Tucked within the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, Joe Dinardo and his community rely on well water. After working with Rockbridge Conservation to test his water, the retired toxicologist found it contained “forever chemicals.” To protect himself, he’s been filtering his water for the last two years.
Toxic forever chemicals, or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), are prevalent in waterways across the Chesapeake Bay region. They were developed in the 1930s and have been used in a wide range of products for their stain-resistant and heat-resistant properties. There are more than 14,000 PFAS compounds, but they all have a strong carbon-fluorine bond that makes them nearly indestructible.
Forever chemicals range in toxicity, but many have been linked to health issues such as cancer, developmental effects and cardiovascular problems. Two compounds, PFOA and PFOS, have been banned in the U.S. because they are possibly carcinogenic.
Advocates in every Bay state are working to address these chemicals at a systemic scale.
In the meantime, Samendra Sherchan, professor of environmental health sciences at Morgan State University in Maryland, said that reducing levels of PFAS in your household drinking water is an effective way to limit exposure.
Sherchan recommends first checking to see if your tap water is contaminated. You can find out if the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has already tested your drinking water with the agency’s UCMR 5 Data Finder online database. If it has not been tested, the next step is to call your water provider to see if they have tested the water for these chemicals.
If you are on a private well or your water hasn’t been tested, you might have to arrange for a test yourself. For about $300, you can order a test online and simply mail in a water sample. Make sure to choose vendors that work with state-certified labs that use EPA methods, such as Tap Score, SimpleLab or Cyclopure.
Virginia well-users may be in luck. The Virginia Household Water Quality Program provides low-cost testing for private well owners through local testing clinics.
You can also call a state-certified lab directly and order a test (ask for EPA method 533 or 537.1). The Virginia Department of General Services, Maryland Department of the Environment and PennState Extension have lists on their websites of certified labs that can test for PFAS.
If the results come back higher than desired, Shercan said, it might be time to consider a filter.
PFAS is typically filtered in one of three ways. Granular activated carbon can capture the chemicals and remove them from water like a sponge. Ion exchange resins act like tiny powerful magnets that attract and hold PFAS as water passes through. And reverse osmosis pushes water through an extremely thin membrane that blocks the chemicals.
Household filters can reduce the PFAS levels in your water, but none have been shown to remove every form of PFAS entirely. They will, though, help to reduce your exposure.
When choosing a filter, only use those certified by the National Sanitation Foundation and the American National Standards Institute. The product should say “NSF/ANSI 53” or “NSF/ANSI 58” in its description. Sherchan said maintaining the filter is key to ensuring it works.
Here are examples of certified filters. This list is not all-inclusive and does not indicate endorsement by the Bay Journal. Be sure to research your options and select a filter that suits your needs and comfort level.
- Brita Elite Filter: Brita water pitchers typically filter other contaminants like chlorine, BPA and DEET. The Elite Filter is the company’s best performing product, certified to filter PFOS and PFOA. Each filter costs about $30 and lasts for 120 gallons or approximately six months.
- Cyclopure’s Purefast Filter: This certified filter costs $45, lasts for 65 gallons or about three months, and fits into a Brita pitcher. Customers can send the used filter back to Cyclopure for proper disposal, so the concentrated PFAS doesn’t enter landfills.
- ZeroWater 7 Cup 5-Stage Ready-Pour Water Filter Pitcher: This filter, used by Dinardo, filtered out 100% of a subset of PFAS in a test conducted by the Environmental Working Group. It costs about $20 and lasts 20 gallons or about 10 days.
- Aquasana’s under-the-sink filters: These filters start at $125 up front and allow you to get filtered water right from your tap. It’s good for six months before you need to change the filter. But this way, no one is left with an empty pitcher in the fridge.
The Big Berkey Water Filter is a large filter sits that on the countertop. It costs $367 but lasts for 6,000 gallons or about eight years. A test conducted by the Environmental Working Group showed it removed 100% of a subset of PFAS, but it is not independently certified by NSF or ANSI.
Forever chemicals enter drinking water in many ways. Manufacturers and industries that use forever chemicals send their wastewater to treatment plants. While other pollutants are filtered out, PFAS in the water is discharged to rivers and streams. Surface runoff from farms, military bases, airports and landfills contaminated with these chemicals also add to the problem.
In 2024, the EPA set maximum contaminant levels for PFOA and PFOS at 4 parts per trillion each for drinking water, along with low limits for four other compounds. But those levels aren’t final due to pending litigation from the Trump administration.
The rule also says public water systems have three years to start regularly checking for PFAS and must enact solutions to reduce PFAS in drinking water by 2029. Virginia is in phase four of its plan to be compliant by 2027. Pennsylvania set its own maximum contaminant levels in 2023 along with monitoring requirements for public water systems. Maryland is in phase five of its PFAS drinking water study and is working toward federal compliance.
So far, the Maryland Department of the Environment has found that 50% of the 126 water systems it sampled had PFAS levels above the proposed federal regulations. Out of the 476 water systems the Virginia Department of Health sampled from 2021 to 2025, about 12% had levels above the EPA’s proposed guidelines.