Sediment, carbon, osmosis, minerals: a plain-English walk through what each filtration stage does to your water.
Water systems often advertise a number of purification stages. That number only matters if you know what each stage does. Using the seven-stage FloWater Refill Station as an example, here is what happens between the tap and your bottle.
Removing what you don’t want
The first stages filter out sediment and reduce chlorine, taste and odor with carbon. An Advanced Osmosis membrane then reduces a wide range of dissolved contaminants. FloWater states this can include lead, PFAS and microplastics (verify performance for your specific model).
Adding back what makes water taste good
Highly purified water can taste flat. Later stages add electrolytes and minerals and raise the pH (FloWater states by up to 1.5, depending on your tap water), and activated oxygen helps keep the tanks and lines clean between services.
Why certification details matter
Standards such as NSF/ANSI 42, 53 and 58 cover different things, from taste and odor to health-related contaminants and reverse osmosis. We confirm the current certification documentation for each model with every quote.
