Nitrates and nitrites, like potassium nitrate and sodium nitrite, are naturally occurring chemical compounds that contain nitrogen and oxygen.
Nitrate occurs naturally in vegetables and plants, but today nitrate levels are way higher than normal.
They are a major ingredient in commercial fertilizers as a pesticide and growth accelerator, and food companies add them to sausages and deli meats to preserve freshness.
How Nitrates Enter Drinking Water Supplies
Most of the nitrates in drinking water comes from inorganic fertilizer and animal manure in agricultural areas.
Farm runoff from heavily fertilized soil, crop residue, decaying plants, and animal waste are the main causes of nitrates in groundwater.
Heavy rains carry the contaminated runoff through irrigation networks and into the water supply.
At the same time, poorly designed septic tanks leak nitrate-containing sewage into local groundwater.
What Are the Regulations Around Nitrate In Drinking Water?
At these levels, nitrate is not harmful to human health.
However, several studies link lower levels to dangerous health risks, but more on that in a sec…
Blue Baby Syndrome & Nitrates
The most widely known side effect of nitrate exposure is methemoglobinemia, or “blue baby syndrome.”
It occurs in babies who drink formula mixed with water containing high levels of nitrates.
When nitrate enters the blood, it prevents red blood cells from carrying oxygen.
As a result, the baby’s skin turns blue and is life-threatening.
- Decreased blood pressure
- Increased heart rate
- Headaches
- Stomach cramps
- Vomiting
Most adults and children, on the other hand, are able to process the nitrate more rapidly and prevent this from happening.
Babies under six months are at the highest risk of methemoglobinemia.
Adults with the following health conditions may also be at risk:
- Anemia
- Cardiovascular disease
- Lung disease
- Sepsis
- Metabolic problems
But as it turns out, methemoglobinemia isn’t the only way that nitrate can harm your baby…
A recent Stanford study linked higher levels of nitrates in drinking water to preterm birth.
Researchers found that women exposed to nitrates were more likely to deliver early.
And this study wasn’t small by any means – it analyzed roughly 1.4 million births in California.
The study is the largest ever to connect nitrate consumption to premature birth.
“We found that higher concentrations of nitrate in drinking water during pregnancy were associated with an increased risk of spontaneous preterm birth, even at nitrate concentrations below the federal regulatory limit.”
This last part is important, because it shows that the EPA’s 10 mg/L limit isn’t strict enough to protect public health.
The study found that the risk of early preterm birth, where the infant is born at least nine weeks early, was elevated by about half in women exposed to between 5-10 mg/L of nitrate in their water.
Early preterm births are extremely dangerous, and can require long hospitalizations.
The infants may also experience short and long-term complications with digestion, vision, hearing, and neurological development.
Other Health Effects of Nitrate In Drinking Water
Recent scientific evidence shows that nitrate can have negative health effects on healthy adults too…
A growing body of evidence connects nitrate exposure to side effects like:
- Increased heart rate
- Nausea
- Headaches
- Abdominal cramps
The most widely studied types of cancer are colorectal, bladder, stomach, and breast cancer.
Researchers have also conducted several studies on thyroid disease and nitrates.
Out of these, they found the strongest evidence for an increased risk of thyroid disease and colorectal cancer.
Who Is Most At Risk for Nitrates In Drinking Water?
If you live in the countryside, and especially if you live near farmland, you have high risk of nitrate exposure.
That’s because fertilizers, manure and agricultural runoff are the biggest sources of nitrates.
In fact, studies show that nitrate levels in groundwater under farmland were about three times higher than the national average.
If you live in these areas and get your water from a private well, you are at the mercy of your well construction.
Shallow, poorly sealed wells that draw from shallow groundwater at the greatest risk.
Recent flooding, new agricultural fields, and nearby waste disposal can also increase the risk of nitrates in well water.
How to Protect Your Private Well From Nitrates
If you have a private well, there are several things you can do to protect it, including:
- Install your well uphill of your septic tank
- Store fertilizers and other nitrate sources far away from your well
- Inspect your well for damage regularly
- Test for nitrate at least once a year
If you detect nitrate in your well, there’s a good chance that other contaminants are in there as well.
Make sure you test for a full panel of pollutants through a licensed state laboratory.
Chances are, you will have to hire a professional to perform a shock chlorine treatment to kill all bacteria and other pathogens.
Once the system is treated and flushed, it will be time to take more preventative measures…
How to Protect Your Tap Water No Matter What
Whether you’re on a private will in the countryside, or a public water system in the city, the best way to protect you and your family from nitrates and other harmful contaminants is to install a water filtration system in your home.
There are very few systems out there that are capable of removing the full range of hard-to-remove contaminants, like nitrates, PCBs, PFAS, arsenic, and lead.
Unfortunately, standard carbon filters that attach to your faucet are not enough.
Other more robust systems, like ultrafiltration, work great in a laboratory setting but struggle to hold up under the regular wear-and-tear of residential use.
When it comes down to it, reverse osmosis (RO) systems are the way to go.
They hold up under the stress and remove up to 99.9% of all contaminants.
Plus, you can find affordable options that conveniently fit right under the kitchen sink.
Cloud Water Filters even use built-in software to monitor water quality 24/7 through an app on your phone.
