Consumer Reports tests the best water filters

April 5, 2010 (WPVI) -- The U.S. has some of the safest drinking water in the world, but that doesn't mean yours couldn't use some improvement. Even if city water has a perfect score when it leaves the water treatment plant, it can pick up contaminants en route to your home or even from the pipes in your home.

Consumer Reports just tested several types of water filters, including less-expensive carafes and faucet-mounted ones, models to more expensive countertop and under-the-sink filters.

Today's filters promise to do more than remove just bad tastes and odors. These days many claim to remove contaminants like lead and chloroform, which is a surrogate for pesticides and other harmful organic compounds.

Consumer Reports set up an elaborate test rig and ran water spiked with lead and chloroform through it to evaluate the filters. Ideally, you want a filter that will catch the most contaminants and maintain a good flow rate, without clogging.

Not all delivered. The Crystal Quest faucet water filter (model CQE-FM-00501) did a poor job at removing lead and chloroform. And several filters clogged, including an under-the-sink model that cost over $400. That one is the Everpure H-1200.

If you don't need to filter large amounts of water at a time, your best bet is an inexpensive carafe or faucet-mounted filter.

The Clear2 O carafe filter for $30 is a Consumer Reports Best Buy. So is the $15 Culligan faucet-mounted filter. Both did an excellent job at removing lead and chloroform.

If you need to filter larger amounts of water, Consumer Reports says a countertop filter might do the trick, and no plumbing modifications are needed. Consumer Reports recommends a $100 filter from Aquasana, model AQ-4000.

Be aware if you have a whole-house filter, they do not remove contaminants, just rust, sediment, and chlorine.

Meantime, the Vice President of Crystal Quest pointed out Consumer Reports rated its filters excellent for flow rate but the company also said to get its filters to work most effectively, consumers should actually reduce the water flow. The company even offers a flow-reducer gasket.

Everpure said it cannot comment on the Consumer Reports test since it has not seen the test or the results in their entirety.

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consumer reports, special reports, nydia han

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