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Water Treatment Issues:

Acid Water

Algae, cyanotoxins

Alkalinity

Alum (Aluminum Sulfate)

Aluminum

Ammonia

Arsenic

Asbestos

Bacteria

Barium

Benzene

Bicarbonate Alkalinity

Boron (Borate, Boric Acid)

Brackish Water

Bromine

Bromate

Cadmium

Calcium

Carbon Dioxide

Carbon Tetrachloride

Chloramines

Chloride

Chlorine

Chromium

Color

Copper

Corrosion

Cryptosporidium

Cyanide

Dichloroethylene

Endocrine Disruptors

Fluoride

Giardia Lambia

Hardness

Heterotrophic Bacteria (HPC)

Hydrogen Sulfide

Iodine

Iron

Iron Bacteria

Lead

Magnesium

Manganese

Mercury

Methane

MTBE

Napthalene

Nickel

Nitrates and Nitrites

NMDA (N-Nitrosodimethylanime)

Norovirus

Odor

Organics

Perchloroethylene (PCE)

Perchlorate

Pesticides

pH

Pharmaceuticals

Radon

Radium

Selenium

Silica

Silver

Strontium

Sulfate

TDS (Total Dissolved Solids)

Trichlorethylene (TCE)

Tritium

Uranium

Vanadium

Vinyl Chloride

VOC


Aluminum

Aluminum is an abundant metal, but it does not dissolve easily into water so it is not often a concern in drinking water.The main source of aluminum in the body is food.

Although natural water can contain from 0.1 to as much as 9.0 parts per million aluminum, by far the main source of aluminum in drinking water is alum (aluminum sulfate) that is added by water treatment plants to aid in clarification. (Alum causes tiny particles to clump together, making them more easily filterable.)

Alum is listed by EPA in Secondary Standards at a suggested level of 0.05 to 0.2 ppm.

Treatment: How to Remove Aluminum from Water

Aluminum can be removed by a cation exchanger (water softener) but this is not regarded as a practical home treatment because regeneration of the exchange bed must be done with sulfuric or hydrochloric acid.

Home treatment of drinking water is easy. Reverse osmosis and distillation remove 98 percent plus. Aluminum can, under the right pH conditions, be a foulant to reverse osmosis membranes.

Claims are made by manufacturers of KDF/Carbon filters that KDF removes aluminum, but we can find no evidence to support this.

Aluminum is also removed by electrodialysis.

More information.