Table-top filters can remove contaminants from tap water – but are they really necessary, and could they cause unintentional harm?
If she can help it, Shima Chin-See avoids drinking water straight from the tap. Her refrigerator at home in Northwich, UK, where she lives with her young family, comes with an in-door water dispenser that’s linked to a filter. And when she’s out and about, she keeps her trusty self-cleaning bottle handy – one that sterilises water via an ultraviolet chip embedded in its cap.
“Filtered water just tastes better,” says Chin-See. “I can smell the chemicals in tap water and taste them too.”
Some people find her odd for saying that – including her husband who once performed a blind taste test on her (it turns out she could tell the difference between filtered and unfiltered tap water). But as it turns out, Chin-See is far from alone in her thinking. When the non-profit Environmental Working Group polled 2,800 people living across the US, half said their tap water was unsafe to drink, with nearly 35% filtering their water.
Similarly, according to a 2023 survey of more than 500 people in the UK by the Swedish filter company Tappwater, 42% “don’t trust or like the taste of tap water”. A quarter of respondents believed their tap water wasn’t clean, with contaminants, chemicals, and bacteria their top concerns. As a result, more than half of Londoners (54%) said they use a water filter.
Water filters, it seems, are having a heyday – particularly in North America, Europe, and China. In 2022, the global water purifier market was worth an estimated $30bn (£24bn); and it’s expected to grow more than 7% by 2030.
Proponents argue that filtering water can bring about numerous benefits, from removing toxins and pathogens to reducing hardness and improving odour and taste. But is filtered water really healthier for you than water from the tap?
Read more
