Aquasana is a residential water treatment brand that’s best known for its whole-home, under-sink, countertop, and shower water filters.
If you’re keen to remove PFAS from your drinking water supply, you might be wondering which of Aquasana’s filters – if any – are capable of reducing forever chemicals.
In this guide, we’ve answered the question, “Do Aquasana filters remove PFAS?”
Table of Contents
🚱 How Do PFAS Get Into Drinking Water?
There are a few different ways that PFAS can get into drinking water, including:
- Through runoff into surface water supplies
- Due to soil seepage, carrying them into groundwater (underground water) supplies
How do PFAS end up in the environment in the first place? While PFAS chemicals aren’t used widely in manufacturing anymore, they may still pollute the environment as a result of wastewater from sewage treatment plants, air emissions from factories, and runoff from firefighting foams. Products containing PFAS are still imported into the country.
The big problem with PFAS chemicals is that they break down over an unusually long period of time – hence why they’re known as “forever chemicals”. That means that PFAS from the environment continue to find their way into our natural water sources today, even though these chemicals have mostly been phased out of use.
Once PFAS enter a water supply, it’s very difficult to remove them. Public water utilities don’t have the facilities at their treatment plants to effectively remove PFAS, which is why our tap water often contains trace amounts of these chemicals.
🩺 What Are the Potential Health Risks of PFAS?
There are several known human health effects of PFAS, as highlighted in this 2021 review of studies and research into PFAS toxicity.
Exposure to PFAS increases your risk of the following:
- Testicular, thyroid, kidney, and liver cancer
- Thyroid disease
- Liver and kidney disease
- Dysregulation of lipids and insulin
- Suppressed immune function
- Reproductive and developmental issues
The researchers in the report acknowledged that our awareness of the health effects of PFAS mostly comes from studies of a few common chemicals, and that we’re lacking important toxicity data for hundreds of other PFAS chemicals that exist today.
🧪 How Can I Test for PFAS in My Water?
If you want to find out exactly what types of PFAS are present in your water, and at what concentration, we recommend testing your water with a certified laboratory water test.
This testing kit will give you a comprehensive understanding of your water’s PFAS contamination. You’ll learn everything you need to know about your water quality, so you can choose a treatment method that will target the specific PFAS you’re dealing with.
Laboratory testing usually costs hundreds of dollars, so it’s not an option for everyone. Alternatively, you can check your most recent annual Water Quality Report or contact your water utility to ask about how they test for PFAS in your local water supply.
🤔 So, Do Aquasana Filters Remove PFAS?
Yes, all Aquasana drinking water filters (excluding the brand’s shower filters) are capable of reducing PFAS and have been tested and certified to NSF Standard 53 or 58 for their ability to do so.
This includes two of Aquasana’s most popular products: the Aquasana Claryum® 3-Stage Under Sink System and the Aquasana Countertop Clean Water Machine.
Aquasana filters also conform to NSF P473, which was originally used by the NSF to categorize water filters that could remove PFAS.
🔎 What Types Of PFAS Does Aquasana Remove?
Aquasana’s drinking water filters have been tested and proven capable of reducing PFOA and PFOS.
You can view datasheets with test results for the Aquasana filters, which tell you the maximum removal percentage for the specific filter. For example, the performance sheet for the Claryum® 3-Stage Under Sink System tells us that this filter has an overall percentage reduction of 95.2% for PFOA and PFOS, according to NSF/ANSI Standard 53 requirements.
There’s no data to suggest that any of Aquasana’s filters can remove GenX or any of the other PFAS chemicals, which suggests the filters either aren’t capable or simply haven’t been tested to remove any other PFAS.
| PFAS Type | % Reduction |
|---|---|
| Perfluorooctanoic Acid (PFOA) | 95.2% |
| Perfluorooctane Sulfonate (PFOS) | 95.2% |
⚗️ How Does Aquasana Remove PFAS?
Aquasana uses different media in its different filters, achieving PFAS reduction with several different processes.
For instance, the OptimH20 Whole House Filter uses ultra-dense activated carbon block and catalytic carbon media to remove contaminants down to 0.5 microns. Activated carbon is one of the EPA-recommended filter media for reducing PFAS in drinking water, thanks to its ability to effectively pull PFAS out of water using a process called adsorption.
Many of Aquasana’s point of use water filters use Aquasana’s patented Claryum® technology, which combines catalytic and activated carbon with ion exchange and sub-micron filtration, further enhancing the PFAS removal abilities of the carbon. Ion exchange is another EPA endorsed filter media for reducing PFAS, and cation exchange resin attracts oppositely-charged PFAS and prevents them from passing through the filter with the water molecules.
🚰 Other PFAS Water Filters
Aquasana has got you covered if you’re looking for a certified water filtration system for under-sink, countertop, or whole-home use.
However, you might prefer other filter types, or you might simply want to know all your options for removing PFAS. In that case, we recommend also considering:
- Water filter pitchers – Remove 80-98% of PFAS
- Reverse osmosis systems – Remove around 90-95% of PFAS
- Water distiller units – Remove up to 99% of PFAS
❔ FAQ
Are Aquasana water filters NSF certified for PFAS removal?
Yes, Aquasana’s drinking water filters, including the Aquasana Claryum® 3-Stage Under Sink System, the OptimH20 Whole House Filter, and the Aquasana Countertop Clean Water Machine are all NSF certified for reducing PFAS. In fact, Aquasana claims to be the first home water filter brand to obtain an NSF certification for PFAS reduction.
What else can Aquasana water filters remove?
Some of the other contaminants that are removed by Aquasana water filters are BPA, chlorine, asbestos, lead, mercury, and MTBE. The filters have WQA testing and certifications to NSF Standards for their contaminant reduction abilities.
Does the Aquasana shower filter remove PFAS?
No, Aquasana’s shower filter isn’t tested or advertised to remove PFAS. However, removing PFAS from your shower water isn’t important (as long as you don’t drink the water) because it’s safe to bathe and shower in water containing forever chemicals.
