Caution: This article was written several years ago, before I understood that many of the water filters listed here also remove beneficial minerals from your water, which is potentially harmful to your health. When the minerals have been removed from water, that water can leech minerals from your own body (at least when the water is drunk on an empty stomach) making you mineral deficient, which is a lot worse for your health than exposure to the relatively small amounts of chemicals found in typical drinking water. Sometimes it’s best to leave your water alone. However, a simple carbon water filter would remove the chemicals, and it shouldn’t remove the minerals. Simple carbon water filters are also usually pretty cheap! It’s Reverse Osmosis, Distilled, or Ion Exchange based water filters that remove good minerals. Maybe others do too, but those are the ones I know of.
The following is the article published before I knew about the mineral thing:
In this article, we’ll compare the best water filters that remove pesticides, to the best of our knowledge. We also go in-depth about the dangers of each type of chemical, how common it is in your water, and how to remove it.
| Image | Product Details | Average pesticides removed | Removes Atrazine? | Removes Glyphosate? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Clearly Filtered Water Filter Pitcher | 99.3% | 99.8% | 99.9% |
 | ProOne Traveler+ Stainless-Steel Gravity Water Filter System | 98.6% | 99.9% | 100% |
 | ProOne Water Filter Pitcher | 98.6% | 99.9% | 100% |
 | ProOne ProMax Brushed Nickel Shower Filter | 64.8% | 54.1% | 47.5% |
If you just want the bottom line right now, we think the best one of all is the countertop water filter from ProOne, because it removes aluminum too.
Countering The Problem!
A large countertop model is one of the most efficient water filters, even though it can be a bit expensive to start with. Filling up a big water filter is a lot better than a smaller water filter pitcher. With the pitcher, you might have to fill it multiple times a day, and then wait a while for the water to filter. The reality is that if you have to be hassled like this, you simply won’t use the water filter, and you’ll be exposed to pesticides again! So in our opinion the best water filter for pesticides is a countertop unit. You could also install a reverse osmosis system under the sink, but this costs more, and might not be allowed if you are renting. One thing we generally don’t recommend is a whole house reverse osmosis system, because it is inefficient. Reverse Osmosis also removes most of the minerals from your water, making it potentially harmful to you because the water then leeches minerals from your own body, at least when drunk on an empty stomach. I’m not clear on the details of this to be honest, but it seems best to avoid reverse osmosis.
The ProOne countertop water filter removes pesticides really well. It also removes everything else too! This water filter even removes fluoride. Here are their lab reports.
Picture Life With a Pitcher
Water filter pitchers are good if you are traveling or you are on a budget. But even if you are on a budget, keep in mind the cost of frequently replacing the filters inside the pitcher. You can get a water filter pitcher that removes pesticides extremely well from ProOne or from Clearly Filtered. The pitcher from ClearlyFiltered slightly outperforms ProOne removing pesticides. Here are the labs. However, we think ProOne is very slightly better because it removes more aluminum, which is an extremely dangerous water contaminant.
Filter Your Shower Too!
A water filter for your drinking water really isn’t enough. You need to remove pesticides from your shower water too. Chemicals are absorbed very well through the skin, especially in a hot, steam-filled shower. This is actually a very big source of exposure to pesticides and other chemicals. Thankfully, you can get a showerhead water filter that removes some pesticides. Unfortunately, it is probably not possible to remove as much pesticides from fast moving shower water as a drinking water filter could do. But some removal is far better than nothing!
There are showerhead water filters available from ProOne and AquaBliss. They both have the technical ability to remove pesticides, but ProOne is probably better as they post lab results for their showerhead filter.
AquaBliss’s filtering ability is unknown, but their product is cheaper and more popular.
How Dangerous Are Pesticides?
Drinking or showering in water full of pesticides is highly bad for your health. Not only does it promote cancer, it also lowers your hormones like testosterone. Pesticides can damage your brain and the brain of your children. Some scientists think that pesticides are involved with the rapid increase in autism.
Pesticides Are Everywhere
Unfortunately, pesticides in your water is a real problem. Studies show that you are very likely drinking and showering in some amount of these chemicals today.
- 90% of USA municipal water contains Atrazine (causes birth defects)
- 94% of US rivers have Glyphosate in them (causes cancer)
It’s a rare water source that is truly free of pesticide contamination. It just makes sense to get a water filter that can remove pesticides (and the other contaminants too!).
Dangers of Atrazine
Atrazine is banned in Europe, but in the USA, atrazine is used in huge amounts as one of the most popular pesticides. Scientists know that atrazine causes cancer. We know that it is an endocrine disruptor, which means that atrazine causes low testosterone, damages the development of reproductive organs, and may cause infertility and sexual dysfunction. Atrazine makes a baby grow into a less developed, healthy adult. It is essential to stop atrazine and other pesticides from permanently damaging you and your child’s hormones, and increasing the risk of cancer.
Up to 80 million pounds of atrazine are spread in the USA every year. The great majority of American water contains atrazine. Spikes in atrazine content to extremely high and dangerous levels are not uncommon. (Source)
Atrazine-sprayed regions of the US (the Midwest) have dropped from ~670 ng/dl testosterone, which is high, to ~370 ng/dl, which is low testosterone, from the late 80’s (right before they started spraying lots of atrazine) to the present day. (Source) It’s not conclusive but it does seen like pesticides may have caused that.
But never fear! Good water filters can remove 99.9% of atrazine from your water.
Dangers of Glyphosate
Glyphosate is another chemical pesticide that is probably quite bad for your health and the health of a growing child. It is the most popular pesticide in America, but the World Health Organization stated in 2018 that glyphosate may be linked to cancer. The good news is that 100% of glyphosate can be removed by a well-designed water filter.
More Contaminants To Remove
Pesticides aren’t the only bad thing in your water. Your water filter also should remove heavy metals like aluminum, hormones like estrogen, pharmaceuticals, microplastics, and all the other nasty things that unnaturally get into our water now. Many people want to remove fluoride as well. Pesticides aren’t the only chemical to worry about! Thankfully, a good water filter can remove pretty much all of these. We only recommend the best filters that can do it all, and do it well. Here’s our full, in-depth article on removing ALL the bad stuff from your water.
What Else Can I Do?
Getting your water from a deep well is a good way to minimize risk of pesticide consumption. In the long run, you could move towards having a well dug. Unfortunately pesticides even get into the deep aquifers that wells are fed from, but the problem is less bad than from municipal water or from shallow wells.