Does distilling water remove Arsenic? Does distilled water have Arsenic?

"When the letter said, DO NOT drink your well water it has toxic levels of arsenic. My dream home became my dream nightmare."

THE QUICK 30-SECOND ANSWER:

Does distilled water have arsenic?

To put it simply, NO! Durastill Distilled Water does NOT have arsenic.

Does distilling water remove arsenic?

YES a commercial-grade Durastill Water Distiller (made in USA) removes arsenic from your water. The CDC recommends distillation as an effective treatment method to remove arsenic from drinking water.

THE IN-DEPTH KNOWLEDGE AND DETAILED EXPLANATION: 

Dream Home to Nightmare to Happy Ending!

One day I got a call from a custom home builder and general contractor. He told me a story about Sally the home owner. Sally found the perfect location, the perfect home blueprint and an excellent home builder to build her dream home. It took about a year for her dream home to be built. Because of her location, the county required her to dig a well, which she used as her primary source of drinking water and for all of her water needs for the home and property. After waiting a whole year and visiting the home almost every day during construction, she was so excited to finally be living in her new home.

The construction was complete, but one of the last steps was that a county government inspector had to come and conduct a water test of the well water. The inspector came and completed everything he needed for the water test and left. About a week later Sally got a letter in the mail from the county inspector's office. She opened the envelope and unfolded the letter. She read the following words, "Do not drink your well water it has toxic levels of arsenic!" She felt the feeling of shock, fear, and panic all at once. Then she started getting the unsolicited phone calls from people trying to sell her Reverse Osmosis water purification and filtrations systems. The county government must have sold the list of people in the county who had failed their water test.

At this point Sally felt completely overwhelmed and discouraged. After a few days she called her home builder and told him this story. She said, "My dream home has become a nightmare!" The contractor said, "Sally, why are all these companies trying to sell you a Reverse Osmosis system? Did you know that Reverse Osmosis doesn't even remove all of the arsenic from you water?" Now on top of all of the other feelings she had been feeling she was now angry at all of these sales people calling and trying to sell her an expensive RO water filtration system that didn't even fix her problem!

Little did she know it was her lucky day because it just so happened that her home builder owned a Durastill Water Distiller and was very knowledgeable about water purification. She asked him, "What should I do?" He said, "Did you know that a water distiller will completely remove the arsenic from your well water you use for drinking and cooking?" Sally had never heard of a water distiller before. He explained exactly how a water distiller worked and everything it removes from the water in addition to arsenic, like virus, bacteria, heavy metals, chemicals, toxins, pesticides, oil, and more.

In just 5 minutes Sally went from feeling completely overwhelmed to getting back that original excitement she felt when she first moved into her dream home! She asked him if he could find her a Durastill Water Distiller that would removed the arsenic from her well water. After explaining the situation, he then ordered a commercial-grade Durastill Water Distiller for Sally's home that will last for up to 30 years. Now Sally is drinking "arsenic- free" pure distilled water and she couldn't be happier in her dream home!

What are the dangers of arsenic in drinking water, food and overall exposure?

Winchester Hospital wrote an excellent article on arsenic:

“Ingesting high levels of arsenic can result in death. Arsenic has also been linked to increased risks of cancer of the lung, skin, bladder, liver, kidney, and prostate. Symptoms of acute arsenic exposure generally occur within 30-60 minutes after ingestion. There is no effective treatment for arsenic toxicity.

To help reduce your chances of getting arsenic toxicity: If you live in an area with high natural levels of arsenic, use cleaner sources of water and limit contact with soil. If you have well water, have it tested for a variety of contaminants, including arsenic.”

The American Cancer Society gives even more details about the dangers of breathing in or swallowing arsenic:

"Breathing in high levels of arsenic can cause a sore throat and irritated lungs. Swallowing high levels of arsenic can cause nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, muscle weakness and cramping, skin rashes, and other problems. Exposure to high enough amounts of arsenic can be fatal."

How can arsenic get into a drinking water supply?

The CDC gives an excellent explanation about how arsenic can get into a drinking water supply:

“Arsenic can enter the water supply from natural deposits in the earth or from industrial and agricultural pollution. It is widely believed that naturally occurring arsenic dissolves out of certain rock formations when ground water levels drop significantly. Once on the ground or in surface water, arsenic can slowly enter ground water. High arsenic levels in private wells may come from certain arsenic containing fertilizers used in the past or industrial waste. It may also indicate improper well construction or overuse of chemical fertilizers or herbicides in the past.”

What is the “acceptable level of arsenic” according to the EPA standards for arsenic in drinking water?

The current EPA standards for arsenic in drinking water are:

“In 2001, under the Arsenic Rule, EPA adopted a lower standard for arsenic in drinking water. The lower standard of 10 parts per billion (ppb) replaced the prior standard of 50 ppb.”

The old standard of 50ppb was set by the EPA in 1975. But how much arsenic do you want in your drinking water? I don’t want any arsenic in my water.

Does reverse osmosis remove arsenic from drinking water?

No, reverse osmosis does NOT completely remove arsenic, virus, bacteria, fluoride, and nitrates from drinking water. See the arsenic filtration comparison chart below.

How to filter out arsenic from drinking water?

The CDC recommends water distillation as an effective water treatment method to remove and to filter out arsenic from drinking water:

“Heating or boiling your water will not remove arsenic. Because some of the water evaporates during the boiling process, the arsenic concentrations can actually increase slightly as the water is boiled. Additionally, chlorine (bleach) disinfection will not remove arsenic. You may wish to consider water treatment methods such as… distillation.”

What does a Durastill Water Distiller remove from the water?

Here is a comparison chart between different water purification methods and technologies. As you can see, steam distillation is the best way to remove arsenic from your water. The USGS map image to the right shows estimated arsenic levels of private domestic wells across all the counties in the lower 48 states. If you want more information read the full USGS report.   

How To Remove Arsenic From Drinking Water?

As you can see a Durastill Water Distiller removes the arsenic through the process of distillation and traps it in the boiling chamber. The water is boiled, turned to steam, cooled and condensed back into liquid, and then passed through an in-line carbon filter. 

 Answers to other Frequently Asked Questions:

Does distilled water have fluoride?

Does distilled water contain bacteria?