS." Not "NSF 42" (taste/odour). Not "NSF 53" alone. The P473 protocol is what the report checks against your filter model.
The certification standard for under-sink and countertop RO systems. RO removes >95% of all PFAS including short-chain GenX and PFBS that carbon block can miss.
Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry. Documents serum half-lives (2–8 years for long-chain), placental transfer, and associations with low birth weight, vaccine response, ulcerative colitis, kidney and testicular cancer.
Compiled from state DEP data + UCMR 4/5 results. Cross-referenced for our hotspot utility list, every named hotspot in the report has documented public-record evidence (consent orders, lawsuit settlements, ATSDR exposure assessments).
Cape Fear Public Utility Authority sits in the most-documented PFAS hotspot zone in the United States. Here's the brief we'd hand a CFPUA customer.
Chemours Fayetteville Works (formerly DuPont) contaminated the entire Cape Fear River basin with HFPO-DA ("GenX") and a constellation of other PFAS. CFPUA's Sweeney WTP treats Cape Fear surface water for ~200,000 customers across New Hanover County. Pre-treatment HFPO-DA detections peaked above 130 ng/L (2017 sampling).
CFPUA completed full-scale Granular Activated Carbon treatment at Sweeney WTP in October 2022, finished-water PFAS now routinely below the new MCLs per CFPUA quarterly reports. Customers still in the broader Cape Fear basin outside CFPUA (Brunswick County, etc.) remain on impacted source water until their own treatment upgrades come online.
Under-sink RO certified to NSF/ANSI 58 + NSF 53 P473, removes >95% of all PFAS including short-chain GenX. Carbon-block-only filters are not adequate for GenX-impacted source water. Estimated cost: $200–700 upfront, $50–120/yr cartridges.
For 20 years PFOA and PFOS sat under non-enforceable "Health Advisories" while industry transitioned to replacement compounds (GenX) that turned out to be just as bad. April 2024 changed that.
| Compound | MCL |
|---|---|
| PFOA Perfluorooctanoic acid | 4.0 ng/L |
| PFOS Perfluorooctane sulfonic acid | 4.0 ng/L |
| PFHxS Perfluorohexane sulfonic acid | 10 ng/L |
| PFNA Perfluorononanoic acid | 10 ng/L |
| HFPO-DA GenX · Chemours replacement for PFOA | 10 ng/L |
| Mixture HI PFHxS + PFNA + HFPO-DA + PFBS | HI = 1 |
This is the chart you came for. Independent testing (Duke University 2020; NSF; EPA Method 533) puts RO at the top and most pitcher filters at the bottom. The report PDF includes specific certified models and 2024 prices.
>95% removal
$200 – $700 upfront
$50 – $120 / yr
Removes everything, long-chain, short-chain, GenX, PFBS. Required for hotspot utilities.
85%+ removal
$60 – $200 upfront
$60 – $120 / yr
Strong on long-chain PFOA/PFOS, variable on short-chain. P473 certification is non-negotiable.
>95% removal
$400 – $600 upfront
$120 – $200 / yr
RO performance without plumbing. Good for rentals.
0 – 30% removal
$20 – $40 upfront
$30 – $60 / yr
Generic Brita/PUR do not remove PFAS. ZeroWater & Travel Berkey are partial exceptions per independent testing.
Your water system's PFAS results in plain English: what was found, how it stacks up against the new federal limits, whether you live in a known hotspot, and exactly which filter gets it out, with real 2024 prices. Plus how to test your own tap, and a simple plan for the next two weeks. In your inbox in under a minute.
