What type of tap water filter is best for my home?
Should I use a home water filter or is tap water ok to drink directly? Generally, we feel that it is prudent to filter your water at home. If nothing else, it is an extra way of ensuring you're doing everything possible to keep your family healthy. We suggest that you first read or view our water report on your municipality, which will help you to decide the optimal filter type. But given the significant amount of "forever chemicals" or PFAS, found in tap water, not to mention lead, mankind's old enemy, filtering your water is probably a good idea.
Reverse Osmosis (R.O.)
Carbon Block (C.B.)
The Chosen Two
Having analyzed a variety of water filters, Town Water Check feels that two types of filters generally satisfy the challenges of purifying today's residential tap water: 1) Reverse Osmosis (R.O.) and 2) Carbon Block (C.B) filters.
Reverse Osmosis (R.O.) Filter
Eliminates nearly 95-98%, including fluoride
Carbon Block (C.B.) Filter
Eliminates 90%+, leaves fluoride
R.O. vs. C.B.
Reverse Osmosis (R.O.)
R.O. filters out nearly everything by physically blocking particles at an incredibly tiny scale. That's great except there are a few substances such as fluoride, calcium and magnesium which you may not want to completely eliminate. For that reason, many R.O. filters have a re-mineralization stage, but that's not widely available for fluoride, which is important for dental health.
Carbon Block (C.B.)
C.B. removes most of the main contaminants that R.O. does, to well within EPA limits, but generally not to the same degree as R.O. However, C.B. does not remove arsenic, nitrates, radium, and uranium.
Unlike R.O., however, C.B. does leave beneficial fluoride, calcium and magnesium. C.B is often cheaper and more convenient to use, being offered in both pitcher and refrigerator filter format, unlike R.O. which is generally under the sink.
Additional Recommendations
As an extra, you may want an R.O. or C.B. filter with a UV light for killing any remaining microbes.
Being independent citizen advocates, we don't recommend individual brands, but we do suggest that your selected filter has certifications NSF/ANSI 58 for R.O. or NSF/ANSI 53 for C.B.