THE WATER REPORT
See What Is Reported in Your Local Water
Enter your ZIP code to find public utility data and see which reported contaminants PorePlus is designed and tested to reduce. Results vary by utility, building, and plumbing.
ZIP
Here's what's typically reported — and what it doesn't cover.
What public data reports
Your utility publishes an annual water quality report. It covers the disinfectant used, hardness, and contaminants tested at the treatment plant and in the distribution system.
What it doesn't cover
Testing stops before your building. Lead, copper and sediment picked up from your own plumbing on the last stretch don't appear in it — and older buildings add more.
What PorePlus addresses
Four filtration stages at the showerhead — the last point before the water reaches your skin, and the only one you control.
The four stages
- Stage 1
Calcium sulfite — designed to reduce chlorine, and to keep working at shower temperatures where carbon alone starts to fade.
- Stage 2
KDF-55 — a copper-zinc media designed to address dissolved heavy metals such as lead, mercury, nickel and chromium.
- Stage 3
Coconut activated carbon — designed to capture organic compounds and the odour chlorine leaves behind.
- Stage 4
PP cotton — designed to catch sediment, rust flakes and grit shed by older plumbing.
Approximately 85% of US households receive chlorinated or chloraminated water and more than half have hard water. Sources: EPA Safe Drinking Water Information System (SDWIS); USGS National Water Information System (NWIS). General reference data — not a measurement of your home. What reaches your shower varies by utility, building and plumbing.
HOW TO READ IT
Four things to look for in your utility's report
Chlorine & chloramine
Added at the plant to kill bacteria. It is still working when it reaches your skin.
Hardness
Dissolved calcium and magnesium, reported in grains per gallon or mg/L. No shower filter changes it.
Heavy metals
Lead and copper mostly come from your building's pipes, so they often don't appear in the utility's numbers.
Disinfection by-products
Formed when chlorine meets organic matter. Volatile — hot shower steam is a main route of exposure.