TAPP Water is the only company with Independent Lab Testing and Certifications of Water Filters
Choosing the right water filter can be hard. How do you know that the water filter actually works?
The first step is to ensure that the water filter you are planning to buy is tested and certified by accredited labs.
TAPP Water is the only faucet water filter provider that openly shares all lab results and certifications for customers to view.
Before you continue reading below learn about the most common tap water contaminants.
Independent lab tests of TAPP 1 and TAPP 2
TAPP 1 is tested to filter/remove over 70 common substances from tap water. The product is tested in accordance with NSF-42 and the lab results are available for download here.
TAPP 2 5-stage filters filter/remove 100+ potential substances from tap water and reduces more than 30 others. The product is tested in accordance with NSF-42, NSF-53 and NSF-244. This page provides a summary of what it filters and the reduction efficiency. The complete lab report is available for download at the end.
| Substance | Description of what is being filtered | Reduction |
|---|---|---|
| Organoleptics parameters (taste, colour and odor) | The unpleasant taste or smell of water is generally caused by Chlorine, its by-products and organic contaminants. | 95% or more |
| Chlorine and Chloramine | Chlorine is added to disinfect tap water from harmful viruses and bacteria. | 95% or more |
| Chlorine by-products | Over 100 by-products incl 32 known chlorine by-products (VOCs) such as THMs identified as potentially cancerous | 95% or more |
| Microplastics | Plastic pieces of a few micrometers length | 95% or more |
| Heavy metals | Occur naturally in trace amounts in water or caused by pipelines corrosion such as lead, zinc, manganese, copper, etc | 90% or more |
| Pesticides | 14 listed pesticides including Chlordane, Heptachlor, and Lindane | 95% or more** |
| Herbicides | 12 listed herbicides including 2,4-D and Atrazine | 95% or more** |
| Nitrate & Nitrites | Occur naturally in trace amounts or caused by contamination from fertilizers. | 70% or more |
| Pharmaceuticals | Pharmaceuticals in very small concentrations have been found in tap water. This includes e.g. Atenolol, Carbamazepina, Estrone, Meprobamat and Trimethoprim | 95% or more** |
| PFAS | This includes PFOA, PFOS and PFNA. Sometimes referred to as forever chemicals. | 90% or more** |
| Pathogens | Most "bad" bacteria including eColi as well as Microbial cyst including giardia and cryptosporidium | 90% or more |
| Turbidity | Turbidity is a measure of the degree to which the water loses its transparency due to the presence of suspended particulates. | 90% or more |
| Limescale | TAPP 2 prevents limescale from forming in the kettle, coffee machine, sink, water bottles, pitchers and anywhere else you use tap water thanks to our proprietary limescale inhibitor formula. | 80% or more |
* The percentages of efficiency of the filter as well as its lifetime will vary depending on the initial quality of your tap water.
** Based on public research by NIH and other research institutions of activated carbon in block form as used in TAPP2. See what does activated carbon filters remove and reduce and complete list of what TAPP 2 5-stage water filters remove including 100+ substances.
Read about how TAPP 2 compares to other water filters.
What TAPP 2 doesn’t filter
A common misconception is that a water filter should remove everything from tap water. Here’s a list of the substances and parameters that TAPP 2 does not remove/filter and why.
| Substance(s) | Description |
|---|---|
| TDS (Total Dissolved Solids) | TDS is basically the charged minerals in your water such as inorganic salts and small amounts of organic matter that are dissolved in water. These are usually calcium, magnesium, sodium, potassium, carbonate, bicarbonate, chloride, sulphate and nitrates. Most lab reports use Electrical Conductivity instead of TDS. TDS does not in any case indicate if the water is drinkable or not. |
| Healthy minerals | Minerals include calcium, potassium, magnesium, chloride, etc that humans need to survive. These essential minerals are insignificantly reduced by carbon blocks. |
| Hardness | Hard water is water that has high concentration of Calcium and Magnesium. For drinking purposes, hard water is mostly an advantage. However, it causes limescale deposits that are often perceived as an issue. |
| pH | pH is a measure of acidity or alkalinity of water. A pH value of 6.5-8.5 is considered normal and your body will adjust the pH to the body's normal state (blood = pH 7.4) after drinking. There is no known health risk related to pH within the legal range. |
Independent Lab Tests to confirm the filter works as stated
Every year we carry out lab tests with third party labs. Here’s an overview of one of these tests carried out by SimpleLab (US), AQA (Germany) and iTabe (Spain) three of the most renown labs in the world. The latest tests were carried out in Barcelona and Los Angeles December 2020*. The link below the table includes the full list of substances with external sources by the lab to verify the claims.
| Parameter/Substance | Before filtration | After filtration | Reduction |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total Chlorine (ppm) | 0.8 | <0.05 | More than 95% |
| Chloramine (ppm) | 0.8 | <0.05 | More than 95% |
| pH | 7.8 | 7.9 | Not applicable |
| Turbidty (NTU) | 0.17 | Not detected | 100% |
| Microplastics (particles / L) | 29 | Not detected | 100% |
| Nitrate & Nitrite (ppm) | 0.22 | Not detected | 100% |
|
Heavy Metals
(Average for Lead, Manganese, Zinc, Barium) (ppm) |
0.15 | Not detected | 100% |
|
Chlorine disinfection bi-products
(THMs, VOCs, HAAs,..) (pbb) |
6 | Not detected | 100% |
*Note: The reason for picking Los Angeles, USA is that this was the worst tap water in terms of contaminants that we found during all the tests. Lab tests have also been carried out with water from Barcelona, Valencia, Mallorca, New York, Toronto, Milan, Malta, India, Bhutan, Venezuela, Indonesia and many other countries.
Download full report:
TAPP 2 Independent Lab Tests and Certifications March 2021
Complete list of what TAPP 2 water filters remove:
https://pre.tappwater.co/en/complete-list-activated-carbon-filtration/
Please contact us on [email protected] if you have questions about what TAPP removes or the lab results
