Water Filtration
New York tap water arrives in good condition. What happens to it in the last few hundred feet of century-old pipe is a different question.
Start with what you are actually treating
The city's supply is unfiltered surface water from upstate reservoirs and it arrives at the building in good shape. Most complaints about water quality in a pre-war Manhattan apartment are not about the source at all. They are about what the water picks up between the street and the tap.
- Rust and sediment from galvanized supply piping at the end of its life. Intermittent, worst on first draw, worst after the building's water has been shut off and turned back on. See repiping
- Taste and odor from chlorine, which is normal and easily dealt with, or from a roof tank that is overdue its cleaning, which is the building's responsibility
- Lead, where the service line or old solder is a factor. This is a specific concern with a specific answer and it is worth testing for rather than guessing about. See water service line
- Particulate after building work, which is temporary and clears
Which of these you have decides what equipment makes sense. Fitting a system without knowing is how people end up with an expensive filter that does not address their actual complaint.
The options
| Point of use | Under one sink, treating drinking and cooking water only. Smallest, cheapest, and the right answer for most taste and lead concerns |
|---|---|
| Whole apartment | On the incoming branch, treating everything. Sensible where sediment is the problem and it is reaching fixtures and appliances |
| Sediment pre-filter | A simple cartridge that protects everything downstream. Often the most useful single thing in a building with old risers |
| Whole building | At the house main. A building decision, not an apartment one, and it brings a maintenance obligation with it |
What matters in an apartment installation
Space, access and the drain. Under-sink units need room that a Manhattan kitchen may not have, cartridges need to be changeable by whoever lives there, and any system that regenerates or flushes needs somewhere to discharge. A filter that is awkward to service stops being serviced, and an unserviced filter is worse than none.
Softening is a different matter and rarely called for here. New York's water is moderately soft, which is why the scale problems common in other cities are much less of a feature in this one.
Need this doing?
Call and describe the problem. You will get the price before anyone starts.