Water Filtration Made Simple: A Beginner's Guide to a Toxin-Free Home
Water filtration is a confusing and often overwhelming topic. Contaminants like lead, heavy metals, and microplastics can all find their way into your water, but each requires a different method to remove. This guide cuts through the confusion, giving you a simple, three-step action plan to protect your family and create a truly healthy home.
Step 1: Understand What’s In Your Water
The first step to a safer home is knowing what you're up against. Your water can be contaminated by a wide range of substances, including simple sediment, lead, bacteria, viruses, heavy metals, chemicals (like PFAS and pesticides), pharmaceuticals, and microplastics. Each of these requires a different water filtration method.
The most important thing you can do is get your water tested. We recommend using the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
Your Action Plan:
1. Use the EPA’s drinking water quality web tool to check your local water department.
The key thing to know is to get your water tested. We recommend using the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The EPA will have options to understand your drinking water quality and will let you choose your local water department.
Figure 1: Example from the EPA drinking water quality web tool.
2. Look for Drinking Water Health-based Violations. If there are any open violations or violations in the last 5 years, consider taking immediate action on your water.
Look for Drinking Water Health-based Violations. If there are any open violations or violations in the last 5 years, consider taking immediate action on your water.
Use this link to check your water quality and navigate to Drinking Water.
You can find your city or county water department and check to see if there are any open violations.
3. You can also use the Environment Working Group’s (EWG’s) database to assess water purity: https://www.ewg.org/tapwater/
Bear in mind that there are still very harmful emerging contaminants, such as microplastics and PFAS which have added another layer of complexity. Public health and environmental authorities are still studying these substances, and filtration technology is constantly evolving to address these emerging threats.Figure 2: Example from the EWG drinking water quality web tool.
Note: If your water can’t be looked up in the EWG or EPA databases because it has not been tested by these third-party organizations, or you have well water, you’ll need to test the water yourself (see top of flow chart). If you have well water, you should have your water tested. Even if your water is deemed safe, it’s wise to invest in a whole house filtration system AND have your water tested regularly (annually) to have peace of mind that the quality of your water has not changed. Often, well water can sediment and bacteria.
Step 2: Know Your Filtration Options
Once you have your results (i.e. know if your water needs help, hint: 94% of you will have “YES” as an answer), you can view our recommended water filtration systems.
Our recommendations are focused on filters that have been certified by third-party testing organizations. If you ever see claims like “removes 99% of contaminants” that don’t always specify which contaminants are removed, these are probably not as effective as they hype them to be.
Step 3: Make the Switch to a Healthy Home
Now that you know what’s in your water, it’s time to take action. The True Shift has selected filters that are tested and vetted to remove a broad range of contaminants, focusing on product development over marketing.
Ready to get started?
View our vetted, non-toxic water filtration systems and get started on your healthy home journey today.