7 ms·

I'm Wirecutter's water-quality expert. I don't filter my water

90 points by rufus_foreman 1y ago

atoav 1y ago
I also don't filter my water, but I live in central Europe and our tap watrr adheres to stricter standards than bottled water, so there's that.
madaxe_again 1y ago
People are really funny about water. Recently had family visit us in Portugal, and they refused to drink the tap water anywhere - despite it being an EU country and complying with relevant standards, rigorously. Then again, they also refused to drink our water at home, which I know is nothing but H2O, as we live off grid and it all goes through numerous filters before hitting the RO. Then again, where they live (and drink the tap water), I also drink the tap water, because again, EU, safe - but it tastes like a swimming pool, as they dose it heavily with chlorine. Each to their own.
- mig39 1y ago
  In Portugal, I tend to fill a big jug with tap water (which I know is safe, I watched them put in the treatment plant!), but then leave it in the fridge. After a bit of time, the chlorine just evaporates. So it's nice and cool.
  - madaxe_again 1y ago
    The chlorine in the water is still there, but yes, the free chlorine (which is what you smell/taste) dissipates fairly quickly once it isn’t contained.
- ajb 1y ago
  My parents drink tap water, but every morning my father would pour away a few liters of water in case the supply pipe was made of lead and the water sitting in it overnight had absorbed some. (This is actually the official government advice in the UK, if your house is older than 1970. Of course, the better option is to replace it with non lead, if you can.)
vsskanth 1y ago
It's mostly for taste at this point, rather than safety. For a long time I used to drink right from the tap, now use a filter pitcher simply because it tastes better.
- deleted 1y ago
  [deleted]
- Crye 1y ago
  does it taste better because of temperature, aeration?
  - lagniappe 1y ago
    lower TDS, less chlorine smell
    - deleted 1y ago
      [deleted]
  - thrill 1y ago
    Far less of everything that is bigger than a water molecule.
    - s0rce 1y ago
      Are you filtering your water with molecular sieves? Most water treatment doesn't work by size.
  - torqueehmada 1y ago
    Not the person you asked, but the chlorine level is very high in my muni water so I like running it through a Britta charcoal filter. If I'm in a rush, tap is fine.
scotty79 1y ago
where can I check how much PFAS my local water in EU contains?
- tetris11 1y ago
  https://foreverpollution.eu/map/ https://foreverpollution.eu/map/ It's not as good as the US's one though https://www.ewg.org/interactive-maps/pfas_contamination/map/ https://www.ewg.org/interactive-maps/pfas_contamination/map/
- constantcrying 1y ago
  You should look at the website of your local water distributor, mine has very local measurements about the tap water.
username223 1y ago
The fact that potable water is so cheap in the developed world that you can use a gallon of it to flush your toilet is a miracle of civilization. Filter it if that makes you feel better, but it's a waste of money, and a dismissal of a major achievement in public health. But hey, at least it's not bottled water, which is basically tap water that has been put in a single-use plastic bottle and trucked across the country.
- jasoncartwright 1y ago
  Tangential! I bought a 210L water butt to collect rainwater to water plants a while back. It cost £110 to my door with the all installation parts. Out of interest I looked up that the cost to fill it with pristine London tap water would be ~52p. 211 uses and I'm at breakeven, money-wise.
- formerly_proven 1y ago
  https://imgflip.com/i/2htzm9 https://imgflip.com/i/2htzm9
- donnachangstein 1y ago
  > But hey, at least it's not bottled water, which is basically tap water that has been put in a single-use plastic bottle and trucked across the country. Everyone acts like bottled water is evil until there is a water crisis, then it's the lifeline.
  - username223 1y ago
    I don't understand your point. That $8/gal water next to the Starbucks checkout is not addressing a crisis when the baristas are rinsing out people's cups with equivalent water for free. The bottled water isn't next to the prepper-sized cans of dehydrated food in your supermarket.
ghostly_s 1y ago
Wirecutter "expert" doesn't hold much sway for me with the quality of their reviews these days.
- aprilthird2021 1y ago
  Wirecutter is just a worse version of Consumer Reports where they don't guarantee they aren't running ads and accepting money from the retailers whose products are featured in the media
  - homefree 1y ago
    It's even worse than that - they have the same anti-tech political bent as the rest of the legacy tech press. Thankfully we have better options now.
    - righthand 1y ago
      Question: Is there some implied negative critique of Consumer Reports here? I rather enjoy their work and the fact they're reader funded, but I wouldn't be surprised if there's something I should be aware of that's not clear from it (the way they test or how they accept another type of money). I know they review too many cars (every issue lately features a car banner at the top of the cover).
      - brookst 1y ago
        Not the person you asked, but I find consumer reports useless because they typically conflate functional evaluation (does the product do what it’s supposed to) with non-functional factors (warranty, price) in a one-size-fits-all manner. If I’m shopping for a hand mixer, I want to get a list of the best ones and then make my own call on price / performance. I don’t want to be told a $19 product is the best and have to carefully dissect the article to learn that it’s not actually the best, CR has just decided on my behalf that the actual best product isn’t worth $10 more.
        1y ago
BugsJustFindMe 1y ago
Money quote: > readings of PFAS that exceed EPA limits have been found in just 8% of small public water systems (those that serve fewer than 10,000 people) and 15% of large ones 15%! Anyone who trusts their municipal water supply because of *handwave* regulations and reports needs to read that again. Even if my water were 100% pristine as the author's apparently is, which they only know for their own homes because they've tested it at their taps half a dozen times with different laboratories, my tap water still tastes awful, and maintaining a dedicated three stage filter spout next to my kitchen faucet costs me approximately nothing and provides substantially better tasting water. And I don't need to worry about whether I live in the next Flint, Michigan. It took two whole years for administrators in Flint, Michigan to acknowledge their lead pipe crisis. What your treatment plant claims it does and what your municipal government claims your safety profile is do not matter one bit if you aren't constantly testing the water actually coming out of your taps. I'd rather just filter my water. It's much less hassle and I get better tasting water as a nice bonus.
- timr 1y ago
  I'm failing to see your point. If you think it helps -- whether because of taste or personal trust issues or something else -- then great, filter your water. You do you. The article is clearly for someone who is otherwise on the fence and doesn't have those issues.
  - BugsJustFindMe 1y ago
    > I'm failing to see your point That's weird because I'm pretty sure that my point is explicitly spelled out. But just in case, here it is again: If your trust is based in municipal numbers or statements, you should be aware that municipal numbers and statements are not trustworthy because there's a lot of widespread decaying infrastructure (and coverup!) between where they test, what they make public, and where your water comes out of your faucet. And if your trust is based on "Rah, rah, America!", you should know that 15% (!!) of water systems serving over 10k people have PFAS levels measured above what the EPA says is safe. (And if you don't think that 15% is a lot, holy smokes, that's nuts.) So if you aren't testing your tap constantly then you have no idea what your water is like, no matter what the city says their water is like. And if you are testing your taps constantly, it's less hassle and gives a better result to just filter your water instead. The author says "I don't filter because I constantly test my taps and they're good each time." That's not the same at all as saying that filtering isn't a generally good idea, especially for anyone who isn't constantly testing their taps. The author ALSO says "a fuckton of you have more PFAS in your water than the EPA says is safe, just not me, lol". The author also chooses to ignore that their good water today may become bad tomorrow.
StopDisinfo910 1y ago
I think the writer is sidestepping the main issue most of the people who want to filter their water are thinking about. Sure, your tap water is within the federal limits for contaminants. The issue is that these limits are significantly too high for PFAS out of convenience for the water supplying side.
cypherpunks01 1y ago
A surprising amount of Americans refuse to drink tap water entirely, in their own suburban homes with quality municipal water, or anywhere else they travel, holding the opinion that plastic bottled water is safer and better. Of course bottled water is regulated far less than tap water, and contains an ungodly amount of microplastics from manufacturing and storage. Under-sink RO systems seem pretty great to me, anywhere you live. With a small holding tank, municipal water pressure is enough to drive small RO cartridges, requiring no electrical power to run, and giving more than sufficient flow rate for all drinking water. I think the biggest downside is a few hundred dollars in initial setup, and cartridges every year or two. This seems safer than relying on the changing opinions of experts as to what amount of harmful chemicals are safe to drink.
- BugsJustFindMe 1y ago
  > A surprising amount of Americans refuse to drink tap water entirely, in their own suburban homes with quality municipal water It shouldn't be surprising that Americans might understand that their water might not actually be safe despite the municipal government saying it is. It took two whole years for administrators in Flint, Michigan to acknowledge their lead pipe crisis. Trust needs to be earned and maintained, and America is notoriously bad at maintaining critical public infrastructure.
  - n4r9 1y ago
    > America is notoriously bad at maintaining critical public infrastructure. How does that compare with food safety in commercial products? That's the question.
    - its-summertime 1y ago
      I mean, most bottled waters are transparent, so that compares well against what Flint had
- porphyra 1y ago
  Even if safe, municipal water where I live (San Jose, California) contains a ton of chlorine and is super hard, making it unpleasant to drink. In contrast, bottled water consistently tastes fine.
m3kw9 1y ago
Yep use it if it makes you feel better. I know water treatment people in my area have talked about the no need to use filters.
doug-moen 1y ago
The quality of your water varies with the district you live in. My municipal water provider puts chloramine in the water to kill bacteria. Occasionally we get high levels of chloramine, which is disgusting (smell and taste), but the water filter removes it. Occasionally they flush the pipes, which turns the water red, which is mentally disturbing, but the water filter removes the rust. So while it's important to me that my municipal water is technically safe to drink, I still have a better experience with my drinking water when I use a filter. While it's amusing that this technical expert considers rust-red water to be "delicious", do they have family members, or friends that visit and consume beverages, and do these other people get to have an opinion?
- deleted 1y ago
  [deleted]
- 9x39 1y ago
  To be fair, he does say he isn't anti-filter, and I think his article was to calm the horses and hysteria out there. I filter water too, but it is things like testing maps (https://www.ewg.org/interactive-maps/pfas_contamination/map/ https://www.ewg.org/interactive-maps/pfas_contamination/map/) that really help eradicate the brainworms that I'm slowly poisoning myself from the tap. I think the whole article was a pretty solid attempt at helping people like myself who tend to overreact when it comes to exposure figure out that the fear and the danger are often not the same. BTW, unless you were just being sarcastic, the rusty water was him talking about the filtered water from a LifeStraw - something that's miraculous as far as I'm concerned, seeing as I've drank mucky water out hiking through them just fine. Well, probably, anyway.
calmbonsai 1y ago
Wirecutter was bad before the NYT acquisition and now it's lot any/all remaining credibility. Much like CNBC, it's completely "turned the corner" for me and I take their editorial as a negative signal. In other words, definitely filter your water.
- bobxmax 1y ago
  > Wirecutter was bad before the NYT acquisition How so?
  - calmbonsai 1y ago
    They would consistently recommend products based on affiliate revenue over value or performance.
    - BoiledCabbage 1y ago
      Can you share the evidence of this? Did you or someone have access to their affiliate revenue? How do you know it shaped their decisions between products?
      - calmbonsai 1y ago
        If you'd like, use Wayback https://archive.org/ https://archive.org/ to show reviews from the pre-aquisiton days. Notably, they would consistently recommend electronics and even things like dishware that would be sourced exclusively from Amazon over superior products sold directly through the manufacturer or other private-brand retail sites. I have zero issues with affiliate marketing, but I have huge issues when those affiliations consistently skew reviews.
timerol 1y ago
> I hated my pitcher filter long before I knew I didn’t need it. It would clog up any time a bit of rusty water came through the pipes, which, in a 70-year-old building with cast-iron service lines, was often. I'm a little confused that this is used as an argument against filtering water. I get that iron is not a particularly worrisome contaminant, but I still don't want the occasional "bit of rusty water" showing up in my glass
bradlys 1y ago
So, his suggestion isn't to buy a water filter system and filters that could last you 10+ years but instead to pay $300 for a test. Retarded. The NYTimes is such a joke and so is this guy. If you're living in newer construction in a place like NYC then you're likely going to be fine. I am in this group currently but I will be moving back to the bay soon and I will have to use my RO system. If you live in the bay area, you know you have to filter your water because it tastes like metal. We hadn't even had an electric kettle for more than six months in our startup with less than 5 employees using it, the entire bottom of the kettle was covered in 1/4" thick plates of various minerals. Obviously, water differs per city but this was a common occurrence throughout the bay area. The water, of course, always tasted poorly. I'm not even getting into how the housing stock in the bay area is decrepit and full of homes and apartments that are nowhere near up to modern construction standards. You have copper pipes? That's cool but you probably still have lead solder in those pipes. Who knows what kind of supply pipes are coming off the street. Yeah, your local supply probably replaced the ones that run in the street but the ones on your property? Unlikely. Your fittings? Still could have up to 8% lead until 2014. The amount of homes I'd see that still have knob and tube wiring was astounding. You can bet your ass that place still has an abundance of lead all over it. The poor tasting water in the bay area is reason enough to filter it - even if it wasn't for all these other issues like most homes not being up to modern standards. A lot of these water tests are done at the county's office. It does not reflect what your home will add to your water supply. So, yeah, getting at home test could be nice... for $300... or you could just install a nice RO system that will last many years and give you better water anyway.
dbcooper 1y ago
>Why you should trust me Absolutely zero mention of qualifications. If you do not have a chemistry/chemical engineering degree, or something closely related then why would anyone want to bother with your verbose writing?
- sitzkrieg 1y ago
  ah yes, degrees. i only absorb information from qualified individuals with degrees.
  - brookst 1y ago
    What qualifications do you look for, or do you just assume everyone who says they’re an expert is actually an expert?
    - bobxmax 1y ago
      Wirecutters is a long-running very trusted publication. It's not a random rag.
      - brookst 1y ago
        Well, I’m happy for you that you haven’t noticed a difference in rigor and quality since the NYT acquisition.
- mihaaly 1y ago
  Knowing something well is not dependent on formal education. Helps quite some, but not being a must. And more importantly: not a guarantee!
recursivedoubts 1y ago
I'm a dude who doesn't care to run a chemical analysis of my municipal water every couple days. I filter my water.
- mihaaly 1y ago
  Have you tested your filtered water - in various conditions - or you just trust it based on the words of others?
  - recursivedoubts 1y ago
    I just trust the carbon filters. Sorry.
    - mihaaly 1y ago
      Who told you to? : )
      - recursivedoubts 1y ago
        the internet
        mihaaly 1y ago
        that's great! : )
    - rufus_foreman 1y ago
      You just trust corporations. I mean I trust corporations more than I trust the government, but 0.002 is more than 0.001. You seem like a very trusting person.
      - recursivedoubts 1y ago
        i don't trust either, but I trust both in series more than I trust either alone this is basic probability
tonymet 1y ago
if you are someone who regularly cleans and replaces your water filter, it's probably not hurting. For most people their water filters are probably contributing more mold and contaminants than removing.
internet_points 1y ago
How much PFAS does the average water filter add to your water? (How much PFAS do you get from plastic-bottled water / soft drinks instead of the stuff coming out of metal pipes?)
- torqueehmada 1y ago
  Go find out and tell us. That would be really helpful information.
  - s0rce 1y ago
    You can probably review the wetted materials but fluoropolymers are more expensive and not required in consumer water filters so I would assume not much PFAS. If its some activated carbon and IEX resins then its likely not making things worse.
knappe 1y ago
I go back and forth on the issue. I read our local municipal water reports but then things like this happen https://www.vaildaily.com/news/climax-mine-can-now-release-higher-levels-of-molybdenum-into-local-water-sources/ https://www.vaildaily.com/news/climax-mine-can-now-release-h... Denver water couldn't force the mine to continue cleanup of the molybdenum (because they're bankrupt) and instead raised the tolerable levels of molybdenum in Denver water. The same thing happened in 2017, 2010 and I'm certain before that. And then we have things like this https://www.cpr.org/2025/06/04/free-private-well-testing-otero-bent-prowers-kiowa-counties/ https://www.cpr.org/2025/06/04/free-private-well-testing-ote... Colorado has some serious issues with mine runoff and water contamination. https://www.pagosasun.com/stories/the-day-the-river-turned-orange-acidic-mine-drainage-haunts-western-rivers,59377 https://www.pagosasun.com/stories/the-day-the-river-turned-o...
Arch-TK 1y ago
That's nice. In the UK, tap water tastes like chlorine. If you are unfortunate enough to have chloraminated water, just letting it sit is insufficient. You need a filter which can remove the chloramine. After this, the water is actually too hard to make good coffee with, so I either zerowater it or distill it and then mix it with the filtered water using a TDS meter to hit a rough reference point (EC meters are not accurate gauges of TDS, but that's fine, you just want a consistent TDS not a precise TDS). So sure, if you live in a civilised country and your water doesn't taste like shit and doesn't make your coffee taste awful and you trust your government to not give you poison or have tested your water to ensure it won't hurt you, go right ahead, be my guest. But I will continue filtering my water because I hate the taste of chlorine and want to make the best out of the expensive coffee I buy.
storus 1y ago
After covid I noticed that drinking tap water was making me noticeably worse but buying packaged mineral water didn't (this was done over a few months). I later bought reverse osmosis and never hit that problem since. However, this year I learned that I live in a high-PFAS area (up to 300ng/L) so I am wondering if I was hitting PFAS overload somehow. Most of my flowers died quickly after watering them with the same tap water as well (when I still tried to have some house flowers).
bilsbie 1y ago
Any concern about pharmaceuticals making it into tap water? Microplastics?
constantcrying 1y ago
Where I live there are area local water reports, so you can enter your street and see where your water is coming from and a report, with quite a lot of measurements and including legal limitations for these measurements. Water filtration should be an informed decision, based on what water you are actually getting.
foresto 1y ago
> It is also certified for Particulate Class 1, which is a surrogate for microplastics. Based on a web search, it looks like Particulate Class 1 means particles in the 0.5 to 1 micron range. Several carbon block filters are rated at 0.5 µm, so I guess they're meant to handle those microplastics, but it leaves me wondering: Do any smaller microplastics exist? Are they likely to be present in municipal water supplies? All the filter cartridges that I've seen, and almost all the housings and tubes that hold them and the water, are made at least partly of plastic. Given that water typically sits in these filtration systems for hours or days at a time when the tap is closed, could it be that microplastics are leaching into the water from them?
- lxchase 1y ago
  I had the same conclusion in searching for filters that specifically address a microplastics concern. I was unsuccessful in finding one that was not made of plastic.
deepsun 1y ago
Well, the current US administration is all against the environmental protection, so I expect the article advice might change in the nearest hears.
kdlskall 1y ago
The whole topic seems to be infused with a lot of loss-of-control issues… In the end, there’s just so many more vague risks affected by the society you live in. Driving a bit slower will probably offset a great deal of those.
dbg31415 1y ago
Filtered water tastes better.
t0bia_s 1y ago
Our tap water has strong chlorine smell. Since we add a filter, chlorine smell is gone and water taste better. When I drink unfiltered water from my parents house, I immediately recognise it.
1970-01-01 1y ago
I would not trust the EPA, FDA, or any other administration to be on top of your health with the current POTUS. If they get caught not doing the right thing on the job, there's no accountability or an immediate pardon. If you can afford it, filter your water.
tdpvb 1y ago
Relevant study: living within 1 mile of a golf course, or relying on groundwater affected by them, significantly increases Parkinson's risk over time. https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2833716 https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle...
ultra_water 1y ago
https://ultrawatersolutions.com/venice https://ultrawatersolutions.com/venice Removes 249 chemicals in pharmaceuticals with third-party testing certifications! You can’t get better than this!
water_wellness 1y ago
[dead]
ultra_water 1y ago
[dead]
cornhole 1y ago
I don’t drink my tap water because that shit dries white and I’m not trying to get a kidney stone
leakycap 1y ago
I love products that are regulated, like water filters. You can look them up and verify that they meet specifications that make a difference. Right now, I prefer the Brita Elite. Refills available everywhere and it makes my chlorinated tap water taste clean. (Not the same as regular Brita). I tried about 40 brands over the years. Brita Elite is the first one with no drawbacks that make me want to keep looking for something better.

90 points by rufus_foreman 1y ago

I also don't filter my water, but I live in central Europe and our tap watrr adheres to stricter standards than bottled water, so there's that.

madaxe_again 1y ago

People are really funny about water. Recently had family visit us in Portugal, and they refused to drink the tap water anywhere - despite it being an EU country and complying with relevant standards, rigorously. Then again, they also refused to drink our water at home, which I know is nothing but H2O, as we live off grid and it all goes through numerous filters before hitting the RO. Then again, where they live (and drink the tap water), I also drink the tap water, because again, EU, safe - but it tastes like a swimming pool, as they dose it heavily with chlorine. Each to their own.

mig39 1y ago
In Portugal, I tend to fill a big jug with tap water (which I know is safe, I watched them put in the treatment plant!), but then leave it in the fridge. After a bit of time, the chlorine just evaporates. So it's nice and cool.
- madaxe_again 1y ago
  The chlorine in the water is still there, but yes, the free chlorine (which is what you smell/taste) dissipates fairly quickly once it isn’t contained.
ajb 1y ago
My parents drink tap water, but every morning my father would pour away a few liters of water in case the supply pipe was made of lead and the water sitting in it overnight had absorbed some. (This is actually the official government advice in the UK, if your house is older than 1970. Of course, the better option is to replace it with non lead, if you can.)

vsskanth 1y ago

It's mostly for taste at this point, rather than safety. For a long time I used to drink right from the tap, now use a filter pitcher simply because it tastes better.

deleted 1y ago
[deleted]
Crye 1y ago
does it taste better because of temperature, aeration?
- lagniappe 1y ago
  lower TDS, less chlorine smell
  - deleted 1y ago
    [deleted]
- thrill 1y ago
  Far less of everything that is bigger than a water molecule.
  - s0rce 1y ago
    Are you filtering your water with molecular sieves? Most water treatment doesn't work by size.
- torqueehmada 1y ago
  Not the person you asked, but the chlorine level is very high in my muni water so I like running it through a Britta charcoal filter. If I'm in a rush, tap is fine.

scotty79 1y ago

where can I check how much PFAS my local water in EU contains?

tetris11 1y ago
https://foreverpollution.eu/map/ https://foreverpollution.eu/map/ It's not as good as the US's one though https://www.ewg.org/interactive-maps/pfas_contamination/map/ https://www.ewg.org/interactive-maps/pfas_contamination/map/
constantcrying 1y ago
You should look at the website of your local water distributor, mine has very local measurements about the tap water.

username223 1y ago

The fact that potable water is so cheap in the developed world that you can use a gallon of it to flush your toilet is a miracle of civilization. Filter it if that makes you feel better, but it's a waste of money, and a dismissal of a major achievement in public health. But hey, at least it's not bottled water, which is basically tap water that has been put in a single-use plastic bottle and trucked across the country.

jasoncartwright 1y ago
Tangential! I bought a 210L water butt to collect rainwater to water plants a while back. It cost £110 to my door with the all installation parts. Out of interest I looked up that the cost to fill it with pristine London tap water would be ~52p. 211 uses and I'm at breakeven, money-wise.
formerly_proven 1y ago
https://imgflip.com/i/2htzm9 https://imgflip.com/i/2htzm9
donnachangstein 1y ago
> But hey, at least it's not bottled water, which is basically tap water that has been put in a single-use plastic bottle and trucked across the country. Everyone acts like bottled water is evil until there is a water crisis, then it's the lifeline.
- username223 1y ago
  I don't understand your point. That $8/gal water next to the Starbucks checkout is not addressing a crisis when the baristas are rinsing out people's cups with equivalent water for free. The bottled water isn't next to the prepper-sized cans of dehydrated food in your supermarket.

ghostly_s 1y ago

Wirecutter "expert" doesn't hold much sway for me with the quality of their reviews these days.

aprilthird2021 1y ago
Wirecutter is just a worse version of Consumer Reports where they don't guarantee they aren't running ads and accepting money from the retailers whose products are featured in the media
- homefree 1y ago
  It's even worse than that - they have the same anti-tech political bent as the rest of the legacy tech press. Thankfully we have better options now.
  - righthand 1y ago
    Question: Is there some implied negative critique of Consumer Reports here? I rather enjoy their work and the fact they're reader funded, but I wouldn't be surprised if there's something I should be aware of that's not clear from it (the way they test or how they accept another type of money). I know they review too many cars (every issue lately features a car banner at the top of the cover).
    - brookst 1y ago
      Not the person you asked, but I find consumer reports useless because they typically conflate functional evaluation (does the product do what it’s supposed to) with non-functional factors (warranty, price) in a one-size-fits-all manner. If I’m shopping for a hand mixer, I want to get a list of the best ones and then make my own call on price / performance. I don’t want to be told a $19 product is the best and have to carefully dissect the article to learn that it’s not actually the best, CR has just decided on my behalf that the actual best product isn’t worth $10 more.
      - 1y ago

BugsJustFindMe 1y ago

Money quote: > readings of PFAS that exceed EPA limits have been found in just 8% of small public water systems (those that serve fewer than 10,000 people) and 15% of large ones 15%! Anyone who trusts their municipal water supply because of *handwave* regulations and reports needs to read that again. Even if my water were 100% pristine as the author's apparently is, which they only know for their own homes because they've tested it at their taps half a dozen times with different laboratories, my tap water still tastes awful, and maintaining a dedicated three stage filter spout next to my kitchen faucet costs me approximately nothing and provides substantially better tasting water. And I don't need to worry about whether I live in the next Flint, Michigan. It took two whole years for administrators in Flint, Michigan to acknowledge their lead pipe crisis. What your treatment plant claims it does and what your municipal government claims your safety profile is do not matter one bit if you aren't constantly testing the water actually coming out of your taps. I'd rather just filter my water. It's much less hassle and I get better tasting water as a nice bonus.

timr 1y ago
I'm failing to see your point. If you think it helps -- whether because of taste or personal trust issues or something else -- then great, filter your water. You do you. The article is clearly for someone who is otherwise on the fence and doesn't have those issues.
- BugsJustFindMe 1y ago
  > I'm failing to see your point That's weird because I'm pretty sure that my point is explicitly spelled out. But just in case, here it is again: If your trust is based in municipal numbers or statements, you should be aware that municipal numbers and statements are not trustworthy because there's a lot of widespread decaying infrastructure (and coverup!) between where they test, what they make public, and where your water comes out of your faucet. And if your trust is based on "Rah, rah, America!", you should know that 15% (!!) of water systems serving over 10k people have PFAS levels measured above what the EPA says is safe. (And if you don't think that 15% is a lot, holy smokes, that's nuts.) So if you aren't testing your tap constantly then you have no idea what your water is like, no matter what the city says their water is like. And if you are testing your taps constantly, it's less hassle and gives a better result to just filter your water instead. The author says "I don't filter because I constantly test my taps and they're good each time." That's not the same at all as saying that filtering isn't a generally good idea, especially for anyone who isn't constantly testing their taps. The author ALSO says "a fuckton of you have more PFAS in your water than the EPA says is safe, just not me, lol". The author also chooses to ignore that their good water today may become bad tomorrow.

StopDisinfo910 1y ago

I think the writer is sidestepping the main issue most of the people who want to filter their water are thinking about. Sure, your tap water is within the federal limits for contaminants. The issue is that these limits are significantly too high for PFAS out of convenience for the water supplying side.

cypherpunks01 1y ago

A surprising amount of Americans refuse to drink tap water entirely, in their own suburban homes with quality municipal water, or anywhere else they travel, holding the opinion that plastic bottled water is safer and better. Of course bottled water is regulated far less than tap water, and contains an ungodly amount of microplastics from manufacturing and storage. Under-sink RO systems seem pretty great to me, anywhere you live. With a small holding tank, municipal water pressure is enough to drive small RO cartridges, requiring no electrical power to run, and giving more than sufficient flow rate for all drinking water. I think the biggest downside is a few hundred dollars in initial setup, and cartridges every year or two. This seems safer than relying on the changing opinions of experts as to what amount of harmful chemicals are safe to drink.

BugsJustFindMe 1y ago
> A surprising amount of Americans refuse to drink tap water entirely, in their own suburban homes with quality municipal water It shouldn't be surprising that Americans might understand that their water might not actually be safe despite the municipal government saying it is. It took two whole years for administrators in Flint, Michigan to acknowledge their lead pipe crisis. Trust needs to be earned and maintained, and America is notoriously bad at maintaining critical public infrastructure.
- n4r9 1y ago
  > America is notoriously bad at maintaining critical public infrastructure. How does that compare with food safety in commercial products? That's the question.
  - its-summertime 1y ago
    I mean, most bottled waters are transparent, so that compares well against what Flint had
porphyra 1y ago
Even if safe, municipal water where I live (San Jose, California) contains a ton of chlorine and is super hard, making it unpleasant to drink. In contrast, bottled water consistently tastes fine.

m3kw9 1y ago

Yep use it if it makes you feel better. I know water treatment people in my area have talked about the no need to use filters.

doug-moen 1y ago

The quality of your water varies with the district you live in. My municipal water provider puts chloramine in the water to kill bacteria. Occasionally we get high levels of chloramine, which is disgusting (smell and taste), but the water filter removes it. Occasionally they flush the pipes, which turns the water red, which is mentally disturbing, but the water filter removes the rust. So while it's important to me that my municipal water is technically safe to drink, I still have a better experience with my drinking water when I use a filter. While it's amusing that this technical expert considers rust-red water to be "delicious", do they have family members, or friends that visit and consume beverages, and do these other people get to have an opinion?

deleted 1y ago
[deleted]
9x39 1y ago
To be fair, he does say he isn't anti-filter, and I think his article was to calm the horses and hysteria out there. I filter water too, but it is things like testing maps (https://www.ewg.org/interactive-maps/pfas_contamination/map/ https://www.ewg.org/interactive-maps/pfas_contamination/map/) that really help eradicate the brainworms that I'm slowly poisoning myself from the tap. I think the whole article was a pretty solid attempt at helping people like myself who tend to overreact when it comes to exposure figure out that the fear and the danger are often not the same. BTW, unless you were just being sarcastic, the rusty water was him talking about the filtered water from a LifeStraw - something that's miraculous as far as I'm concerned, seeing as I've drank mucky water out hiking through them just fine. Well, probably, anyway.

calmbonsai 1y ago

Wirecutter was bad before the NYT acquisition and now it's lot any/all remaining credibility. Much like CNBC, it's completely "turned the corner" for me and I take their editorial as a negative signal. In other words, definitely filter your water.

bobxmax 1y ago
> Wirecutter was bad before the NYT acquisition How so?
- calmbonsai 1y ago
  They would consistently recommend products based on affiliate revenue over value or performance.
  - BoiledCabbage 1y ago
    Can you share the evidence of this? Did you or someone have access to their affiliate revenue? How do you know it shaped their decisions between products?
    - calmbonsai 1y ago
      If you'd like, use Wayback https://archive.org/ https://archive.org/ to show reviews from the pre-aquisiton days. Notably, they would consistently recommend electronics and even things like dishware that would be sourced exclusively from Amazon over superior products sold directly through the manufacturer or other private-brand retail sites. I have zero issues with affiliate marketing, but I have huge issues when those affiliations consistently skew reviews.

timerol 1y ago

> I hated my pitcher filter long before I knew I didn’t need it. It would clog up any time a bit of rusty water came through the pipes, which, in a 70-year-old building with cast-iron service lines, was often. I'm a little confused that this is used as an argument against filtering water. I get that iron is not a particularly worrisome contaminant, but I still don't want the occasional "bit of rusty water" showing up in my glass

bradlys 1y ago

So, his suggestion isn't to buy a water filter system and filters that could last you 10+ years but instead to pay $300 for a test. Retarded. The NYTimes is such a joke and so is this guy. If you're living in newer construction in a place like NYC then you're likely going to be fine. I am in this group currently but I will be moving back to the bay soon and I will have to use my RO system. If you live in the bay area, you know you have to filter your water because it tastes like metal. We hadn't even had an electric kettle for more than six months in our startup with less than 5 employees using it, the entire bottom of the kettle was covered in 1/4" thick plates of various minerals. Obviously, water differs per city but this was a common occurrence throughout the bay area. The water, of course, always tasted poorly. I'm not even getting into how the housing stock in the bay area is decrepit and full of homes and apartments that are nowhere near up to modern construction standards. You have copper pipes? That's cool but you probably still have lead solder in those pipes. Who knows what kind of supply pipes are coming off the street. Yeah, your local supply probably replaced the ones that run in the street but the ones on your property? Unlikely. Your fittings? Still could have up to 8% lead until 2014. The amount of homes I'd see that still have knob and tube wiring was astounding. You can bet your ass that place still has an abundance of lead all over it. The poor tasting water in the bay area is reason enough to filter it - even if it wasn't for all these other issues like most homes not being up to modern standards. A lot of these water tests are done at the county's office. It does not reflect what your home will add to your water supply. So, yeah, getting at home test could be nice... for $300... or you could just install a nice RO system that will last many years and give you better water anyway.

dbcooper 1y ago

>Why you should trust me Absolutely zero mention of qualifications. If you do not have a chemistry/chemical engineering degree, or something closely related then why would anyone want to bother with your verbose writing?

sitzkrieg 1y ago
ah yes, degrees. i only absorb information from qualified individuals with degrees.
- brookst 1y ago
  What qualifications do you look for, or do you just assume everyone who says they’re an expert is actually an expert?
  - bobxmax 1y ago
    Wirecutters is a long-running very trusted publication. It's not a random rag.
    - brookst 1y ago
      Well, I’m happy for you that you haven’t noticed a difference in rigor and quality since the NYT acquisition.
mihaaly 1y ago
Knowing something well is not dependent on formal education. Helps quite some, but not being a must. And more importantly: not a guarantee!

recursivedoubts 1y ago

I'm a dude who doesn't care to run a chemical analysis of my municipal water every couple days. I filter my water.

mihaaly 1y ago
Have you tested your filtered water - in various conditions - or you just trust it based on the words of others?
- recursivedoubts 1y ago
  I just trust the carbon filters. Sorry.
  - mihaaly 1y ago
    Who told you to? : )
    - recursivedoubts 1y ago
      the internet
      - mihaaly 1y ago
        that's great! : )
  - rufus_foreman 1y ago
    You just trust corporations. I mean I trust corporations more than I trust the government, but 0.002 is more than 0.001. You seem like a very trusting person.
    - recursivedoubts 1y ago
      i don't trust either, but I trust both in series more than I trust either alone this is basic probability

tonymet 1y ago

if you are someone who regularly cleans and replaces your water filter, it's probably not hurting. For most people their water filters are probably contributing more mold and contaminants than removing.

internet_points 1y ago

How much PFAS does the average water filter add to your water? (How much PFAS do you get from plastic-bottled water / soft drinks instead of the stuff coming out of metal pipes?)

torqueehmada 1y ago
Go find out and tell us. That would be really helpful information.
- s0rce 1y ago
  You can probably review the wetted materials but fluoropolymers are more expensive and not required in consumer water filters so I would assume not much PFAS. If its some activated carbon and IEX resins then its likely not making things worse.

knappe 1y ago

I go back and forth on the issue. I read our local municipal water reports but then things like this happen https://www.vaildaily.com/news/climax-mine-can-now-release-higher-levels-of-molybdenum-into-local-water-sources/ https://www.vaildaily.com/news/climax-mine-can-now-release-h... Denver water couldn't force the mine to continue cleanup of the molybdenum (because they're bankrupt) and instead raised the tolerable levels of molybdenum in Denver water. The same thing happened in 2017, 2010 and I'm certain before that. And then we have things like this https://www.cpr.org/2025/06/04/free-private-well-testing-otero-bent-prowers-kiowa-counties/ https://www.cpr.org/2025/06/04/free-private-well-testing-ote... Colorado has some serious issues with mine runoff and water contamination. https://www.pagosasun.com/stories/the-day-the-river-turned-orange-acidic-mine-drainage-haunts-western-rivers,59377 https://www.pagosasun.com/stories/the-day-the-river-turned-o...

Arch-TK 1y ago

That's nice. In the UK, tap water tastes like chlorine. If you are unfortunate enough to have chloraminated water, just letting it sit is insufficient. You need a filter which can remove the chloramine. After this, the water is actually too hard to make good coffee with, so I either zerowater it or distill it and then mix it with the filtered water using a TDS meter to hit a rough reference point (EC meters are not accurate gauges of TDS, but that's fine, you just want a consistent TDS not a precise TDS). So sure, if you live in a civilised country and your water doesn't taste like shit and doesn't make your coffee taste awful and you trust your government to not give you poison or have tested your water to ensure it won't hurt you, go right ahead, be my guest. But I will continue filtering my water because I hate the taste of chlorine and want to make the best out of the expensive coffee I buy.

storus 1y ago

After covid I noticed that drinking tap water was making me noticeably worse but buying packaged mineral water didn't (this was done over a few months). I later bought reverse osmosis and never hit that problem since. However, this year I learned that I live in a high-PFAS area (up to 300ng/L) so I am wondering if I was hitting PFAS overload somehow. Most of my flowers died quickly after watering them with the same tap water as well (when I still tried to have some house flowers).

bilsbie 1y ago

Any concern about pharmaceuticals making it into tap water? Microplastics?

constantcrying 1y ago

Where I live there are area local water reports, so you can enter your street and see where your water is coming from and a report, with quite a lot of measurements and including legal limitations for these measurements. Water filtration should be an informed decision, based on what water you are actually getting.

foresto 1y ago

> It is also certified for Particulate Class 1, which is a surrogate for microplastics. Based on a web search, it looks like Particulate Class 1 means particles in the 0.5 to 1 micron range. Several carbon block filters are rated at 0.5 µm, so I guess they're meant to handle those microplastics, but it leaves me wondering: Do any smaller microplastics exist? Are they likely to be present in municipal water supplies? All the filter cartridges that I've seen, and almost all the housings and tubes that hold them and the water, are made at least partly of plastic. Given that water typically sits in these filtration systems for hours or days at a time when the tap is closed, could it be that microplastics are leaching into the water from them?

lxchase 1y ago
I had the same conclusion in searching for filters that specifically address a microplastics concern. I was unsuccessful in finding one that was not made of plastic.

deepsun 1y ago

Well, the current US administration is all against the environmental protection, so I expect the article advice might change in the nearest hears.

kdlskall 1y ago

The whole topic seems to be infused with a lot of loss-of-control issues… In the end, there’s just so many more vague risks affected by the society you live in. Driving a bit slower will probably offset a great deal of those.

dbg31415 1y ago

Filtered water tastes better.

t0bia_s 1y ago

Our tap water has strong chlorine smell. Since we add a filter, chlorine smell is gone and water taste better. When I drink unfiltered water from my parents house, I immediately recognise it.

1970-01-01 1y ago

I would not trust the EPA, FDA, or any other administration to be on top of your health with the current POTUS. If they get caught not doing the right thing on the job, there's no accountability or an immediate pardon. If you can afford it, filter your water.

tdpvb 1y ago

Relevant study: living within 1 mile of a golf course, or relying on groundwater affected by them, significantly increases Parkinson's risk over time. https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2833716 https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle...

ultra_water 1y ago

https://ultrawatersolutions.com/venice https://ultrawatersolutions.com/venice Removes 249 chemicals in pharmaceuticals with third-party testing certifications! You can’t get better than this!

water_wellness 1y ago

[dead]

ultra_water 1y ago

[dead]

cornhole 1y ago

I don’t drink my tap water because that shit dries white and I’m not trying to get a kidney stone

leakycap 1y ago

I love products that are regulated, like water filters. You can look them up and verify that they meet specifications that make a difference. Right now, I prefer the Brita Elite. Refills available everywhere and it makes my chlorinated tap water taste clean. (Not the same as regular Brita). I tried about 40 brands over the years. Brita Elite is the first one with no drawbacks that make me want to keep looking for something better.