Do you need a TDS meter or a water testing kit?
When considering water filtration, the short answer is: no – you do not need a TDS meter or a water testing kit because you can get a much better report from your water supplier. As part of the 1998 Safe Drinking Water Act, community water systems are legally required to send you a detailed report of what’s in your water. These water quality reports will tell you far more about what’s in your water than you’d be able to test for with a TDS meter or basic water testing kit. To request your water quality report, check your water supplier’s website or contact them for more information. Once you have it, check out our guide on How to Interpret Your Water Quality Report so you can understand what you’re looking at and determine if you need a water filter.

Does a high TDS meter reading mean you need a water filter?
To summarize, your TDS meter reading is simply a quantitative measure of the amount of dissolved solids in your water, it is not a qualitative measure indicating what those substances are and whether they are harmful. Your TDS level can be used to determine if you need a Salt-Free Water Conditioner to prevent scale buildup from mineral accumulation in pipes and appliances, but you should not rely on your water’s TDS alone to decide whether you need a water filter.
To decide whether you need a water filter for your home, your best option is to request a detailed water quality report from your local water supplier. If there are contaminants in your water, knowing which ones are present will help you choose a water filter for your home.
When choosing a water filter, the goal should not be to remove all TDS because some of these are healthy minerals that contribute to a good taste for your drinking water. All Aquasana water filters utilize Claryum® selective filtration technology to remove harmful contaminants while retaining healthy minerals such as calcium, magnesium, and potassium.
To remove the most contaminants, you’ll want to look at reverse osmosis water filters. However, some of these RO filters actually remove too many minerals, so make sure to purchase one with remineralization technology like our OptimH2O® Reverse Osmosis + Claryum® water filter. There are many under sink or countertop water filter options, offerings various levels of filtration power depending on what contaminants you need to address. While each of the options above offer filtered water in a specific area where they’re installed, if you want filtered water throughout your entire home we recommend a whole house water filtration system.
For additional information about TDS and water filters, contact us and we’ll answer your questions.