If I Have a ‘Whole House’ Water Filter, Do I Still Need a Drinking Water Filter?
It’s usually recommended to install a drinking water filter with a whole house filter because it’s preferable for a drinking water filter to have a smaller micron. A ‘point of entry’ or ‘whole of house’ water filter requires a higher flow rate and therefore generally has a 5 micron filtration level, which will remove sediment 4 times smaller than is visible to the unaided human eye. It’s desirable for a drinking water filter to have a 0.5 micron filtration level, which will remove cysts which are 40 times smaller than can be seen by the human eye. Also, there is the potential risk of lead entering the drinking water from lead lined pipes, lead solder and brass plumbing fixtures inside the home. All chrome-plated brass and brass plumbing fixtures contain 8% to 15% lead. The EPA estimates that 98% of all homes have pipes, fixtures or solder joints in the household plumbing that can leach some level of lead into the tap water.
