Picking the right drinking water filtration system. Help!

last year

My TDS reading exceeds 500 ppm.
After testing my tap water, and according to the uploaded chart, everything appears to be fine except for:
Total Alkalinity: 240
Carbonate: 240
PH: 9.0
Based on those readings, I really don't have a problem drinking the tap water except that it tastes really bad, so pretty much my ONLY goal while shopping for a filtration system is to improve the water taste. I read that Chlorine and probably Fluoride might be a reason why a tap water might taste bad, but to my surprise my tap water readings are almost perfect. That leaves me to wonder which one of the following is affecting the water taste the most: Alkalinity, Carbonate, pH, or maybe something else I'm not aware of? And in this case, which filtration system would be best to accomplish my main goal, and that's a better (acceptable) tasting water?
Any input would be much appreciated. Thank you!

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Comments (10)

btydrvn
last year
i would check with a neighbor to see if they have or had the same problem…
Jake The Wonderdog
last year
Hi,

Before I can comment, do you mind telling me what country you live in?
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On the subject of obtaining nutrients from water: Some chemicals, such as fluoride compounds, can be absorbed by the body in sufficient quantities to be useful from water where it either naturally occurs or is injected by politicians. Fluoride is also present in tea. I prefer to make tea from RO water, and depend on tea and Crest for my fluoride dose (not at the same time). I very much doubt that drinking a survivable quantity of Federally alkalized water would provide enough calcium to reach a significant fraction of the amount needed from food to avoid osteoporosis. I'm not sure if this is true for drinking from the most alkaline Western spring (not decorated by a nearby cattle skull). Trace chemicals not making it through an RO system will most likely be provided by food, or can be made up with mineral supplements if there is any doubt. A 5-micron charcoal filter will remove chlorine compounds affecting taste as well as particles and perhaps bacteria. The RO system's primary useful function is removal of heavy metals and organic compounds that may be undesirable and perhaps unhealthy, and potentially capable of changing the taste of coffee or tea or other water-based concoctions. An RO membrane should also filter viruses, but note that good RO filters are only about 97% efficient, so there is always some leakage. As an example of RO utility, removing chlorine and dissolved iron is helpful, because heating this pair of chemicals yields a black precipitate. In any case, charcoal filters eventually slime up, so should be changed when they can't adsorb any more chlorine or after about 6 months even with minimal use. RO membranes can probably last 1.5 years or so, given adequate pre-filtering. kas
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@aliceinwonderland_id, i have pasted the results. Where is says nn it represents none noted. it might be hard to read but note the first number is the result, the 2nd is national standard and the last number In each row is the min. detected level. Test results where contamination was detected at or above the min. detection level , but not above the national standard. Heavy metals: results national standard: Min. detection level Calcium 153.9 nn 2 Copper . 0.008 1.3 0.004 Magnesium 7 nn 0.1 Potassium 1 nn 1 Silica 15.4 nn 0.1 sodium 46 nn 1 zinc 0.01 5 0.004 Other: chloride 39 250 5 sulfate 66 250 5 results national standard: Min. detection level physical factors: alkalinity (total as CaCO3) 370 nn 20 Turbidity .2NTU 1 0.1 Radiologicals: Gross beta 4.33PCi/L nn 4 Test results where the contaminant was detected above the standard, which is not an EPA enforceable maximum contaminant level. Heavy metals: results national standard: Min. detection level manganese 0.053 0.05 0.004 physical factors: hardness 410 100 10 TDS 550 1 0.01 (total dissolved solids) hm I assume it's ferrous since the water does come out clear, BUT I have to say that the water in the toilet for instance is also clear. I will investigate tomorrow when I go to the property if particles develop after leaving out a cup of water for a while and I will let you know. pls let me know what you think regarding results. btw I did not include any results that tested fine. thanks in advance!
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No, I don't think anyone can help you. This is a complete mess. A 3 stage 20" filter for a whole house - nope. It will be clogged in no time and for no good reason. Your toilets don't need filtered water. Neither does your laundry. Neither does most anything else. UV treatment - absolutely un-needed for city water. It's chlorinated and biologically safe with residual disinfecting to boot unless you have regular "boil water" warnings because of pipe ruptures. Very hard water: How hard is it in grains per gallon? Get a Hach test kit. Don't waste your time with anything using color matching - they are worthless. "Highly treated with chemicals" Really? Like what? Exactly? Do you know or just guessing? Everything you touch, breath, drink, eat, drive, smoke, smell is made with a bunch of chemicals. You are a bunch of chemicals. It's not city water that scares me, it's well water that never gets tested and never gets treated that scares me. City water is regularly tested. So look - forget all the junk that you have read on all of the water treatment websites. Seriously, what you are putting in your head is far more polluted than your water. -If you have hard water, get a water softener - we are talking ion exchange (salt) - there is no other kind of water softener. You need to know exactly how hard that water is in grains per gallon - let us know your test results. -if you want to remove chlorine and some VOC's and generally want things to smell and taste better a carbon filter on your drinking water is the way to go. Your toilets don't need carbon filtered water. If your municipality is using chloramine, that requires catalytic carbon. There's a very nice full-flow filter that's NSF certified to do that - again for your drinking water. -If you have nitrates, lead or other issues that are not removed by carbon, then a reverse osmosis system for drinking water may be called for. They waste a lot of water and require maintenance for a small amount of water... but they work. Ask your water supplier why you have 35 psi water ON AVERAGE. Because 30-35 is minimum. Don't guess, put a reliable pressure gauge and measure your static pressure when there's no water being used.
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adel
Original Author
last year
United States Jake.
Jake The Wonderdog
last year
Ok, so I'm going to be kinda harsh...

Get a real water test... that thing you are showing us isn't even close.

That's worthless - and nobody is going to give you any good advise based on that test.
adel
Original Author
last year
I tested purified water bottles with the same testing kit. Unlike my tap water, I got different results; the pH, Alkaline, Carbonate, and hardness readings were all good. Comparing results is what gave me confidence in the test kit. With that said, I'm open to try a different one if you kindly suggest any.
jane__ny
last year
I have a RO system installed on my kitchen sink. The small tank sits underneath. The water is pure. I now live in Florida and would never drink the tap water. RO takes everything out of the water and it tastes perfect.

Before we moved here, we had RO installed at our home in NY. We had well water which was extremely hard and high in Nitrates. The water out of the RO is totally pure, no fluoride, no chlorine, no nitrates, no nothing. Just pure.

We had Culligan install it on our sink for drinking and cooking. I have the filters changed (4 filters) changed every 18 months which cost about $185.00. It is so worth it. I would never drink water out of the tap anywhere.

Jane
adel
Original Author
last year
Thank you J for your elaboration. Here in Phoenix the tap water tastes horrible. The only reason I came asking for help is because the fluoride, chlorine, nitrate, lead, copper...etc readings are all good. So I was wondering what else could cause the water to taste bad. I can install an RO system no problem but then do you I need one with or without an Alkaline filter? It's confusing.
btydrvn
last year
There are lots of good things in water that can be removed by these filters as well…I think if there is a taste problem it may be better to just buy a good spring (?) water for drinking… our well draws from an aquifer that supplies artesian water that is bottled for sale…yet it has a calcium level high enough we have to use a filter on our well…so keep in mind water that is stripped of everything can deprive you of minerals,etc that you do need..
adel
Original Author
last year
One thing I forgot to mention is that I installed Pur Plus in the bathroom. Even though I believe the filter is doing its job, unfortunately the water taste did not improve.
btydrvn
last year
I hope you will ask a neighbor..if they have the same problem they may have a solution…if they don’t…you can consider it may be a problem with your pipes or some part of your water delivery system…we had our water tested by a company that sells water purifying systems and they were able to install the filters needed to correct the problem….our problems were not with taste…but we had just put in a well and wanted to be sure…the correction we made saved us from damaging our pipes as our water would leave calcium deposits that would eventually cause buildup and damage

Picking the right drinking water filtration system. Help!

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