Water
Fewer chemicalsStep one is free: check the water quality report EPA requires your supplier to send each year. If it lists PFAS, or your home may have lead pipes or older brass fixtures, pick a certified filter: one clips onto your tap with no tools, and one fits under the sink if you can install it.
Our pick
No tools, renter-friendly: PUR PLUS faucet filter, vertical (FM2500V)
Both picks are certified to NSF/ANSI 53 for lead and PFAS. The faucet filter is certified by IAPMO R&T for lead and total PFAS; in PUR’s data sheet it cut lead by 99.6-99.7% and total PFAS by 99.92%. The under-sink filter is certified by WQA for lead and two PFAS, PFOA and PFOS (95.2%), and its cartridges last about 500 gallons. Water goes straight from the tap to your glass instead of sitting in a plastic jug.
EPA says infants, young children and babies in the womb are especially vulnerable to lead. Tap water can also carry PFAS (‘forever chemicals’). EPA’s 4 ppt limit for PFOA and PFOS starts in 2029, and a 2026 EPA proposal, reported by C&EN, would let utilities ask for two more years, to 2031.
General information, not medical advice. Ask your doctor, especially if you’re pregnant, nursing or have a health condition.
The housings and cartridges are plastic, and there’s no plastic-free certified filter yet. Both are for cold water only. The faucet filter doesn’t fit pull-out or handheld faucets, and each cartridge lasts about 100 gallons (around 3 months). The under-sink filter connects to the cold-water line under your sink and has its own small faucet, so it works with pull-out taps. Check that the certificate names the contaminant you care about; NSF/ANSI 42 alone covers taste and odour.
No tools, renter-friendly: PUR PLUS faucet filter, vertical (FM2500V): Clips onto your tap with no tools, and comes off when you move. Certified by IAPMO R&T to NSF/ANSI 53 for lead and total PFAS, and to NSF/ANSI 401 for microplastics. Not for pull-out or handheld taps. The housing and cartridge are plastic; there's no plastic-free certified filter yet.
If you can install it: A. O. Smith 2-stage under-sink filter (AO-US-200): Fits under the sink: it connects to the cold-water line and has its own small faucet, so it works with pull-out taps. That faucet needs a spare hole in the sink, such as a sprayer or soap-dispenser hole, or a new one drilled; A. O. Smith suggests a professional for any drilling. Certified by WQA to NSF/ANSI 53 for lead and two PFAS (PFOA and PFOS), and to NSF/ANSI 401 for microplastics. Cartridges last about 6 months (500 gallons). The housing and cartridges are plastic.
Health and safety facts on this page come from these sources. What a pick is made of comes from its maker's listing or website, as stated on the date we checked.
Check your water quality report first; it’s free. Your water supplier must publish it every year by July 1, naming your water’s source and the regulated contaminants it found. Then match a filter’s certificate to what it lists.
Certified ones can. Our faucet pick is certified by IAPMO R&T to NSF/ANSI 53 for lead and total PFAS; the under-sink pick is certified by WQA for lead and PFOA/PFOS. Both picks are also certified to NSF/ANSI 401 for microplastics. Check that the certificate names the contaminant you care about.
Not for lead or PFAS. NSF/ANSI 42 covers taste and odour; look for a certificate that names the contaminant, such as NSF/ANSI 53 for lead.
Some do, and the certificate tells you which: look for a microplastics result under NSF/ANSI 401. The PUR PLUS faucet filter lists a 99.65% reduction on its performance data sheet, and the A. O. Smith AO-US-200 under-sink filter lists more than 85%. More in our guide: how to reduce microplastics at home.
Most standard taps with an external aerator, yes. It doesn’t fit pull-out or handheld faucets, and it’s for cold water only. If you can install one, the under-sink filter has its own small faucet, so it works with pull-out taps.
No, don’t cook with hot tap water. EPA says to use only cold water for drinking, cooking and making baby formula, and to run the tap first. Boiling water doesn’t remove lead.
Kitchen
A litre of bottled water can hold hundreds of thousands of plastic particles.
Our pick
Bambaw insulated 24 oz, bamboo/steel cap
Bathroom
A brass shower filter takes the chlorine out of your shower water. For the chloroform in the steam, run the fan and keep showers shorter and a little cooler.
Our pick
Sprite HOB-CM brass shower filter, chrome
