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Fine Homebuilding: The Magazine

What's the Difference?: Water Filters

Robyn Doyon-Aitken, producer

3 users recommend

A survey of how water filters work and what they remove.

Krysta S. Doerfler

Krysta S. Doerfler

A survey of how water filters work and what they remove.

Photo: Krysta S. Doerfler

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by Matthew Teague

Truth be told, water in this country is pretty darn safe. If your house is on municipal water, regulations dictate little reason to question the safety of the water, even if the taste is a little off. Well water is also generally safe but requires regular testing.

If there is something unhealthful in the water, it could be lead or other heavy metals from the pipes in your house. The only way to know what’s actually in your drinking water, though, is to test the water coming out of the tap. You can pick up a water test kit from the hardware store or at most municipal water companies. Home-test kits that analyze well water, like the Watersafe kit found at www.filtersfast.com, are also readily available.

Once you know which metals, minerals, or biological contaminants need to be removed from the water, you can figure out which filter suits your needs best.

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Comments (3)

KarlFRist writes: Matthew Teague raises a good point in stating that the only way to know what’s really in your drinking water is to examine test results for drinking water supply. I have an informative article in my blog on this very topic of whether or not additional testing is necessary. (http://www.blog.waterfilters.net/to-test-or-not-to-test/1442) There are a lot of variables to consider. For example, new wells are unpredictable, and you can’t assume your neighbors well is an indicator of the test results you will have. I have also found this video helpful in providing an overview of test kit options available. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=qjoPF4dcdq0) Finally, I want to encourage DonMikeSteve to definitely consider reverse osmosis systems for removing both synthetic and organic chemicals from his drinking water. He is on the right track with this observation.
Posted: 10:04 am on October 12th

SouthSideEng writes: The statement that there is little reason to question the safety of municipal water is ridiculous. Tell it to the folks in Woburn, MA (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woburn,_Massachusetts). Why would you make a statement like that with no source for your information? Municipal water is safe everywhere and there is "little reason to question the safety of the water, even if the taste is a little off"? Wrong. There is probably a reason that the taste is off. Wouldn't you like to know what that reason is? This is a big country and there are wide variations in water quality, water delivery systems, and standards for water filtering. It is irresponsible to make an overly-broad statement about all municipalities, all delivery systems, and all standards.

If you are going to make a claim like this, back it up with a scientific source, preferable a legitimate one.
Posted: 11:31 pm on February 3rd

DonMIkeSteve writes: In Matthew Teague's article on p. 98 of issue 203 (Summer, 2009) he lists the following statement under 'What it Removes' for Reverse osmosis: "All minerals, good and bad, but not synthetic chemicals or organics." I was wondering about his basis for his statement about synthetic chemicals or organics. It is my understanding that reverse osmosis membranes separate on the basis of size and since they do a fine job of filtering out the high concentrations of the very small sodium ions (0.9 Angstrom diameter) and chloride ions (3.7 Angstrom diameter) in sea water that they should easily remove all synthetic chemicals and organics which have far larger diameters.
Posted: 6:09 pm on January 21st

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