Metro Vancouver's drinking water comes from protected mountain watersheds and it is treated to a standard most of the world would envy. That is the honest starting point, and it means the filtration conversation here is different from the one in a hard-water region.
We are plumbers, not water chemists. For the actual composition of your supply, Metro Vancouver publishes water quality information and your municipality can tell you about your specific area — that is a better source than any contractor, including us.
What we can tell you is what the different systems do, and which complaints they actually solve.
The complaints people bring us
"It tastes like chlorine." Treated water carries a disinfectant residual, which is doing an important job right up until it reaches your glass. Carbon filtration removes it and the taste with it. This is the most common reason people filter here and the one carbon handles best.
"It looks cloudy." Usually dissolved air, which clears from the bottom up if you let a glass stand. That is not a filtration problem. If it does not clear, that is different and worth looking at.
"It tastes metallic" or "it runs rusty in the morning." That is very often your own pipes rather than the supply — corrosion products from old plumbing sitting in the line overnight. Filtration at the tap treats the symptom; the cause is the pipe. Worth diagnosing before buying equipment.
"I want to remove more than taste." That is a specific question and it deserves a specific answer, which starts with knowing what you are trying to remove.
The systems, briefly
Under-sink carbon filters drinking and cooking water at one tap. It handles chlorine taste and odour and some other contaminants. It is the most common and usually the most proportionate choice here.
Reverse osmosis pushes water through a membrane that removes a very wide range of dissolved substances. It is thorough. The trade-offs are that it is slower, it produces some wastewater, it takes up under-sink space, and it removes beneficial minerals along with everything else — which some people then add back deliberately. It makes sense when you have a specific reason to want that level of treatment.
Whole-home carbon treats everything entering the house — showers and laundry as well as drinking water. People choose it mostly for shower and skin comfort rather than for drinking water.
Water softeners address hardness — dissolved calcium and magnesium. This is where the local answer differs from much of North America: our water is comparatively soft, so a softener is often solving a problem this region does not have. Before buying one, find out what your actual hardness is.
Filters need changing, and that is the real cost
Every one of these systems has consumables. A carbon filter that is past its life stops working and can become a place where things grow. An RO membrane has a service life.
The purchase price is not the cost of a filtration system; the maintenance is. Whatever you install, know what the replacement schedule is and who is doing it before you commit.
What we would suggest
Start by identifying the complaint precisely. If it is chlorine taste, under-sink carbon solves it inexpensively. If it is morning discolouration, look at your plumbing before buying a filter. If you have a specific contaminant concern, get the water tested so you are buying against evidence rather than against marketing.
We install filtration across Vancouver, Burnaby, Richmond, Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam and New Westminster, and we are happy to tell you when you do not need it.
604-865-7979.
Related: Water filtration and softeners · Whole-home and suite repiping · Plumbing maintenance and repair
