Anne Barschall: Water failing inspection due to haloacetic acids -- Tarrytown NY

I posted this question on the 10591 FB group.

Twice now I have received a notification that the water in Tarrytown has failed inspection due to excessive halo-acetic acids. What, if anything, are people doing about this? Do people have a preferred water filtration system?
I pulled an old Brita filter pitcher out of the cupboard, put in a new filter, and started using it again. I had stopped, because I was more concerned about the plastic in the pitcher than I was about the water. Now, tho, since we've gotten this notice, I decided to use it again.
But someone told me I should use a Berkey. Then I discovered that those were rather expensive, and, moreover, there are a baffling array of filtration options out there.
I'm thinking a whole house filtration system is overkill. I don't need to flush my toilets or wash my laundry in filtered water.
Anyway, if anyone has any thoughts, I would like to hear them.

This has turned out to be my most popular comment in that group. I got 60 comments before the admin turned off commenting. I'm not going to reproduce all the comments here, but here were some interesting points.

The Tarrytown Village Administrator posted a copy of the village notice.

(This follow-up notice was originally circulated Village-wide on April 1, 2022, and is posted on the Village website)
Dear Concerned residents of Tarrytown:
Good morning.
Although a Village-wide e-mail blast already went out, it appears that some people did not receive it. We wanted to make sure that the Village had shared this information with everyone.
The Village sent out a village-wide e-mail with further information on Friday, April 1, 2022.
This communication is to follow-up on the elevated chemical quarterly notice that the Village of Tarrytown issued on March 31, 2022.
• Our water is safe to drink, wash and cook with.
• Westchester County Health Department and the New York State Health Department gave us a notice of violation and mandatory order to issue that notice.
• It is a quarterly notice of elevated Tri-halomethanes (THMs) and Haloacetic acids (HAAs).
• This warning is targeted to people with suppressed immune systems and who have elevated risk of cancer over long-term exposure (20 to 30 years), so they can consider drinking bottled water for the time being.
• THMs and HAAs are a byproduct of the chlorination process, and are created when chlorine reacts with organic material like algae, bacteria and parasites that occur in natural water like the water we receive from NY City’s Catskill and Delaware systems.
• Chlorine has for many decades been considered one of the safest ways to make drinking water safe to drink, cook and bathe with.
• New York City treats our water with chlorine before it reaches Tarrytown’s system.
• The THM and HAA chemicals are elevated because New York City had been using higher levels of chlorine.
• New York City has since reduced their chlorination levels, in turn has reduced the levels of THMs and HAAs.
• We may have to issue another one or two quarterly notices, if the quarterly average levels remain above the notice threshold, but the last readings this past quarter were back down into the range of levels that are safe.
Let us know if you have any other questions or concerns.
Very truly yours,
Richard Slingerland
Village Administrator