Nitrates are often found in water supplies which are in areas where there is moderate to heavy use of fertilizers. Nitrates can cause Methemoglobinemia, which is also known as "Blue Baby Syndrome". This is a serious condition occurring in infants and newborn animals, whereby the oxygen carrying capacity of the blood is reduced. The EPA has an excellent INFORMATION PAGE ON NITRATE.

The EPA has approved Ion Exchange and Reverse Osmosis as treatment methods for the removal of nitrates from drinking water. However, because of their small chemical size, nitrates are sometimes difficult to remove through the process of reverse osmosis drinking water units. Typically these systems operate at a household pressure of about 50 PSI and remove less than 80% of the nitrates. Commercial reverse osmosis units operating at 150 PSI or more will remove 92% or more.In applications where higher percentages of nitrate removal are required or where total house treatment is required for a lower cost than whole house reverse osmosis, ion exchange is the best answer. At US Water, we offer two type of nitrate removal systems:

(1) Systems which just remove nitrate; and

(2) Systems which remove nitrate and soften the water as well.