If you found that there are contaminants in your water and that a high performing water filter system will get rid of them, use this guide to help you select the right type of water filter system for your home.  Household water filters generally fall into one of two categories: point-of-entry units (whole house water filters), which treat water before it gets distributed throughout the whole house; and point-of-use water filters, which include countertop water filters, (we don't sell filter pitchers, we think they don't preform well enough and the cost of replacement filters is too high) and under sink water filter systems. Some filters use more than one kind of filtration technology. 

Our water filter selections reduce a very wide range of contaminants such as Chlorine, Chloramine, Lead, PCBs, MTBE, Mercury, Asbestos, Pharmaceuticals, Pesticides, Fertilizers, VOC's, Giardia, Cryptosporidium, Oocysts and many, many more contaminants. Some brands are unable to remove Chloramine, a disinfectant combining Chlorine and Ammonia that municipal water systems are switching to as a cost cutting measure. Multipure and some of our filter systems are ANSI/NSF Certified for Chloramine removal. We also offer the top-selling camping, traveling, emergency and outdoor water filtration and purification products by Katadyn.

When choosing a filter, make sure it is certified as meeting NSF/ANSI standards 42 and 53. ANSI/NSF-certified filters have been independently tested to show that they can reduce levels of certain pollutants. Those that meet standard 53 are geared toward treating water for health, not just for Chlorine taste and odor reduction.

Here are a few facts to help you choose which type of filtering system will remove the contaminants in your water:

Activated Carbon Solid Block Filter

• Reduces bad tastes and odors, including chlorine. An activated carbon filter meeting both ANSI/NSF Standards 42 and 53 will filter out most pollutants of concern, including heavy metals such as lead and mercury; chlorine disinfection byproducts; parasites such as Giardia and Cryptosporidium; pesticides and volatile organic chemicals such as MTBE, dichlorobenzene and trichloroethylene (TCE). But be advised, there are many inorganic contaminants, for example perchlorate, a rocket fuel ingredient, which a simple countertop or under sink water filter will not be able to remove. In which case Reverse Osmosis may be the solution.  Activated Carbon Block technology is used in most countertop water filters and under-the-sink water filter units.

• How it works: Positively charged and highly adsorbent carbon in a solid carbon block filter attracts and traps many impurities. Sometimes additional filter types will be used in addition to carbon block filters .

• Reduces: Most contaminants, including certain parasites such as Cryptosporidium and Giardia; heavy metals such as cadmium, copper, lead and mercury; and other inorganic pollutants, including arsenic, barium, nitrate/nitrite, perchlorate and selenium.  Used in under-the-sink units; often in combination with a carbon filter and even a UV disinfection unit.

• How it works: A semi-permeable membrane separates impurities from water, unfortunately it also removes beneficial minerals from the water and some users think the water tastes a little flat from lack of minerals. Many bottled water companies are using the RO process and most add some minerals back into the water for taste. This filtration method may waste a substantial amount of water during the treatment process. Very few municipal water systems would require reverse osmosis for treatment. We only recommend reverse osmosis in situations where nothing else will work. Higher maintenance and wasted water.

A note about maintaining your water filter system properly:

No water filter system will give you good performance over the long term unless it receives regular filter replacement. As contaminants build up, a filter can not only become less effective, but may actually make your water worse, by starting to release harmful bacteria or chemicals back into your filtered water. To keep your filter working properly, follow the manufacturer's maintenance directions and filter replacement. Most water filters only require an annual or semi-annual water filter cartridge change to maintain peak performance. We offer annual replacement auto-ship programs for many of our water filter products. Before buying any water treatment system, compare not only filter prices, but also replacement filter costs for the system.

Incredibly, if a mere 10% of North America's bottled water usage was reduced by switching to home-filtered water in reusable containers, we could eliminate:

• 133,000 trucks driving an average of 100 miles/daily--saving nearly 12 million gallons of fuel
• Over 100 million pounds of greenhouse gasses--equal to taking 1,100 or more cars off the road annually
• 213 million pounds of plastic water bottles--equal to 1.5 million barrels of crude oil.
• That's why we include a Stainless Steel Water Bottle FREE with each water filter purchase