Myron from CT writes:

We have municipal water. We use a lot of water (drinking, bathing etc.) I’m worried about chlorine, fluoride, metals, vocs and socs.

I’m looking for sink water filters for drinking and shower filters.
My head is spinning from all the products and information on the internet.

Hi Myron, thanks for writing in.

There is indeed a lot of information on the internet for water filtration and treatment systems.  There’s a lot of good stuff out there, and there is a lot of crap.  It is hard to know what to get at times.

Firstly, I’d like to belay your fears of all these nasties in your municipally treated water. Because there are so many people out to make a buck from selling you things you probably don’t need, there is a lot of money going into advertising creating negative propaganda against municipally treated water.

These days, water plants employ things like optimized coagulation, and sedimentation techniques, advanced oxidation, and activated carbon filter beds, and an aggressive distribution sampling protocol to ensure the safety of your water supply.  Most of the things you mentioned above are either just not there or are there well below the governments maximum acceptable concentrations.

However, if you want to err on the side of caution and make sure, and you have the money to spend, there are several things you can do.

Firstly, chlorine, VOC’s, and SOC’s.  These are things that can be removed with an activated carbon filter.  Activated carbon will also remove lead, which is effective if you have older plumbing in your home.  It’s important that you ensure the filter remains fresh and change it out at manufacturer recommended intervals, because activated carbon can propagate bacterial regrowth.

There are a few ways you can utilized this technology. I’ve provided links to appropriate products on Amazon.com to help you along.  Any of the products I recommend here will do the job.

There is a countertop pitcher method, where you add your water to the device, it filters it and you serve the water from it. You can view a good examples here and here.

You can also attach a carbon filter right to your kitchen tap, as you can see here and here.

Fluoride is a highly debated chemical. Some experts claim it’s imperative, while others claim it’s harmful. I tend to think that at the minute levels found in most supplies, it’s not any particular concern. You probably get all the fluoride you need if you purchase a quality toothpaste.

If it is a concern to you, there’s only one way to remove it, and that’s to use reverse osmosis filtration. R.O. also removes everything else.  It leaves you with nothing in the water but water.  If you decide to go this route, there has been some debate on whether the absence of minerals can be harmful. I tend to think that as long as you have a good diet and take a multivitamin, it’s not a big deal.

To check out a reverse osmosis unit, (which includes sediment and carbon prefilters), you can click here

Shower filters are also available in carbon filtration to remove chlorine.  There’s been some talk if the chlorine fumes are harmful.  There is so little chlorine in tap water (it just smells like a lot!) that I doubt it very much. However, it can’t hurt to take it out and it can make showering a more pleasant experience.

This shower filter will remove chlorine, and I think it’s pretty attractive too.

What you buy, what it removes and how much you spend is all up to you, but any of the above products should meet your needs.

I hope I’ve been of help. Please let me know if you need any clarifications.

Free Computer Consulting at, Computer Choice – We’ll find your perfect computer to fit your needs, free.
Want more information, have a question or want to see more cool water stuff? Then Head on over to the main site!