What are you folks, who are hooked up to Montara water, doing (if anything) about filtration.  Any one using an at-the-tap filter system or a point-of-entry system? 

The latest MWSD consumer confidence report shows low levels of some scary stuff like, chromium and nitrates. 

We are looking into some kind of filter system and I’d be interested in hearing what works well for our water in Montara/Moss Beach. 

Any info would be appreciated.

Thanks.

This is a great topic. We’ve been using a combination of a kitchen faucet filter for cooking and bottled water for drinking. I’d love to know if it’s worth it to buy a whole-house filtration system to reduce the headache of buying water and dealing with the kitchen filter system. We ran our own water quality report and it came out basically the same as the report issued by MWSD. However, it’s not clear how much of that stuff is actually filtered out using a standard water filter.

Hey MWSD Board—

This is a perfect topic for the MWSD Board.  What filter do you have at the staff offices.  What do you recommend for the community? Especially filters tailored for our deficiencies—copper, nitrate, etc

Also which bottled water would you recommend?  Most people in MWSD seem to use bottled water, some even for their animals.

I remember talking with Chuck Little years ago when I was having problems with my morning coffee after the water had been sitting in 300 feet of copper line to my home over night, and he advised to draw water the previous nite so the corrosive nature of our MWSD water would have less copper in my coffee.

best,

terry gossett

In case you really want to buy a filter, here’s what I found out:

The Multi-Pure MP750 Plus RO is the only device certified under NSF/ANSI Standards 42, 53, and 58 to reduce: Nitrates/Nitrate, Arsenic V, Chloramine, PCBs, Toxaphene, Chlordane, Lead, Mercury, trivalent and hexavalent chromium, and a whole long list of other nasty stuff.

After I bought one for myself, I got myself made a dealer so I could get it more cheaply for my parents. So I can sell you one, or you can buy it from their website:

http://www.multipureco.com/mpro.htm

I hope that’s not too much of a plug, but you did ask. I’m sure Barry will remove this if it’s not ok.

—Matt

About a year ago I went into the MWSD offices and asked them what they use or what would they recommend, and they couldn’t tell me. They didn’t even have a copy of the last water quality report.

Luckily I found an old version of the report from 2003 on their website and used that to decide what filter to get.

I started off on the Consumer Reports website and made a short list and did some further research and ended up with an under-sink Kenmore model that I got from Sears.

I just checked the Customer Reports list again and the Kenmore/Sears models 38454 and 38460 are still the best rated unit in their updated May 2007 report. Depending on where you buy the price is between $55-75 and they take two cartridges which cost us around $25 ea. every 3-5 months.

The top rated counter-top model is also a Kenmore - #34551.

Hope this helps.

Chris

We are on a well, not city water, but we use a three-phase central filtration system to improve the water quality. Our nasty, mineral-heavy Montara water is transformed into soft, clear water without that yucky “water softener” feeling. I don’t know how this system is rated for removing undesirable chemicals, but we have our water tested annually and so far it’s been fine. Simms Plumbing in Pescadero maintains the system for us on a quarterly schedule. Homeowners can do the maintenance themselves if they so desire. If anyone is interested in the brand name or ordering info, I can ask Simms to look it up.

I also asked the water company for advice for a whole-house filter and they had none, so I did some of my own research. I am interested in a whole-house filter as well as water softener because we get scaley deposits on all of our fixtures throughout the house and the water tastes funny. I found this combination filter/softener to be the best from what I’ve seen. The softener uses a process that doesn’t require salt, so the maintenance and cost is very low compared to other systems. I would be interested to hear what others think. I haven’t purchased this yet, but it compares very favorably to all other systems I’ve researched:

http://www.pelicanwatertechnologies.com/combo_series.php