# Water purification systems for the home - recommendation needed please.

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/water-purification-systems-for-the-home-recommendation-needed-please/708933>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [January 4, 2015, 8:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/water-purification-systems-for-the-home-recommendation-needed-please/708933 "2015-01-04T08:32:03Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![chiroptera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df705f/32.png) [@chiroptera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chiroptera)\
**Post date:** [January 4, 2015, 8:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/water-purification-systems-for-the-home-recommendation-needed-please/708933/1 "2015-01-04T08:32:03Z")

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I’m posting this question for friends who live in the city of Flint, MI, which has had [ongoing contaminated water woes](http://www.mlive.com/news/flint/index.ssf/2015/01/flint_water_has_high_disinfect.html#incart_river) for a while. They are concerned about health and also taste. But mostly health. Water quality issues have been ongoing in Flint city since early last year with many boil water advisories. That city’s government is notoriously inept and corrupt so any reassurances are not reassuring.

So, is there a water filtration system that will remove such contaminants? For those that don’t want to read the link those would be:

> [@](#):
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> The city says there’s been too much disinfection byproduct in Flint’s water system recently, something that – over many years could cause liver, kidney or central nervous system problems and an increased risk of cancer…state Department of Environmental Quality issued a notice of violation of the Safe Drinking Water Act for maximum contaminant levels for trihalomethanes – or TTHM – a group of four chemicals that are formed as a byproduct of disinfecting water.

Inexpensive, yet effective solutions would be best. I know nothing at all about water filtration and nor do they, so any thoughts are welcome. Buying bottled water is clearly an option but given that a: my friends have limited income and b: Flint charges much more than any other municipality in the area for waster/sewage (about $100 a month for a small household) cheaper would be better. Thanks!

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**Author:** ![Waterman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b2d939/32.png) [@Waterman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Waterman)\
**Post date:** [January 4, 2015, 9:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/water-purification-systems-for-the-home-recommendation-needed-please/708933/2 "2015-01-04T09:01:27Z")

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My first recommendation would be a granulated activated carbon (GAC) purification system but I am not aware of what other contaminants maybe present in your water supply. The key to a good GAC (BTW, doesn’t this sound really reassuring?) is to make sure that you replace or regenerate the GAC on a frequent basis. Admittedly I have not looked carefully at your water quality data but further review could be done.