About The Water Filter Lab
Who we are
The Water Filter Lab is written and maintained by The Water Filter Lab Editorial Team, a small, independent editorial team. We are not owned by, and do not work for, any water filter manufacturer or retailer. We publish under the team name rather than individual names, so we don't list personal credentials, and we don't ask you to trust us because of who we are. We ask you to trust the sources, which we name so you can check them.
Our job is to do the reading for you: to find out what a filter is actually certified to do, what it costs to run, and what it doesn't remove, and to explain that plainly.
How we research
Every guide is built from published, checkable sources:
- Certification listings from NSF, WQA (Gold Seal) and IAPMO R&T: which contaminants a specific model is certified to reduce, and under which NSF/ANSI standard.
- EPA data: drinking water regulations and contaminant limits, plus the annual water quality reports (Consumer Confidence Reports) that utilities publish.
- Manufacturer spec sheets and performance data sheets: capacity, flow rate, filter life, dimensions and replacement-filter part numbers.
- Retailer listings: current price, availability and replacement-filter cost.
We do not run lab tests or hands-on testing. We don't operate a laboratory, we don't measure contaminant removal ourselves, and we don't publish test results, star ratings or scores of our own. When a manufacturer makes a performance claim that isn't backed by a certification listing, we say it is the manufacturer's claim. The full process and how we rank sources is on our methodology page.
We use AI tools to help draft articles; every factual claim is checked against the sources listed above, and pages are corrected when we find errors.
How we make money
The Water Filter Lab is reader-supported. Some links on the site are affiliate links: if you buy through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. The programs we currently belong to are the Amazon Associates Program, Rakuten Advertising (including Waterdrop) and Awin (including WaterH and Canopy). As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.
Commissions don't decide our picks. We recommend products on what they are certified to do, what they cost to own and how they fit the problem the guide is about, and we name products we have no affiliate relationship with when they are the better fit. No brand pays for placement, and no brand reviews our articles before they are published. Affiliate links are marked rel="sponsored". Details are on our affiliate disclosure page.
How we update pages
Water filter models, certifications and prices change. We revisit guides when a certification listing changes, a product is discontinued or replaced, prices move meaningfully, EPA rules change, or a reader reports a problem. When we make a substantive change, we update the “Updated” date shown at the top of the article (and the page's dateModified). If we get something wrong, we fix it; see our corrections policy.
Contact us
Questions, corrections or tips: email us at hello@thewaterfilterlab.com. If you're reporting an error, please include the page link and, if you can, the source that shows the correct information.