Evaluation of Water Pitcher Filter Performance for Lead Removal

New York City (NYC) Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) undertook a study to evaluate the effectiveness of different brands of pitcher filters at removing lead from NYC tap water. The Water Research Foundation partnered with DEP in order to facilitate an independent review of the study. Dr. Marc Edwards (Virginia Tech) and Dr. David Cornwell (Cornwell Engineering Group) provided independent scientific reviews of the report. The objectives of the review were to evaluate the scientific methodologies that DEP implemented and to critique DEP’s interpretation of the results. This assessment found DEP’s approach to be useful with good quality control and interpretations, but also resulted in recommendations to address limitations of the existing research. Detailed research methodologies, results, and recommendations for future research are available in the summary report. Published in 2020.