Drinking Water Garden Hose

When we water our organic garden, where kids and pets are running around, or where you plant your organic flowers, organic plants, or products, pick the safety garden hose on the market, as the majority contaminate your garden with chemical fertilizers and heavy metals such as phthalates, BPA, and lead.

Conventional Hoses

Avoid Conventional garden hoses, which contain toxic chemicals such as Lead and phthalates, which are unnecessary additives in garden hoses and should be eliminated. These are found at Walmart, Home Depot, Lowe’s, Meijer, Target, and Amazon online. You will find these warnings here in California: California Proposition 65

garden products study completed by The Ecology Center looked at different garden hoses and discovered disturbing levels of each of those chemicals. This study revisited previous research, which found toxin levels exceeded safe drinking water standards by 20 times or more. Unfortunately, many of the results were much the same.​

  • PVC (vinyl) hoses: frequently contained elevated lead, bromine, antimony, and phthalates, flame retardants, and other toxic elements in the flexible hose part. If the label doesn’t list the material of the hose, it is most likely PVC. 
  • ❌ WARNING: This product can expose you to chemicals, including Lead, which is known to the State of California to cause cancer and birth defects or other reproductive harm.

  • ❌ WARNING: This product can expose you to chemicals, including Styrene, which is known to the State of California to cause cancer. 

  • ❌ Heavy metals and toxic chemicals: lead, bromine, antimony, arsenic, bromine, cadmium, chlorine and tin

  • ❌ Phthalates

  • ❌ Bisphenols (BPA-BPS)

  • ❌ Rubbers

​Greenwashing Hoses

Greenwashing is when a brand pretends to be organic, eco-friendly, natural, or safe when it is not. They use misleading greenwashing techniques, tactics, and claims to convince you to buy their products! 

  • ❌ “Lead-free couplings” Label is not sufficient: Although the metal fittings will be low in lead, the flexible hose may contain lead as well as bromine, antimony, and phthalates; for example, both of the Swan Soft & Supple hoses and both of the Apex NeverKink hoses we tested.

  • ❌ Recycled PVC e-waste should not be used in garden hoses because this introduces hazardous flame retardants, lead, organotins, and phthalates back into a new product used for water. This potentially increases contamination of soil, people, and pets. Lead, phthalates, bromine (suggesting flame retardants), antimony, and tin (suggesting organotins) remain common in the plastic parts of PVC hoses.

  •  Some metal hoses: Proposition 65 for titanium dioxide, other chemicals

Drinking Water Safer Garden Hoses

To get the safest hoses for your Garden, Camper, Gardening, Boat, and Trailer on the market, you need to search for 100% virgin polyurethane. They need to meet both FDA and NSF standards for drinking water-safe applications. No regrind or recycled resins that can often be contaminated and/or have compromised mechanical properties.

These are the best requirements for a safe hose:

 

  • ✅ Polyurethane (PU) labeled safe for drinking water
  • ​✅ Food-grade material
  • ✅ CA65 Certified Drinking Water
  • ✅ NSF Certified to NSF/ANSI/CAN 61 for material safety and NSF/ANSI 372 for lead-free content.
  • ✅ FDA standards for drinking water safety
  • ✅ Lead-free, BPA-free
  • ✅ Phthalate-free
  • ✅ Made in the USA

 

Regardless of which hose you use, do not use water that has been left sitting in it. Let it run for a few seconds before using it for watering food plants or water play. • Store hoses in the shade. Heat increases the leaching of plastic additives into water

According to HealthyStuff.org these are the top safer-rated polyurethane hose brands in this study:

 

  • 🌿 Big Boss AquaStream Ultra Light Garden Hose

  • 🌿 Water Right Professional Coil Garden Hose.

  • 🌿 Room Essentials Coil Hose with Multi Pattern Nozzle (moderate-heavy metals)

  • 🌿 Pocket Hose Dura-Rib II (still high in chlorine)

If you want to make your organic garden truly organic and thriving, here are the approved hoses:

The Best Organic Drinking Water Hoses

My number one organic drinking water hose brand recommendations are:

  • 🌿 Eartheasy drinking water garden hose
  • 🌿 ELEY drinking water garden hose

 

Shop with my links to support my research 💖

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