5 Things to Know About Water Filter Pitchers

Compounds and chemicals such as zinc, chlorine, and hydrogen sulfide can make your water have a metallic flavor or smell like sewage. In our tests, we evaluate how well pitchers remove contaminants from water, and we create a combined rating for flavor and odor reduction. Our tests have found that most models are quite effective with flavor and odor reduction. One pitcher, the Pur below, earns an Excellent rating, and six register as Very Good. However, two low-rated pitchers disappoint in flavor and smell performance, only rating Fair.

Even if taste and odor are your main reasons for using a water filter pitcher, it’s a good idea to research other potential contaminants in your municipality’s water. Your local water supplier’s Consumer Confidence Report (CCR) will state the levels of contaminants—such as heavy metals, pesticides, and microbes—that are present.

The plumbing in your house or apartment could also affect your water quality. If it was built before lead-free pipes were mandated in 1986, you’ll want to check your water for lead that might be seeping from the pipes. There’s no safe level of lead exposure. Even low levels can cause health problems such as hypertension, decreased kidney function, reproductive problems in adults, learning disabilities, slowed growth, anemia, and hearing problems in children. Your state or local health department may offer free kits that test for a range of contaminants, including lead. Or you can collect a sample and send it to a certified lab for testing, which can cost $20 to $100.

No filter does it all. Some pitchers remove bad-tasting contaminants like chlorine, zinc, and hydrogen sulfide. Others remove lead. If a pitcher does filter out lead—or other contaminants such as volatile organic compounds, heavy metals, pharmaceuticals, and hormones—the packaging should cite a separate certification mark for each. If your water contains serious contaminants, a water pitcher filter might not be enough to mitigate the problem. You might need a more comprehensive filtration system.

Manufacturer instructions will tell you how often to change the filter. Usually, it’s every two months or 40 gallons, whichever comes first. You’ll want to follow those guidelines because filters clogged with particulates simply stop working. Also, the activated charcoal in filters that traps flavors and odors has a finite capacity to absorb them before it stops functioning. Five pitchers in our tests rate Excellent for clogging (meaning they typically don’t clog) while two models fail miserably with clogging issues.

If you notice water flowing slowly from your pitcher, it’s likely that the filter is clogged and it’s time to replace it. Some water filter pitchers have a filter-life indicator that tells you when it’s time for a replacement. Among pitchers in our tests, the filter cost per year ranges from $27 for one with the best clog score to $150 for a pitcher with the worst clog score. That’s an easy call. You can compare costs using the Features & Specs tab in our ratings.

You might think all pitchers filter water at the same rate. Not so. In our tests, the two top-scoring pitchers varied considerably when it came to filtering time. One pitcher, a filter-as-you-pour model, filtered a quart of water in 1 minute, 15 seconds. The other pitcher took nearly 15 minutes. Its manufacturer claims the long filter time is due to proprietary technology that effectively removes 99 percent of lead.

The flow rate may not be a concern if you usually fill up your pitcher and store it in the fridge for later. But if your busy household goes through lots of water every day, it’s definitely a factor to consider. This Brita earns top marks in our tests for flow rate and clogging:

Do you have bad-tasting water? Consumer Reports experts Perry Santanachote and James Dickerson explain how to find out about water testing and the best filtration systems.