Jug cartridges released small amounts of silver, well under the WHO's provisional reference value. Some home units in Korea released more. We found no documented harm to people.
| Source | What it found (quoted) and its limits | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| WHO. Silver in drinking-water: chemical fact sheet (GDWQ). (2022) · new Agency guideline fact sheet · International (WHO) · n = n/a |
'Available data inadequate to permit derivation of health-based guideline value'; 'Provisional reference value* 0.1 mg/l', 'applicable particularly where silver is used in point-of-use water treatment devices'; '10 g of ingested silver can be considered a human NOAEL'; 'silver is not recommended for disinfection of drinking-water including in point-of-use water treatment devices' Limits: Reference value is provisional and uncertain |
Evidence: strong Free to read · source · added 2026-10-30 |
| Meierhofer R, Rubli P, Oremo J, Odhiambo A. Does activated silver reduce recontamination risks in the reservoirs of ceramic water filters? Water 11(5):1108. (2019) · new Lab + randomized field trial · Switzerland (lab); Kisumu Kenya (field) · n = 90 households |
Silver diffusion 'generally stayed below 5 ug Ag/L'; one container up to 40 ug Ag/L over 10 days; field mean LRV E. coli control 1.27 vs silver 1.90/1.86 Limits: Low-income untreated-water context; silver form differs from US carbon cartridges |
Evidence: moderate Free to read · source · added 2026-10-30 |
| Garbos S, Swiecicka D. Human exposure to silver released from silver-modified activated carbon applied in the new type of jug filter systems. Rocz Panstw Zakl Hig 64(1):31-36. (2013) · new Lab test of commercial jug filter cartridges · Poland · n = 6 jug filter systems |
Grand mean Ag for JFS A-F '8.2 +/- 5.2 ug/l, 9.6 +/- 6.5 ug/l, 2.7 +/- 3.1 ug/l, 8.4 +/- 1.4 ug/l, 7.1 +/- 5.4 ug/l and 14.3 +/- 3.7 ug/l'; daily ranges up to 20.8 ug/l; HQ 0.015-0.082; unfiltered water Ag below 0.014 ug/l Limits: European products; HQ based on reference doses; no microbial endpoint |
Evidence: moderate Free to read · source · added 2026-10-30 |
| Authors not retrieved (Polish NIPH-NIH project NN404 193039). Silver release from jug filter cartridges. Food Addit Contam Part A. (2012) · new Lab test of commercial jug filter cartridges · Poland · n = 9 cartridges (A-I) |
Grand mean Ag release from A-H cartridges 'in the range of 2.6-13.1 ug l-1'; cartridge I 'lower than 0.014 ug l-1'; daily intake '< 0.0004 to 0.374 ug kg-1 day-1'; HQ 'equal or lower than 0.075'; proposed migration limit '25 ug l-1' Limits: Abstract only; title/authors not confirmed on page |
Evidence: moderate Paywalled · source · added 2026-10-30 |
| Lee J-H. Antibacterial properties of silver ions released from the silver-impregnated activated carbons established on point-of-use (POU) home water purification devices. J Health Sci (Korea) 30(1):57-64. (2004) · new Field survey of installed home POU devices · South Korea · n = 68 POU devices |
Silver eluted 'ranged from 4 ug/l to 386 ug/l'; HPC 0-5,200 cfu/mL; average silver 30 ug/l (UF) vs 73 ug/l (RO); colony counts dropped significantly only when silver exceeded 100 ug/l Limits: Abstract only (Korean journal); also relevant to topic 2; some values exceed WHO 0.1 mg/l provisional reference |
Evidence: weak Access unknown · source · added 2026-10-30 |
Evidence grade: strong = trials, large field studies or official datasets; moderate = smaller or lab studies with real water; weak = single small studies, makers' specs or secondary reports. "Free to read" means the source itself is free to read online.