Water Filtration
Two facts decide this whole subject, and the order they come in is the part everybody gets backwards.
The takeaway
Choosing a water filter starts with knowing what is in your water rather than with the filter. Your water system already publishes what it detected, free, every year. A filter is then certified against a named list of claims, so the certification has to match the thing the report actually found.
Source: U.S. EPA, Consumer Confidence Report Rule Revisions; U.S. EPA, Choose the water filter that’s right for you.
One: a filter is certified against a named list
EPA names NSF/ANSI 53 for lead reduction, including dissolved lead, and NSF/ANSI 42 Class 1 for the very small particles that may carry lead. For PFAS it names NSF/ANSI 53 for point-of-use systems and NSF/ANSI 58 for reverse osmosis.
Those are different marks on different boxes. A device certified for one claim is not partly effective against another — it is simply not addressing it. The gaps, drawn out.
Source: U.S. EPA, Choose the water filter that’s right for you; U.S. EPA, Identifying Drinking Water Filters Certified to Reduce PFAS.
Two: what is in your water is already published
Every community water system produces a Consumer Confidence Report summarizing where the water comes from, what was detected and any violations. Annually by 1 July under the original rule — and from 1 January 2027, twice a calendar year for systems serving 10,000 or more people.
Hardly anybody reads theirs. What it is and where to find it, and how to read the table.
Source: U.S. EPA, Consumer Confidence Report Rule Revisions Comparison fact sheet; U.S. EPA, Consumer Confidence Report Rule Revisions.
Which means the order is: report, then certification, then product
Read what was detected. Match it to the certification that names it. Only then think about which device, where, and who is going to look after it.
Doing it the other way round is how households end up with equipment that works perfectly and solves nothing.
And the sentence EPA publishes that most sellers do not
Filters are only effective if they are maintained according to the manufacturer’s instructions for how long their filters or membranes will last before they need to be replaced.
A cartridge past its stated life is not a weak filter. It is the most common failure in this whole category.
Source: U.S. EPA, Identifying Drinking Water Filters Certified to Reduce PFAS.
What we will not tell you
That your water is safe, or that it is not. That you need a filter. Or which product to buy — we name no brands anywhere on this site.
The first is a laboratory question, the second is your household’s judgment, and the third would make every other sentence here read as advertising. That refusal has its own page.
Our part in it
We connect homeowners with independent contractors who cover their area, and the contractors pay us when we route them a call. You are never charged.
All of it, listed
Read your report before you buy anything.It is published about your own system, it costs nothing, and it is the only thing that turns “I want a filter” into a question with an answer. If you do want something installed after that, we will route you to a contractor covering your area, matched on your ZIP code — you are never charged. Filtration is only our subject — every sort of plumbing job can be routed from here.
Call (888) 834-7350