Acrylamide
C₃H₅NO·Affects brain, reproductive
A residual monomer from polyacrylamide flocculants used in water and wastewater treatment. IARC Group 2A probable human carcinogen and a known neurotoxin. EPA regulates by Treatment Technique, not by MCL.
C₃H₅NO
EPA limit
Treatment Technique (TT): polymer dose limit
Most at risk
Long-term consumers on municipal supplies using polyacrylamide flocculants
Found in
City water · Industrial areas
AquaOx filters
YesActivated carbon
What it does to you
Health effects
Acrylamide is classified by the IARC in Group 2A, probably carcinogenic to humans, based on consistent tumor formation in chronic rodent bioassays and on its known mechanism of damaging DNA after metabolic conversion to glycidamide. Human epidemiological data is limited and mixed, but the weight of evidence supports treating it as a likely carcinogen.
The most distinctive non-cancer effect is neurotoxicity. Chronic occupational exposure causes a characteristic peripheral neuropathy with numbness, weakness, and loss of coordination, well documented in workers manufacturing or handling polyacrylamide. Reproductive and developmental toxicity is also documented in animal studies at chronic doses.
The drinking water exposure route is residual unreacted acrylamide monomer in polyacrylamide flocculants used at the treatment plant. The polymer itself is non-toxic, but the manufacturing process leaves a small fraction of free monomer in the product, and that monomer can carry through into finished water.
Where it comes from
How it gets into your water
Polyacrylamide is one of the most common coagulant aids used by US water utilities. The polymer binds together fine suspended particles in raw water, forming larger flocs that settle out efficiently. Most surface-water plants use some form of polyacrylamide-based polymer.
The contamination route is the unreacted acrylamide monomer in the polymer product itself. EPA addresses this risk through what is called a Treatment Technique rule rather than a numerical MCL: instead of measuring acrylamide in finished water (which is technically difficult at the relevant low levels), utilities must certify that the polymer they use contains no more than 0.05% acrylamide monomer when dosed at 1 mg/L of polymer. This effectively caps acrylamide in finished water at approximately 0.5 µg/L.
Acrylamide also enters environmental water from industrial discharge at polymer manufacturing facilities, from paper and textile manufacturing, and from oil and gas drilling fluids, where polyacrylamide is used as a friction reducer.
Polyacrylamide flocculants
Primary route: residual monomer from coagulant polymers
Polymer manufacturing
Industrial discharge at production plants
Paper and textile mills
Wet-strength additives and processing aids
Oil and gas drilling fluids
Polyacrylamide friction reducers in fracking and conventional drilling
Find out for yourself
Is it in your water?
Because acrylamide is regulated by Treatment Technique rather than by MCL, it does not appear as a numerical concentration on most Consumer Confidence Reports. Your utility certifies the polymer they purchase meets the EPA dose-and-purity limit, and that certification is the compliance record.
If your utility uses surface water and operates a conventional coagulation-flocculation-sedimentation plant, polyacrylamide is almost certainly in use somewhere in the treatment train. Residual acrylamide in finished water is generally very low, but it is not zero and the compound is a probable human carcinogen, so long-term consumers can reasonably want to reduce it further.
The fix
How AquaOx filters it
Acrylamide is filtered effectively by activated carbon. The coconut shell carbon stage in The AquaOx adsorbs acrylamide as water passes through, in the same mechanism that captures pesticides, VOCs, and disinfection byproducts.
Because the residual acrylamide level coming out of a properly operated treatment plant is already low, the AquaOx role here is a polish, reducing the chronic exposure consumers want to minimize. For homes that want maximum reduction at the drinking tap, pair The AquaOx with the under-sink RO for a second-stage barrier.