Can a water filter remove heavy metals in Malta?

When it comes to heavy metals, they exist naturally in the earth's crust which make particles of them end up in our drinking water. The human body requires some of the heavy metals but an excess of them can be toxic. And the heavy metals such as; arsenic, cadmium, nickel, mercury, chromium, zinc and lead are the most toxic ones. So there are reasons for being concerned about these metals since they can cause cancer, diabetes and other problems in the human body when over consumed. 

Another common source of heavy metal contamination is lead water piping, still present in older properties. The heavy metals present in the drinking water as of today are still not within the recommended limits as set by the regulatory authorities in different countries. 

A study of the heavy metals in Maltese potable water made by Roberta Bugeja and Claire Shoemake showed that the levels of heavy metals across Malta and Gozo was in general satisfactory and most concentrations obtained were within the legal concentration range. However it did show, in some samples, elevated levels of iron, aluminium and lead.

The heavy metal concentrations obtained indicated that concentrations of the elements were generally below the maximum allowed concentration established by the Maltese legislation. In terms of the Maltese and EU water quality regulations, 17.5% of the localities sampled yielded water that failed the acceptance criteria for a single metal in drinking water. Higher concentrations of some metals were observed in samples obtained at the end of the distribution network, when compared to the concentrations at the source. The observed changes in metal concentrations between the localities’ samples and the corresponding supply reservoirs were significant. The higher metal concentrations obtained in the samples from the localities can be attributed to leaching in the distribution network.

Can water filters remove heavy metals?

If we take a look at the different filters at the market, which one is the most effective filter for removing heavy metals from drinking water?

Ion exchange resin is able to remove heavy metals and is often used in combination with other filter systems. Active ceramic media are highly effective at reducing heavy metals but are an expensive alternative since the cartridge has a long life before it needs replacement. Kinetic degradation fluxion uses a basic chemical process known as redox. This is often used in combination with a carbon filter.

Reverse osmosis is in fact made up of 3, 4 or 5 stages of filtration systems together. The system works slowly which is why you need a storage tank for the water. The water is divided into two streams, one carries the filtered water and the other stream carries the removed impure water and as a result of this method is quite a lot of waste of water.  Read more about TAPP Water V Reverse Osmosis in Malta. 

Activated carbon block and granular activated carbon filters (GAC) both do a good job removing heavy metals but they work in different ways. The granular activated carbon filters are made using carbon that has been ground up and is held together loosely inside a container, but activated carbon block filters are made by grinding activated carbon into fine powder which is then mixed with a food-grade binder, and the resulting mixture is then heated up and compressed into a solid block. The result is that carbon particles in an activate carbon block filter usually are 5 to 20 times smaller than the particles in a GAC filter which means that they filter out far more contaminants than a GAC filter.

The good news is that there are water filters available here in Malta that remove heavy metals in the drinking water.

TAPP Water filter has an advanced 5 stage filter system  and one of the steps in the filtration is  an activated carbon block filter that is made from coconut husks. Coconut husks are a renewable resource and avoids using fossil fuels and are also a perfect source of carbon for effective water filtration.

TAPP water Filters such as the TAPP EcoPro are easy to fit, you just screw it on your tap. The filter might look small but it is advanced technology inside the filter and reduces 90% of heavy metals.

Independent tests gave been carried out on the filtered water in Malta and the results are publicly available. and you can find the result here:  

TAPP water also offers a guarantee that allows you to try TAPP Water for 45 days in your own home.   This is so you can make a proper decision for yourself without any risk of wasting money.

We covered this subject in the video below from TAPP Talk Live.#21