What Is the Best Filtration System for Well Water?

Everyone deserves access to clean drinking water. If your home is on a well, the water coming straight from the ground won’t receive treatment unless you install a water system, such as a water softener or filter. Some community wells may provide water treatment services, but in most cases the homeowner is on their own.

There are four essential ways to treat your water: filtration, purification, softening and sanitization. The type or combination of solutions you need depends on your water’s unique makeup and contaminants. In this article, we’ll be exploring the first step in total home water management — filtration.

Why Is Filtration Important for Well Water?

Well water can contain a variety of naturally occurring and manmade contaminants, from sediment and pesticides to dissolved chemicals and bacteria. Filtration may not remove all of these, but provides an excellent solution for targeting particulate matter (silt, dirt, rust, etc.), disinfection chemicals on community wells, toxic volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and emerging contaminants like PFOS, depending on the system.

Finding the right filtration system helps you safeguard your family’s water quality from the negative health effects that come from exposure to certain, sometimes toxic pollutants. Plus, well water contaminants can damage plumbing systems, stain fixtures and cause foul tastes or odors in the water.

Best Filtration Systems for Well Water

There are two primary types of water filtration: physical and chemical, plus specialty systems designed to target more specific contaminants like forever chemicals. The best choice for your home is most readily determined by a water test, which pinpoints the exact contaminants in your water.

In some cases, combination water systems will be your best solution. For example, if your water has a high concentration of both hard water minerals and chemicals like chlorine, a combination filtration and softening system can help address both of these issues.

Sediment Filtration Systems

Do you have cloudy, discolored water or stains on plumbing fixtures or clothes? As their name suggests, sediment filtration systems are designed to significantly reduce the amount of particulate matter (sediment) in your water. This includes iron oxide (rust), sand, silt, clay, black mica and other minerals, small rocks and organic matter from plants and animals. Sediment is not always visible to the naked eye and may or may not be hazardous to consume.

Sediment filtration systems work by using a filter medium, such as pleated cartridges or granular beads, which trap particulate matter. The filter’s micron rating indicates the size of particles in microns (1/1,000 mm) that can pass through. The lower the micron rating, the finer the particles filtered.

Typical particle sizes in microns (µm) for sediment in water are 50+ µm for coarse sand, 20 µm for fine sand and 1 to 5-10 µm for things like rust and black clay. With the Kinetico SuperKit Cartridge Filtration System, water gets filtered down to 5 microns.

For even finer contaminants, such as bacteria and PFAS which are smaller than 1 micron, it’s recommended to use chemical filtration or water treatment such as Reverse Osmosis or sanitization.

Chemical Filtration Systems

Does your water have a bad taste or smell? Chemical contamination of well water is most readily noticed by the taste of metal, bleach, gasoline or an otherwise musty and foul odor. Visually, water won’t usually show strong indications of contamination, which is why it can be so dangerous. Chemicals can also be tasteless and odorless, meaning your water could be contaminated without your knowledge. Get your water tested if you notice sudden unexplained changes in your health, such as vomiting, skin rashes or drowsiness — all possible signs of chemicals in your water.

Chemical filtration systems are designed to remove chemicals, disinfection chemicals and their byproducts from water. These include chlorine, chloramine, trihalomethanes, haloacetic acids, dissolved iron and manganese and VOCs (volatile organic compounds) such as benzene (a component in gasoline). The process of chemical filtration commonly involves adsorption using granular activated carbon to help eliminate chemicals.

Specialty Filtration Systems

For more complex and emerging contaminants, such as GenX, PFOA and PFOS, a specially designed water filtration system will be needed. At Kinetico, this type of system adsorbs contaminants using carbon to filter the water, though specific system setup can vary with other manufacturers.

Removal of forever chemicals is crucial to protect your health from the negative long-term effects exposure can have even at low levels. Does your water smell like rotten eggs? Specialty systems can also target the removal of hydrogen sulfide, which causes the rotten egg smell.

Do I Need Whole-Home Filtration?

Whole-home filtration provides better-tasting clean water from every tap in your house, from the kitchen sink to the bathtub and the water that fills up your washing machine. Well water contaminants can cause significant wear and tear on appliances over time, especially your water heater, making a whole-home water treatment system an ideal choice. This helps protect your investment in your house while improving appliance efficiency — physical and chemical contaminants, for example, can leave stains on laundry and streaks on dishes.

Activities like bathing and brushing your teeth are also safeguarded from water contamination with a whole-home water system. Under-sink, point-of-use filtration systems offer a lower-cost solution and can be installed where you use water most, including bathroom sinks, though they will have connectivity limitations. Talk with a water expert to determine the best filtration approach for your home.

Additional Ways to Treat Well Water

There are many ways to treat your water beyond filtration. Homeowners with wells often experience hard water, due to the presence of dissolved minerals like calcium, magnesium, manganese, and iron in the groundwater. In this case, a water softener offers a reliable option.

If you’re looking for purer drinking water, look to Reverse Osmosis purification. An RO system is designed to provide clean, refreshing drinking water by helping eliminate dissolved solids like heavy metals, pharmaceuticals, biological substances, forever chemicals, volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and many other pollutants and toxins.

Unlike city water, well water in its natural state isn’t treated with disinfection chemicals like chlorine or chloramine. This makes well water more vulnerable to bacteria (including E. coli), viruses and parasites, which can make you and your family sick. Install an ultraviolet sanitization system to help deactivate microorganisms in water and eliminate potential for growth or reproduction.

Factors to Consider When Choosing a Filtration System for Well Water

Choosing a filtration system for your home comes down to your water quality, budget and preferences for things like maintenance and third-party certifications. Professional water treatment experts can make recommendations based on a water test to help guide your decision.

1. Water Test Results: Getting a water analysis shows exactly which contaminants are (or aren’t) in your water. We recommend a professional, science-backed water test for the most accurate results, compared to an at-home test you do yourself, especially if you’re looking to install a water system. At-home test kits from big box retailers are quicker, less precise solutions that help detect contaminants like bacteria, for example, following a large storm.
2. Maintenance and Replacement: Look for a water treatment system with a long filter lifespan, so you can spend less time getting replacements while cutting back on plastic waste. Every water system will require routine maintenance to run properly. At Kinetico, we offer the Clean Water Club to all of our customers, helping automate filter changes and maximize system lifespan.
3. Certifications: Industry certifications are a key indicator of a water filtration system’s performance, reliability, safety and build quality. The Water Quality Association (WQA) and National Sanitization Foundation (NSF) both provide credible certifications that help validate residential filtration system quality, based on rigorous testing standards. There are currently no mandatory federal regulations for residential water filter performance.
4. System Size: If you have limited space, an under-sink or point-of-use filtration system offers a compact, space-saving solution to help you get cleaner water from select taps. By comparison, whole-home filtration systems take up a larger footprint depending on the number of tanks and system complexity. These are typically installed in basements, garages and crawl spaces. A standard single- or dual-tank design will fit easily in most homes, while more complex systems require extra space.

Choose Kinetico for Your Water Filtration Needs

For over 35 years, Kinetico Advanced Water Systems has helped homeowners enjoy better-tasting, high-quality water. Our non-electric water systems are energy efficient and designed to effectively reduce all types of contaminants in both city and well water. With a comprehensive warranty and certifications from the WQA and NSF, see why more customers choose Kineticco for their homes. Get started today with a free, no-obligation water test.