What is the healthiest way to filter tap water?

Why Is a Water Quality Report Important?

Your water utility is required by law to tell you about any violation of EPA water quality standards when it occurs (through the mail or media outlets such as newspapers and television) and again in the annual water quality report. You should not drink water that fails to meet EPA standards because it may be unsafe. Thankfully, public utilities have worked hard to improve water quality. As a result, more than 90 percent of water systems meet all EPA regulations.

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The report must also disclose a list of all regulated contaminants that have been detected in the water supply. The Safe Drinking Water Act sets the maximum level of contaminants allowed in drinking water based on the filtering and treatment capabilities of current technology. The water quality report also tells you about potentially harmful substances found in your water at levels below their legal limit.

Tip: Hover your cursor over or tap the underlined text in the charts below for more information about these areas of your water quality report.

How Is a Water Quality Report Distributed?

All very large community water systems, serving more than 100,000 people, must post the report online. All community water systems that serve more than 10,000 people must mail or either the report or its web address to customers.

Water systems also must make a &#;good faith effort&#; to reach renters, workers and other consumers who use the water but do not receive water bills. Utilities should use a combination of different outreach methods to notify users, such as posting the reports online, mailing them and advertising in local newspapers.

More information is available online from the EPA.

Tap Water Filters and Filtration Systems

The United States provides some of the cleanest drinking water in the world, and more than 90 percent of water systems meet all EPA regulations. Some people may prefer to filter their tap water, however, because they prefer the taste, want to remove minerals and particulates or have concerns about lead piping and plumbing. This section highlights the types of available filters to help you to determine which one is best for your needs.

What to Consider When Buying a Water Filter

What impurities do you want to remove from your water? Are you concerned about health risks, or simply unappetizing tastes and odors? Different filters are designed to remove various impurities, so be sure that the filter you buy will do the job.

Once you have read your water quality report, determine what, if anything, you would like to filter out of your water. Depending on the water quality where you live, you may decide that you do not need to filter your water at all.

Water Filtration: What Are Your Options?

Water filters come in many shapes and sizes. Depending on your filtration needs, lifestyle preferences and budget, you may want to consider the following options, whose descriptions were adapted from a May  Consumer Reports article:

• Carafe, or &#;pour-through,&#; filters are the simplest water filters to use. The filter fits inside a pitcher that you can keep in your refrigerator. Carafes are inexpensive and easy to use. However, the filters have a short lifetime and can only filter a limited amount of water at a time.
• A faucet-mounted filter is exactly what it sounds like &#; a filter that is screwed directly on to your faucet. These filters require minimal installation, but they slow the flow of water and can&#;t be used on all faucets.
• Countertop filters are best for filtering large quantities of water without modifying plumbing. They&#;re less likely to clog than carafe or faucet-mounted filters, but can clutter countertops and can&#;t be used with all types of faucets.
• Plumbed-in filters are installed directly into an existing water pipe. Often, they are installed under the sink (and are sometimes referred to as &#;under-sink&#; filters). They can be plumbed-in to the existing sink faucet, which may require drilling a hole in the countertop, or they can dispense water through a separate tap. These filters are best for filtering large amounts of water without modifying the existing faucet or cluttering the counter. However, they take up cabinet space and require plumbing modifications.
• Point-of-entry, or &#;whole-house,&#; filters are installed directly in the water main and filter all the water in a house, including water for the kitchen, laundry room and bathrooms. These filters have a long lifetime and are an inexpensive way to remove sediment, rust and, in some cases, chlorine from household water. But most won&#;t remove most other contaminants. They also require professional installation.

Water Filter Technologies

Different water filter products use different technologies. Some use more than one. If you are looking for a home water filter, you are likely to come across some of these terms:

• Particulate/mechanical filter: These are simple screens that block large particles. They often function as &#;prefilters&#; in a multiple-step water filter.
• Adsorption/Activated Carbon: Adsorption refers to a physical process where particles in water are removed because they stick to the surface of the material in the filter. These filters are usually made with carbon, often in granulated or powdered form. They are the most common filters on the market and come in different forms including pitchers and faucet-mounted systems. They are generally effective for reducing the most typical worrisome compounds that can be found in municipal water: chlorine, chlorine byproducts and dissolved volatile organic chemicals (VOCs) such as pesticides and herbicides. Carbon adsorption filters generally work well for reducing bad odors and tastes.
• Softeners/Ion Exchange Units: Water softeners use a process called ion exchange to reduce hard metals &#; including lead &#; in water. When water passes through an ion exchange unit, hard metal ions are replaced by sodium ions, leaving the water &#;softer&#; as a result &#; but also saltier. This technology is often used in combination with adsorptive or reverse-osmosis filters. Potassium chloride water softeners work in a similar way to sodium chloride softeners, but without increasing levels of salt in the water; this makes potassium chloride softeners a better choice for some uses, such as watering plants.
• Ultraviolet (UV) Treatment: This treatment uses UV light to kill germs that may be present in the water. UV treatment is the only treatment certified by the National Sanitation Foundation International to reduce bacteria.
• Reverse Osmosis: Reverse osmosis is a process where water is forced through a membrane that filters out molecules physically larger than the water molecules. Although reverse osmosis works well for reducing minerals, it is not effective for chlorine or volatile organic compounds (VOCs), which are more likely to be concerns in municipal tap water. However, many reverse-osmosis units are combined with pre-filters and carbon filters to address this concern. Reverse-osmosis filters are expensive and very inefficient &#; they waste from one to three gallons of water for every gallon that they filter.
• Distillation: Water distillers heat water so that it turns into steam, which is then collected and returned to its liquid form. Contaminants are left behind when the water evaporates. Thus, distillation is very effective for removing most minerals and bacteria. However, some distillation units do not remove VOCs. Distillation also requires more energy than other methods, to heat the water.

Consider Which Filter Is Best for You

Each product has its own pros and cons. Individual products may use multiple technologies and are often marketed as two (or more) stage filters. Carafe, faucet-mounted and countertop filters typically use a combination of adsorption and ion exchange resins, while plumbed-in systems may use those technologies in addition to reverse osmosis.

Filters also come in a wide range of prices. Most carafes and faucet-mounted filters cost between $20 and $50, while countertop, under-sink and whole-house filters can range from $50 to $900.

When considering the price of a water filter, remember that the total cost includes your initial purchase price as well as any installation, maintenance or replacement fees. Filter parts need to be changed periodically to prevent clogging, so be sure to consider how much replacement parts cost, as well as the manufacturer&#;s estimated life span for the product.

Also consider the amount of water you use. Some filter types have larger water capacities than others. Carafes, for example, can filter a few cups or gallons at a time, while faucet-mounted or under-sink filters work directly through a tap.

Most importantly, make sure that the individual product reduces the specific contaminants that you want to remove from your water. Generally, products will include claims on their packaging or advertising regarding which contaminants they reduce and the percentage reduction rate. See the table below for more information about common contaminants of concern and which type of filter will reduce the contaminants.

Water Quality Concerns and Filtration Methods*

Contaminant/Quality ConcernFiltration MethodNotesChlorineCarbon/Charcoal FilterContact your local water utility to find out which disinfectant is used in your drinking water. Water filters certified to reduce chlorine do not necessarily work for chloramine.Chlorine Byproducts (Trihalomethanes)Carbon/Charcoal FilterTrihalomethanes are a type of VOC (volatile organic compound), so products certified to reduce VOCs will reduce this contaminant.Taste and OdorCarbon/Charcoal FilterLeadCarbon, Distillation, Reverse OsmosisFluorideDistillation, Reverse OsmosisNot all public drinking water systems add fluoride to the water. Check to see if your community does by reading your annual water quality report.ChloraminesSome Carbon/Charcoal FiltersCheck that the system you select is certified to reduce chloramines. Systems that reduce chlorine do not necessarily reduce chloramines.PerchloratesReverse OsmosisArsenicDistillation, Reverse OsmosisTwo different forms of arsenic can be found in water, so it is important to know which type of arsenic you want to filter before choosing a water treatment system. Contaminant/Quality Concern Chlorine FILTRATION METHOD Carbon/Charcoal Filter NOTES Contact your local water utility to find out which disinfectant is used in your drinking water. Water filters certified to reduce chlorine do not necessarily work for chloramine. Chlorine Byproducts
(Trihalomethanes) FILTRATION METHOD Carbon/Charcoal Filter NOTES Trihalomethanes are a type of VOC (volatile organic compound), so products certified to reduce VOCs will reduce this contaminant. Taste and Odor FILTRATION METHOD Carbon/Charcoal Filter NOTES

 

Lead FILTRATION METHOD Carbon, Distillation, Reverse Osmosis NOTES

 

Flouride FILTRATION METHOD Distillation, Reverse Osmosis NOTES Not all public drinking water systems add fluoride to the water. Check to see if your community does by reading your annual water quality report. Chloramines FILTRATION METHOD Some Carbon/Charcoal Filters NOTES Check that the system you select is certified to reduce chloramines. Systems that reduce chlorine do not necessarily reduce chloramines. Perchlorates FILTRATION METHOD Reverse Osmosis NOTES

 

Arsenic FILTRATION METHOD Distillation, Reverse Osmosis NOTES Two different forms of arsenic can be found in water, so it is important to know which type of arsenic you want to filter before choosing a water treatment system.

Worried about lead? Make sure you get the right water filter.

The crisis in Flint, Michigan has brought attention to the serious problem of lead in drinking water. Fortunately, a water filter that is either NSF/ANSI Standard 53 or NSF/ANSI Standard 58 certified can reduce lead in your drinking water. These certifications are established by NSF International, a public health organization that develops standards and providing certifications with the mission to improve global human health.

These certified filters come in different shapes and sizes. Certification requires that manufacturers state how much water the filter can treat before it must be changed. Some filters even include a device that will let you know when the filter needs to be changed. When changing filter cartridges, it&#;s important to use a certified cartridge. A non-certified cartridge may not effectively filter lead from the drinking water.

There are a variety of filter options that meet the NSF&#;s certified standard. Outlined below, these filters include: pour-through pitchers/carafes, faucet mounts, and even plumbed-in filters that are installed under your sink or reverse osmosis drinking water treatment systems.

On the NSF website at www.nsf.org you can search for specific suppliers and product codes to see if they are NSF certified. Their lead specific guide provides a list of all NSF Standard certified brands and models with details for each: www.nsf.org/info/leadfiltrationguide.

Pharmaceuticals, Personal Care Products, Pesticides, Hormone-Disrupting Chemicals, and Microplastics

Consumers are increasingly concerned about pharmaceuticals, pesticides, other hormone disrupting chemicals and microplastics in drinking water. These chemicals are not regulated, but studies have shown that they are showing up in trace amounts in drinking water. According to the National Sanitation Foundation, filters with NSF/ANSI 401 certification can reduce levels of at least one of 15 types of emerging contaminants from drinking water. You can search by the chemical of concern on the NSF website.

Verify the quality of Your Filter

Make sure that your filter is certified by an independent certifying agency. Not all filters live up to the claims on the package, so make sure that the product you are buying does. The packaging should display certification from an independent certifying agency such as the National Sanitation Foundation International or Water Quality Association.

Check the internet for product reviews, and make sure the reviewer is impartial. The best reviews and ratings come from organizations that do not sell the products, such as Consumer Reports. Consumer Reports is published by Consumers Union, a nonprofit organization that provides consumers with unbiased product tests and ratings.

Worried About PFAS?

We all need water, but's a little more complicated than that. Learn about the ins and outs of water filtration so you can optimize your tap.

First time here? Check out the most recent and updated version of this article: Bottled Water VS. Tap.

Water is life. Some of us drink it straight from our faucet without a second thought. Others go to great lengths to buy enough jugs or bottles from the store to always have on hand. Safe water isn&#;t straightforward&#; but the best-for-you, best-for-the-planet solution is water filtration.

Though utilities will claim that their water meets all Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) standards, the fact is that the EPA isn&#;t doing all it could to protect Americans from toxic chemicals in our water supply. Its science can be decades out of date and it bases recommendations on chemical levels on cost-benefit analyses which may not put enough value on community health, according to Sydney Evans, science analyst at the Environmental Working Group (EWG) who works on the organization&#;s tap water database. She says filters are the best option for households today, and infrastructure development is the best way to secure safe water for the future. Follow these three steps to ensure your drinking water is as safe as it can be.

For more Water Purification Faucetinformation, please contact us. We will provide professional answers.

Step 1: Don't Drink Bottled Water

Americans are buying bottled water now more than ever, perhaps because they don&#;t trust their tap water. Bottled water accounted for 25% of beverage consumption in the US as of , according to research by Statista. But research from the Barcelona Institute for Global Health reported in that the impact of bottled water on natural resources is 3,500 times higher for bottled water than tap, and the impact on ecosystems was 1,400 times higher. In the US, 17 million barrels of oil are used per year just to meet plastic water bottle demand. Nonprofit Ban the Bottle has reported that 24%of bottled water is just municipal or tap water&#;only sometimes put through extra filtration.  

Since bottled water is a packaged product, it&#;s regulated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which in some respects has looser guidelines than the EPA, which regulates tap water. For example, the FDA requires bottled water to be assessed for coliform bacteria, an infection-causing pathogen, once a week. The EPA requires community water systems to test their water multiple times a day.

Bottled water also leads to grim circumstances for both the environment and society. According to the Container Recycling Institute, 75% of the 70 billion water bottles sold in the US in ended up as litter or in the landfill. It takes three liters of water to make a plastic bottle that will hold one liter of water, and it takes over 1,000 years for that bottle to biodegrade, states EarthWatch.

A lesser-known fact, confirmed by the nonprofit Food and Water Watch, is that employees at bottled water plants often receive low wages and are injured at a rate 50% higher than the overall manufacturing industry and the construction industry.

Bottled water poses risks to health, workers, and the environment. But what if your tap water has contamination issues?

Step 2: Get to Know Your Water

Water filters offer people an active role in improving their water quality without plastic waste. Plus, you&#;ll save money: a study from Penn State found that skipping plastic bottled water can save a family of four about $5,000 per year.

If you get water through a utility, check your local contaminants. In a review of 140,000 public water systems across the US, The Guardian found that 25 million Americans are drinking from the worst water systems&#;those that accrued more than 15 standards violations over five years. Income, geography, and race are the most likely to affect one&#;s access to clean, water, with poor, rural, and Latinx Americans the least likely to have clean water. 

For a robust look at your local water, visit the EWG&#;s Tap Water Database which lists the contaminants found in 50,000 water systems across all 50 states over multiple years. This resource notes any violations of federal legal contaminant limits a utility may have incurred, as well as what the legal limits are for each contaminant, and the negative health effects associated with that contaminant.

Evans explains that the EPA&#;s standards weigh the lab studies on the safety of chemicals against the cost of municipalities actually filtering those chemicals out. 

&#;Many EPA standards are based on research and technology and costs that are now decades out of date. About 90 contaminants are regulated, but there are hundreds detected regularly in our drinking water. But in spite of that, no new chemical contaminants have been regulated in about 20 years,&#; Evans says. &#;That&#;s why we publish our own guidelines&#; because our guidelines make no such compromises. They are based purely on health outcomes and take into account sensitive populations.&#;

If you access water from a private well, your local government does not test your water, so you will need to send it to a lab to test for coliform bacteria, nitrates, dissolved solids, pH levels, and other suspected contaminants. EWG recommends a certified lab to test for contaminants, which goes beyond what a home test can detect. Find a lab to do a state-certified test on the water in your home by consulting the EPA&#;s Drinking Water and Wastewater Laboratory Network.

Step 3: Find the Best Filter for You

Different filters work on different contaminants so there is no one universal &#;best filter.&#; At the end of the day, a filter only works if it filters out the actual pollutants in your water.

NSF International and the Water Quality Association are public health organizations that certify water filters for safety and effectiveness. Check a water filter before you buy that it&#;s certified by one of these organizations.

Which Filter Do I Choose?

Carbon:

Carbon bonds with and removes contaminants from your water. Pitcher filters like Brita are usually carbon filters. Maintenance includes replacing filters on a schedule, as once the filter is &#;full&#; of contaminants, it can start releasing them back into the water.

Best for: Chlorine and chemical byproducts of disinfection from your utility. Some types will also remove asbestos, lead, mercury, and VOCs (check packaging). These tend to be the least expensive filter type.

Cons: Quality can vary widely, and they won&#;t remove pollutants including arsenic, fluoride, nitrate, and others.

Ion exchange/water softeners:

A special type of resin is used to attract excess magnesium and calcium. These filters are mechanical and tend to last about a decade&#; maintenance may include repairs by a professional, and the resin in the system will need to be replaced periodically. These can be installed under a single sink or for an entire house system.

Best for: reducing the level of calcium, magnesium, barium, and radium which can build up in pipes or occur naturally in tap water.

Cons: Levels of other contaminants won&#;t change. Also, softened water replaces minerals it removes with sodium, so softened water isn&#;t recommended for people with low sodium diets, or for watering plants.

Reverse Osmosis:

These filters push water through a membrane that blocks contaminants. Those sold for home use often include carbon and/or sediment filters as well. EWG has named reverse osmosis as the most effective filtration system. These systems can also be installed under specific sinks or for a whole house.

Best for: Arsenic, fluoride, hexavalent chromium, nitrates, and perchlorate.

Cons: Uses a lot of water&#;taking in about five times as much water as they produce. They also remove important minerals such as iron, calcium, and magnesium.

You may have heard of other types of filtration methods&#;some are more focused on pathogens and bacteria, which are useful if you are drinking untreated water. Others on the market, like ceramic filters, do not work well enough to filter out chemicals, says Evans. For filtering chemicals from treated water, stick to the main three above. 

Why We Need More Than Filters:

Water filters are far better for the environment than bottled water&#;even if they waste some water or require maintenance and filters that must be replaced. 

Evans says filtering water can have unmeasurable positive effects on our health. We drink unfiltered tap water today and are fine today. But based on research by EWG, many utilities are providing their customers water with chemicals that may cause serious health impacts over the course of a lifetime. Filtering water is a great step that we have control over.

But a filter is just a bandage. Evans says more often than not, communities that need improved water quality the most are the ones that are least likely to be able to afford a filtration unit.

For example, in Flint, MI, chronic quality issues were overlooked even as Flint residents became sick and children were poisoned by lead. It&#;s no coincidence that this community being denied access to clean, affordable water is majority Black with a nearly 40% poverty rate. The Flint water crisis was an environmental justice issue. Needing to buy a filter to access clean water is an environmental justice issue as well.

&#;There&#;s sometimes this disconnect between what we advocate for and what&#;s reasonable for individuals, because there&#;s an emotional burden to this as well,&#; says Evans. &#;Today you&#;re told you need a water filter. And yesterday, it was PFAS and nonstick cookware, and tomorrow, it&#;s pesticides in your food. All of these issues are important issues with serious health consequences that can be overwhelming. The ultimate solutions need to come at the community and the national level.&#;

Evans recommends investment in infrastructure so the utilities have the resources they need to protect the communities they serve, whether or not those people can afford filters. After you see what contaminants are present in your water, reach out to local legislators and ask what they can do, and what you can do, to support the safe water in your area.

Whether you're a water enthusiast or disdainful hydrator, it's a human right to have access to clean and healthy water. Optimize your tap for you and your family by investing in responsible and efficient water filtration systems.

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