How can cadmium be removed from drinking water?
🌊 Discover the sources, dangers and solutions for removing cadmium from drinking water, a heavy metal that is toxic to health and the environment.
- Definition of cadmium: toxic heavy metal
- Industrial uses (batteries, alloys, dyes)
- Pollution of soil, water and food
- Serious effects on human health
- Ultimate Star Filter®: removal of >99% of cadmium
What is cadmium?
Cadmium is a metal that is both toxic and ecotoxic. Like lead and mercury, it is classified as a heavy metal of concern requiring environmental monitoring.
It is an element that rarely exists in its native state. It is often found in association with zinc, copper and lead in ores.
Uses of cadmium
It is used in metal or alloy plating for its antioxidant properties, in special soldering in electronics, and in the manufacture of cathodes, including for rechargeable nickel-cadmium batteries. However, it is also found in television screens and certain dyes.
Cadmium in the environment and its ecotoxicity
In some parts of the world, including Europe, certain soils naturally have high cadmium levels. But some phosphate fertilisers are also a major source of contamination. Cadmium from zinc works also contaminates rainwater. The use and disposal of NiCd batteries in the environment has been a significant source of environmental pollution. These batteries were replaced in Europe in 2008 by NiMH batteries, which are less polluting and less hazardous to human health.
Cadmium is toxic in low doses to terrestrial and aquatic fauna, but also to flora. Even very low levels of pollution cause significant mortality in aquatic fauna. The dispersion of sludge containing lead, mercury or cadmium directly explains the pollution of surface waters and even certain food chains such as rice and chocolate.
In Europe, Belgium and Eastern European countries are the most affected by shellfish contamination.
It is therefore essential to control the recycling of this metal by purifying wastewater and exhaust gases and banning cadmium-based fertilisers.
Toxicity to humans
Cadmium is highly toxic, as toxic as lead and mercury. Whether ingested through products that are soluble in the body or inhaled, cadmium passes into the bloodstream, accumulates in the liver and causes serious kidney problems. It is also responsible for a serious and fatal disease that causes bone porosity, skeletal deformities, fractures and progressive shrinking of the body. People with this disease die in agony from bone atrophy and complete paralysis. Cadmium is also carcinogenic.
In 2018, a French study of pregnant women showed that 88% of a panel of 990 women had cadmium in their urine samples. The cadmium levels detected were 1 to 4 μg/L higher than the HBM-IIHBM-II23 threshold (4 μg/L in urine), defined by the German Commission for Biomonitoring as the value above which scientific knowledge shows an increased risk of adverse effects on human health.
Effectiveness of the Ultimate Star Filter® on cadmium
Our detailed analyses show that our water filter is over 99% effective against cadmium.
Star Water Filter®
The technical content published on this website is written and validated by the Star Water Filter® technical team.
It is based on independent laboratory analyses, performance data from the Ultimate Star Filter® and experience gained in the design and use of gravity filtration systems.
