Most of us judge water the same way: if it looks clear and tastes normal, it must be fine. And to be fair, that instinct is usually right. Tap water in Canada and the United States is among the most regulated and monitored in the world.

But over the past few years, that easy confidence has been challenged. Stories about lead in aging city pipes, studies detecting microplastics almost everywhere researchers look, and growing attention around PFAS "forever chemicals" have all raised the same uncomfortable question: what's still in the water after treatment?

Here's the honest answer. Treated water is not the same as contaminant-free water. Municipal systems do their job well, but water quality still depends on where you live, how old your building's plumbing is, and what's happening upstream of your local supply. In one large-scale U.S. Geological Survey study, PFAS chemicals were estimated to be present in at least 45% of tap water samples across the country. (1)

None of this means you should panic every time you fill a glass. It means it's worth understanding what may be in your water, how it gets there, and how different types of filtration actually work, so the choices you make are informed ones.

The Contaminants People Worry About Most

Not every contaminant shows up in every supply. But these are the ones drawing the most attention from researchers, regulators, and households right now.

1. Lead

Lead almost never comes from the water source itself. It comes from the trip, leaching out of old service lines, solder joints, and brass fixtures on the way to your tap. That makes older homes and older neighbourhoods the highest-risk category, especially in cities still working through pipe replacement programs. (2)

What makes lead so difficult is that it gives you nothing to notice. No taste, no smell, no colour. And the health guidance is unusually blunt: according to U.S. health authorities, there is no known safe level of lead exposure for children. (3) If your building predates the 1990s, lead belongs on your radar no matter how clean your city's water is at the treatment plant.

2. PFAS ("Forever Chemicals")

PFAS are a family of thousands of synthetic chemicals used for decades in nonstick coatings, waterproof fabrics, food packaging, and firefighting foam. Their chemical bonds are so strong that they barely break down at all, which is why they build up in the environment and in the human body over time. (4)

Contamination tends to cluster near industrial sites, airports, and military bases, but PFAS have been detected in water systems far beyond those zones. Health research is still evolving, and regulators are responding. In 2024, Health Canada set a precautionary drinking water objective of 30 nanograms per litre for the combined total of 25 PFAS, one of the stricter benchmarks anywhere. (5) Like lead, PFAS are invisible to your senses, and boiling water does nothing to remove them.

3. Microplastics

Every plastic bottle, bag, and synthetic fibre ever made is still out there in some form. As plastics degrade, they fragment into microscopic particles that have now been found in oceans, rivers, rain, tap water, and bottled water too. (6)

Scientists are still working out what long-term exposure means for human health. But one finding is worth sitting with: several studies have found more microplastic particles in bottled water than in tap water. Buying plastic bottles to avoid plastic in your water isn't a solution. It's a loop.

4. Disinfection Byproducts

Chlorination is one of the great public health wins of the modern era. It's the reason tap water doesn't carry the diseases it did a century ago. The trade-off is that when disinfectants react with natural organic matter in source water, they can form byproducts, some of which are regulated because prolonged exposure at elevated levels raises health concerns. (7)

Chlorine is also the reason some tap water tastes faintly like a swimming pool. It's not harmful at regulated levels, but it's the number one reason people say they don't like their tap water, and one of the easiest things for a good filter to fix.

5. Emerging Contaminants

Beyond the big four, monitoring programs are tracking a longer watch list: pesticides and herbicides from agricultural runoff, trace pharmaceutical residues, chromium-6, and nitrates in farming regions. None of these are everywhere. All of them are somewhere. Which is exactly why the real question isn't "is tap water safe?" but rather "what's in mine?"

How to Find Out What's in Your Water

The good news: you don't have to guess. Water quality varies enormously from one region to the next, but the information is more accessible than most people realize.

In the United States, every public water system must publish an annual Consumer Confidence Report listing what was detected and whether it met federal standards. (8) In Canada, municipalities publish similar annual reports, and provinces run their own monitoring programs. From there, you can:

  • Look up your area in the EWG Tap Water Database for an independent view of local testing data (9)
  • Factor in the age of your home's plumbing, since city testing measures water at the plant, not after it passes through your pipes
  • Test regularly if you're on a private well, because the responsibility there is entirely yours
  • Stay alert to boil-water advisories and local contamination events

This matters because no two households face the exact same water. A filter that makes sense for a new condo on municipal water is different from what makes sense for a century-old house or a rural well.

What to Look For in a Water Filter

Here's where most people get lost, because "water filter" describes wildly different products doing wildly different jobs.

Basic carbon pitcher filters, the kind most households already own, are built primarily to improve taste and reduce chlorine. That's a genuine benefit, but a narrow one. Reducing contaminants like lead, PFAS, microplastics, bacteria, and parasites requires entirely different filtration categories: finer physical barriers, ion exchange media, and multi-stage designs engineered for far more than flavour.

That gap is exactly what we built the NOMAD SafeSip around. Its AtomX filter works in real time, inside the straw. No pumping, no charging, no waiting. It's a multi-stage system designed to reduce microplastics, chlorine, PFAS, heavy metals, and the taste and odour compounds that push people toward bottled water in the first place. In independent laboratory testing, the AtomX filter demonstrated reduction of 99.9999% of bacteria, 99.99% of viruses, and 99.95% of cysts. Each filter is rated for roughly 151 litres, about 300 single-use bottles you never buy.

The right choice always starts with your actual water. Lead points to old plumbing. PFAS points to regional contamination. Bacteria and parasites are a different problem entirely, one that matters most when you're travelling, hiking, or refilling from sources you don't control. Match the filter to the risk, not the marketing.

Who Benefits Most From Extra Filtration?

Additional filtration isn't for everyone, but it earns its place quickly for:

  • Households in older homes or cities with aging pipe infrastructure
  • Renters who have no idea what their building's plumbing looks like
  • People living near industrial zones, airports, or military bases linked to PFAS contamination
  • Private well users
  • Frequent travellers refilling from taps and fountains of unknown quality
  • Anyone who wants their water addressed beyond taste and chlorine alone

Ultimately it comes down to your water source, your local infrastructure, and your own comfort level. There's no single right answer, but there is a right answer for you.

Knowing Your Water Is the Whole Point

Tap water quality is more complicated than "safe" or "unsafe," and the standards it's held to are a floor, not a ceiling. They were written before PFAS, microplastics, and modern lead science reshaped the conversation.

Understanding what may be in your water, and matching your filtration to your real-world conditions instead of a generic promise on a box, is how you make decisions you can actually stand behind. Whether your concern is lead, forever chemicals, microplastics, or simply water that tastes clean enough to drink more of, that's the standard worth holding.

Because confident hydration shouldn't depend on where you happen to be standing when you're thirsty. That's the problem NOMAD exists to solve.

FAQs About Tap Water Contaminants

What contaminants are most commonly found in tap water?
The most discussed today are lead, PFAS ("forever chemicals"), microplastics, chlorine and its disinfection byproducts, plus regional contaminants like pesticides, nitrates, and pharmaceutical traces. What's actually in your water depends heavily on your location and infrastructure.

Can you taste or smell lead, PFAS, or microplastics?
No. All three are undetectable to human senses at the levels found in drinking water. Chlorine is usually the only common contaminant you can actually taste, which means water that tastes fine can still carry contaminants, and water that tastes "off" is often just chlorinated.

Does boiling water remove lead or PFAS?
No. Boiling can kill microbiological threats like bacteria, but it does nothing against chemical contaminants. Because boiling evaporates water, it can actually concentrate substances like lead and PFAS rather than remove them.

Do all water filters reduce the same contaminants?
Not even close. Basic carbon filters mainly improve taste and reduce chlorine. Reducing lead, PFAS, microplastics, bacteria, and parasites requires multi-stage filtration designed and tested for those specific categories. Always check what a filter is actually rated to reduce before buying.

What's the difference between a water filter and a water purifier?
Filters generally target bacteria, parasites, chemicals, and particles. Purifiers go a step further by also addressing viruses. The right choice depends on your water source, because municipal tap water and a stream in the backcountry are very different problems.

References

(1) U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). "Tap Water Study Detects PFAS 'Forever Chemicals' Across the US."
https://www.usgs.gov/news/national-news-release/tap-water-study-detects-pfas-forever-chemicals-across-us

(2) U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). "Basic Information about Lead in Drinking Water."
https://www.epa.gov/ground-water-and-drinking-water/basic-information-about-lead-drinking-water

(3) Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). "Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention."
https://www.cdc.gov/lead-prevention/index.html

(4) U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). "Our Current Understanding of the Human Health and Environmental Risks of PFAS."
https://www.epa.gov/pfas/our-current-understanding-human-health-and-environmental-risks-pfas

(5) Health Canada. "Objective for Canadian Drinking Water Quality: Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances."
https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/publications/healthy-living/objective-drinking-water-quality-per-polyfluoroalkyl-substances.html

(6) World Health Organization (WHO). "Microplastics in Drinking-water."
https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789241516198

(7) U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). "Stage 1 and Stage 2 Disinfectants and Disinfection Byproducts Rules."
https://www.epa.gov/dwreginfo/stage-1-and-stage-2-disinfectants-and-disinfection-byproducts-rules

(8) U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). "Consumer Confidence Reports (CCR)."
https://www.epa.gov/ccr

(9) Environmental Working Group (EWG). "EWG Tap Water Database."
https://www.ewg.org/tapwater/