Please click on the "+" sign next to each question to see the responses.
is westfield water safe to drink?
“Safe” is a level of comfort that everyone has to determine for themselves and their families. What we can say is:
- "Legal" and "compliant" are not synonyms for "safe" or "healthy" or "containing no toxic substances."
- Westfield has a history of difficult to remove contaminants and difficult to avoid disinfection byproducts resulting in many periods where we struggled trying to meet water quality standards.
- Westfield’s public water supply is usually compliant with state and local regulations except for disinfection byproducts, which are an ongoing struggle for our municipal water system.
- While Westfield water is compliant with most of the regulations most of the time, those regulations do not require the removal of all the things that can cause harm.
- It is difficult to determine the current status of public Westfield water quality because publicly available data lag weeks and months behind.
- To ensure safe drinking water for family and pets, and to water any plants you intend to eat, WRAFT recommends households use point-of-use reverse osmosis filters where possible. Some models will require you consider supplementation of minerals removed. Some filters have a stage to do this. Most multivitamins will also cover this dietary loss.
why does my water smell or look funny and what should i do about it?
Whether you are on municipal water or private water, there are several different reasons why the water coming out of your tap might have a distinct color or odor. The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (Mass DEP) and the University of Georgia (UGA) have put out some great information guides on these topics.
- Your Household Water Quality: Odors in Your Water | UGA Cooperative Extension - UGA website with great diagram and flow chart to determine the source of water quality problems
- Your Household Water Quality: Odors in Your Water - pdf of the above site
- Color, Taste, and Odor: What you should know - MassDEP all text information with details about specific colors and odors
what type of water filter(s) should i use?
We recommend using NSF Certified Reverse Osmosis filtration *UNLESS YOU ARE ON SEPTIC*
NSCU: PFAS At the Tap (Comparison of at home water filters)
Dr. Knappe's PFAS Conference Presentation at timestamp for home filters
Duke University's PFAS & Water Filtering Factsheet
- "The discharge of wastewater from an RO treatment system to a Title 5 septic system is prohibited under MassDEP Title 5 regulations (310 CMR 15.000)." More here.
- Not unless your house is brand new.
- See reasons why below from: Star News: Filtering out the best home water systems for GenX
- “Whole-house filters can be significantly more expensive than those that sit under a sink. But, there is another reason to consider avoiding a whole-house setup, Knappe said.
- These systems filter water before sending it through the pipes running throughout a house. If such a system includes activated carbon, the filtered water would lack disinfectants that normally prevent or kill the film of bacteria and other biological substances that would build up on those pipes.
- "If a proper disinfectant level is not maintained, disease-causing microorganisms can grow in the pipes and enter the water coming out of a tap," Knappe said. “Your whole house becomes an incubator then -- the pipes, the hot water heater.”
- This happened in 2009, when some guests at a hotel in Miami contracted Legionnaires’ disease, a form of pneumonia, after drinking water from a system filtering the whole building’s supply.”
NSCU: PFAS At the Tap (Comparison of at home water filters)
Dr. Knappe's PFAS Conference Presentation at timestamp for home filters
Duke University's PFAS & Water Filtering Factsheet
where can i find pfas information to share with my doctor?
where / how can i find pfas free consumer products?
PERSONAL CARE PRODUCTS
EWG Verified Personal Care Products Page - includes skin care, makeup, sun care, baby items, cleaning products, etc.
Ingerdients to AVOID if you're looking to reduce PFAS exposure:
CONSUMER REPORTS TESTING OF COOKWARE
EWG Verified Personal Care Products Page - includes skin care, makeup, sun care, baby items, cleaning products, etc.
Ingerdients to AVOID if you're looking to reduce PFAS exposure:
- EWG's list: PTFE (Teflon), Perfluorononyl Dimethicone, Perfluorodecalin, C9-15 Fluoroalcohol Phosphate, Octafluoropentyl, Methacrylate, Perfluorohexane, Pentafluoropropane, Polyperfluoroethoxymethoxy Difluoroethyl Peg Phosphate, Polyperfluoroethoxymethoxy Peg-2 Phosphate, Methyl Perfluorobutyl Ether, Perfluorononylethyl Carboxydecyl Peg-10 Dimethicone, Perfluorodimethylcyclohexane, Perfluoroperhydrophenanthrene
- Green Science Policy Institute's List of Ingredients to AVOID (even though they don't have -fluoro- in the name): - acrylate - methacrylate - methicone - dimethicone - synthetic mica - synthetic fluorphlogopite - various pigments
- PFAS Central's List of PFAS-Free Products (includes Outer Wear, Apparel, Shoes, and Personal Care)
CONSUMER REPORTS TESTING OF COOKWARE
