In April 2024, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) introduced the first-ever national drinking water standards to monitor the pres

Before Brita: A Brief History of Water Filtration

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2024-10-05 04:30:04

In April 2024, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) introduced the first-ever national drinking water standards to monitor the presence of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in drinking water. The decision came in light of research tying PFAS exposure to cancer, thyroid dysfunction, and other ailments. The EPA maintains other enforceable standards for drinking water, limiting acceptable amounts of lead, arsenic, and even pathogens like E. coli. Though recent contaminants have thrust the safety of drinking water back into the spotlight, the concept of keeping drinking water clean is not at all novel. It dates back at least 3,500 years to ancient Egypt.

Early depictions of water purification techniques appear in Egyptian tombs from the fifteenth and thirteenth centuries BCE: In The Manners and Customs of the Ancient Egyptians, Sir John Gardner Wilkinson sketches a reproduction of water filtration from a tomb at Thebes.

“Siphons are shown to have been invented in Egypt, at least as early as the reign of Amenophis [Amenhotep] II,” Wilkinson writes. Siphons