Water quality
Public drinking water in the United States is regulated and monitored, and Tallahassee's utility publishes reports on the water it delivers. Plenty of homeowners still choose additional filtration, usually for taste, odor, sediment or convenience. Both things are true at once.
Taste is the most common reason homeowners look into filtration, and it is a legitimate one. Taste comes from what is dissolved or suspended in water: disinfectant residual, minerals, organic matter. Filtration changes taste by changing what is present.
Odor and taste usually travel together. A chlorine-like smell at the tap generally traces back to disinfectant residual. Carbon-based media is the common approach for reducing it.
Sediment is the physical material water can carry: sand, rust, silt, scale knocked loose from plumbing. It is filtered mechanically, by pore size, typically as the first stage of a whole-house system.
Public water systems use a disinfectant residual to keep water safe as it travels through the distribution network. That is a feature of the system working as designed. Some households still prefer to reduce that residual at home for taste, smell and shower comfort.
Hardness describes dissolved calcium and magnesium. Hard water is not a safety issue; it shows up as spotting on glassware, film on fixtures, and soap that lathers less easily. Softening and filtration are different processes that solve different problems.
TDS stands for total dissolved solids, a single number summarizing everything dissolved in water, minerals included. A TDS reading tells you how much is dissolved, not what it is or whether it matters. Reducing TDS requires a different technology than sediment or carbon filtration, which is why our whole-house filtration does not reduce it.
No single filter handles everything, which is why systems are built in stages. A sediment stage works by physical pore size and captures particles. Carbon media works by adsorption and is the common approach for chlorine taste and odor. Membrane-based technologies work on dissolved content and are what a household would use to address TDS.
Stacking stages is how a system gets built around a goal. It is also why an honest answer to "does this remove X?" depends on the exact configuration installed, not on the category of product.
We publish a claim only where documentation supports it for the configuration we install. Where a package does not address something, we say so directly. Whole-house filtration, for example, does not remove fluoride and does not reduce TDS. The dedicated drinking-water filtration included with Whole Home+ and the drinking water packages does provide fluoride filtration, but only at the kitchen and refrigerator points it serves.
Not sure where you land? Tell us what you'd like to improve and we'll help you narrow it down.
Two ways forward
Some homeowners already know the system they want. Others want a little guidance first. Both are easy.
Already found the package that fits your home? Select your system and request installation. We'll contact you to confirm the details and arrange scheduling.
Request InstallationNot sure which filtration option makes sense? Tell us what you'd like to improve and we'll help you narrow it down.
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