Are there any consumer devices that are capable of filtering out any amount of micro or nano plastics? I already avoid plastic bottles as much as I reasonably can, and I'd like to make sure my tap water is as not terrible as possible.
The problem isn't just the water supply. Its in your food, the soil, your clothes, your furniture, the air. LITERALLY everywhere. Theres a study that was done where a group avoided the use of plastic containers to consume food+water vs a group that only used plastic containers and it showed that it made no significant difference in the amount of microplastics they were consuming.
Lots of activated charcoal does help to an extent, which is a standard for filters. The more, the better, which inevitably slows the water to a trickle. I use a kichu water filter(1) in an old Brita, but I have had my eye on an a glass dafi pitcher which should hold it aa well. I pack it full, and let it sit for a day if possible - then dump it in another glass pitcher with a little charcoal stick inside that.
The articles state higher levels in bottled water treated with RO but there are many stages of treatment and delivery involved in industrial scale bottled water production. Unclear if RO itself is the underlying cause.
RO membranes are tight enough and should effectively remove all microplastics from the output water. On a consumer RO system the water will still pass through a few final treatment stages and a few feet of plastic tubing before getting to your glass.
Very possible some additional plastic is being introduced in the post membrane stages and delivery but my assumption is that a point of use RO system is going to reasonably effective.
There is some chance the manufacturers are omitting the fact that all membranes are bleeding microplastics during use. At the moment I don't think we have enough evidence to say they are and most testing has shown them to be effective as a removal method.
ZeroWater makes a carafe that reduces total dissolved solids to 0 ppm, including PFAs and microplastics, or so they claim. I have tested it with two different monitors, and it is indeed 0 ppm, which is good enough to be considered distilled water by the FDA. The filter does not sustain that level of efficiency for very long if there are lots of solids to clog it (i.e. ymmv depending on your water source. Some people prefilter, but who has space and time for that?). I’m not sure it’s capable of filtering to the nanometer scale, but then again I’m not sure anything can, which is why this is so frightening for life forms.
Other devices you can install with some rudimentary plumbing knowledge are BWT or Pentaire reverse osmosis filters. They do a good enough job at filtering, though they waste a lot of water in the process. I use these at work and I the Pentaire allows you to control ppm, which is suitable for coffee aficionados. You can always remineralize your water once you get the junk out.
> ZeroWater makes a carafe that reduces total dissolved solids to 0 ppm, including PFAs and microplastics, or so they claim.
ZeroWater uses an ion exchange filter - It's my understanding that many (most?) micro plastics are not dissolved and/or are not charged meaning it won't effectively filter most microplastics.
Similarly they aren't designed to filter bacteria.
> The current system is meant to be used with municipally treated, potable water as the current filter will not remove microbiological contaminants.
They do manage to filter inorganic solids, but I’m not sure about microplastics. I assumed they did, but they’re hesitant to say on their site. Perhaps I mistakenly assumed that if they can eliminate PFAs from water, microplastics are also removable.
