Water Filtration
A filter is certified against a named list, not against water in general. Your system already publishes what it found.
Free to homeowners — the contractor pays us for the introduction, you never do.
The takeaway
Choosing a water filter starts with knowing what is in your water rather than with the filter. Your water system already publishes what it detected, free, every year. A filter is then certified against a named list of claims, so the certification has to match the thing the report actually found.
Source: U.S. EPA, Consumer Confidence Report Rule Revisions; U.S. EPA, Choose the water filter that’s right for you.
- You are never chargedContractors pay us when we route them a call. There is no cost to the homeowner, ever.
- Every figure names its sourceThe numbers on this site come from public data and the page says which, so you can check them.
- We say where we coverCalls are routed by ZIP code to independent contractors.See the coverage
- We say when not to callIf the fix is a few minutes of your own time, this site tells you that instead of selling you a visit.
Two facts decide this whole subject, and the order they come in is the part everybody gets backwards.
What this site is
ClearTapCall is a referral service, not a contractor and not a laboratory. We connect homeowners with independent contractors for filtration and treatment installation. Contractors are required to hold whatever credential their state or municipality demands, and treatment equipment plumbed into a supply is often a permitted alteration — ask to see the permit. We carry out no work, we sell no equipment, we test no water, we do not set prices, and we never charge homeowners anything. Nothing here is a statement about the water at any address, and no page recommends a product.One: a filter is certified against a named list
EPA names NSF/ANSI 53 for lead reduction, including dissolved lead, and NSF/ANSI 42 Class 1 for the very small particles that may carry lead. For PFAS it names NSF/ANSI 53 for point-of-use systems and NSF/ANSI 58 for reverse osmosis.
Those are different marks on different boxes. A device certified for one claim is not partly effective against another — it is simply not addressing it. The gaps, drawn out.
Source: U.S. EPA, Choose the water filter that’s right for you; U.S. EPA, Identifying Drinking Water Filters Certified to Reduce PFAS.
Two: what is in your water is already published
Every community water system produces a Consumer Confidence Report summarizing where the water comes from, what was detected and any violations. Annually by 1 July under the original rule — and from 1 January 2027, twice a calendar year for systems serving 10,000 or more people.
Hardly anybody reads theirs. What it is and where to find it, and how to read the table.
Source: U.S. EPA, Consumer Confidence Report Rule Revisions Comparison fact sheet; U.S. EPA, Consumer Confidence Report Rule Revisions.
Which means the order is: report, then certification, then product
Read what was detected. Match it to the certification that names it. Only then think about which device, where, and who is going to look after it.
Doing it the other way round is how households end up with equipment that works perfectly and solves nothing.
And the sentence EPA publishes that most sellers do not
Filters are only effective if they are maintained according to the manufacturer’s instructions for how long their filters or membranes will last before they need to be replaced.
A cartridge past its stated life is not a weak filter. It is the most common failure in this whole category.
Source: U.S. EPA, Identifying Drinking Water Filters Certified to Reduce PFAS.
What we will not tell you
That your water is safe, or that it is not. That you need a filter. Or which product to buy — we name no brands anywhere on this site.
The first is a laboratory question, the second is your household’s judgment, and the third would make every other sentence here read as advertising. That refusal has its own page.
Our part in it
We connect homeowners with independent contractors who cover their area, and the contractors pay us when we route them a call. You are never charged.
All of it, listed
- The reportEvery community water system must publish an annual report of what it monitored and what it detected.
- Reading itThe table looks impenetrable and is not.
- Twice a year from 2027EPA finalized revisions to the report rule in May 2024.
- Certified for whatNSF/ANSI 42, 53 and 58 are named by EPA for different claims.
- Filters for leadTwo marks, one threshold, and a tool EPA publishes for checking.
- Filters for PFAS
- ChoosingEPA describes four point-of-use filter types with different service lives and different practical demands.
- MaintenanceEPA: filters are only effective if maintained according to the manufacturer’s instructions.
- What a report does not coverA water quality report describes the system.
- CostWe are not the contractor and cannot quote.
Where we route calls
Tap your state for the towns and ZIP codes we route in, and the figures behind them.
- Alabama
- Arizona
- Arkansas
- California
- Colorado
- Connecticut
- Delaware
- District of Columbia
- Florida
- Georgia
- Hawaii
- Idaho
- Illinois
- Indiana
- Iowa
- Kansas
- Kentucky
- Louisiana
- Maine
- Maryland
- Massachusetts
- Michigan
- Minnesota
- Mississippi
- Missouri
- Montana
- Nevada
- New Hampshire
- New Jersey
- New Mexico
- New York
- North Carolina
- Ohio
- Oklahoma
- Oregon
- Pennsylvania
- Rhode Island
- South Carolina
- Tennessee
- Texas
- Utah
- Virginia
- Washington
- West Virginia
- Wisconsin
Where these numbers come from
Every figure on this site is public and attributed. You can go and check any of them.
- HousingUS Census BureauAmerican Community Survey 5-year estimates — the housing figures on every town page, and the table each one comes from is named on the page.
- WaterUS Environmental Protection AgencyFederal drinking-water and plumbing rules, and the public water-system records behind the coverage pages.
What happens when you call
No form, no quote tool, no waiting for an email.
- You tell us what the water is doingOne short conversation. If it turns out to be something you can fix in five minutes, we will say so.
- We route the callWe match your ZIP code to an independent contractor who already covers your area — not a call center three states away.
- They quote, you decideWe do not set prices and we never charge you. The contractor pays us for the introduction.
What to do first
Four things worth doing first. They cost nothing and they can keep a small problem small.
- Shut off the water closest to the problemUnder a sink or behind a toilet there is usually a small valve on the supply line. Turning it clockwise stops that fixture without shutting off the rest of the house.
- If you cannot find it, use the mainUsually where the supply enters the building — a basement wall, a crawl space, or a covered box near the street. Then open the lowest tap in the house, which drains the standing water out of the pipes instead of out of the leak.
- Water and electricity: stay out of the roomIf water has reached an outlet, a panel or an appliance, switch that circuit off at the breaker before going near it. If you cannot do that safely, do not go in, and say so when you call.
- Photograph it before anything is movedInsurers ask for it, and a contractor can tell more from a photograph of the leak than from a description of it.
And one case where the answer is not to call us. If the water is surfacing on the street side of your meter, that is the utility's line and not yours. Report it to your water utility — they do not charge a homeowner to repair their own main.
Read your report before you buy anything.It is published about your own system, it costs nothing, and it is the only thing that turns “I want a filter” into a question with an answer. If you do want something installed after that, we will route you to a contractor covering your area, matched on your ZIP code — you are never charged. Filtration is only our subject — every sort of plumbing job can be routed from here.
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