Frequently Asked Questions

“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 complaint 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.

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

     We recommend using NSF Certified Reverse Osmosis filtration *UNLESS YOU ARE ON SEPTIC*

• • "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.

     What about a whole house filter? 

• • 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

At the top of our Resources page here.

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:

• 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

GENERAL LIST 

• PFAS Central's List of PFAS-Free Products (includes Outer Wear, Apparel, Shoes, and Personal Care)

CONSUMER REPORTS TESTING OF COOKWARE

• You Can’t Always Trust Claims on ‘Non-Toxic’ Cookware  Oct 26, 2022

• Best Frying Pans If You Want to Avoid PFAS Chemicals  Oct 26, 2022