Home water treatment in San Antonio

Water Filtration San Antonio is an independent referral service, not an installer or plumber. When you send the form, your details go to an independent local water treatment pro who can contact you and quote the work.

Start with one question

The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality’s guide to choosing home water treatment begins with a question: “What contaminant do you want to remove or reduce?” The answer decides the equipment. TCEQ then advises: “Select a unit certified by the National Sanitation Foundation (NSF), Underwriter’s Laboratory, or Water Quality Association (WQA) to remove the contaminant(s) of concern. Make sure the unit you are considering is certified to remove that contaminant.”

So the useful order is: find out what is in your water (your utility’s annual report, and a test at your tap), decide what you want to change, and only then choose a system certified for that job.

The main options, by standard

What you want to change	Equipment	Standard to ask about
Hardness: scale, spots, soap scum	Water softener	NSF/ANSI 44
Aesthetic effects such as chlorine, taste and odor	Carbon filter, whole-house or at a tap	NSF/ANSI 42
Health effects such as lead	Drinking water filter	NSF/ANSI 53
Incidental contaminants	Filter certified for them	NSF/ANSI 401
Drinking and cooking water at one tap	Reverse osmosis	NSF/ANSI 58
Ultraviolet treatment	UV system	NSF/ANSI 55 (Class A and Class B)

These standards are specific. A unit certified to NSF/ANSI 42 for chlorine taste is not, for that reason, certified to reduce lead. When a quote says a unit is “NSF certified”, ask which standard and which contaminants, and ask to see the listing.

Softening SAWS water

SAWS says the typical hardness of the water it provides ranges from 15 to 20 grains per gallon, from calcium carbonate found naturally in water from the Edwards and the Trinity Aquifers. SAWS also says hard water is not a health hazard. A softener is about scale, spots and soap. The water softener page covers sizing; installation covers the city permit and the Texas license.

Whole-house filters for taste and smell

A whole-house carbon filter treats all the water entering the house. It is one answer when the complaint is a chlorine taste or smell at every tap and in the shower. Look for certification to NSF/ANSI 42, which covers aesthetic effects such as chlorine, taste and odor, and follow the maker’s schedule for changing the cartridge or media. A carbon filter does not soften water, so homes with both complaints need both pieces of equipment. More on the whole-house filter page.

Reverse osmosis for drinking water

The EPA describes point-of-use reverse osmosis as a system connected to a single fixture, such as under the kitchen sink, in which pressure forces water through a semi-permeable membrane. RO systems “can potentially remove water contaminants such as lead, volatile organic compounds (VOCs), PFAS, arsenic, bacteria, and viruses.” The trade-off is water: a typical unit sends five gallons or more down the drain for every gallon of treated water, some up to 10, while EPA WaterSense labeled units must send 2.3 gallons or less. Ask for NSF/ANSI 58 certification and the WaterSense label. In Texas, RO work needs a Class III Water Treatment Specialist, or supervision by one, unless the person is a licensed plumber. Full details on the reverse osmosis page.

Taste, color and staining: the EPA’s secondary standards

Some water problems are about looks and taste, not health. The EPA sets non-mandatory secondary standards for 15 contaminants and does not enforce them; they are guidelines for aesthetic considerations such as taste, color and odor. Some of them match complaints homeowners describe:

Contaminant	EPA secondary level	What it causes
Iron	0.3 mg/L	Rusty color, sediment, metallic taste, reddish or orange staining
Manganese	0.05 mg/L	Black to brown color, black staining, bitter metallic taste
Chloride	250 mg/L	Salty taste
Total dissolved solids	500 mg/L	Hardness, deposits, colored water, staining, salty taste
pH	6.5 to 8.5	Outside the range: see the EPA page for effects

Hardness itself has no EPA secondary standard. If you see staining or an odd taste, a water test that measures these items tells a pro what to treat.

PFAS: what EPA has decided and proposed

The EPA’s final PFAS rule set enforceable limits of 4.0 parts per trillion for PFOA and for PFOS in public water systems. On May 18, 2026 the EPA proposed two rules: one keeps the PFOA and PFOS limits and lets water systems request two more years, to 2031, to comply; the other would rescind the limits for PFHxS, PFNA, HFPO-DA (GenX) and the mixture hazard index. As of October 2026 those proposals were not final; the EPA’s PFAS page has the current status. For what your utility found in your water, read its annual water quality report. If you want to reduce PFAS at home, follow TCEQ’s advice and choose a unit certified for it.

Homes on a private well

If your home is on a private well rather than a city system, the rules change. The EPA is clear that private well owners are responsible for delivering safe drinking water to their households, and that private wells are not regulated under the federal Safe Drinking Water Act. It advises testing a private well every year for total coliform bacteria, nitrates, total dissolved solids and pH, and using only laboratories certified for drinking water testing. In Texas, the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation says a license is required to drill a water well and to install a pump for one. Treatment for a well, such as UV under NSF/ANSI 55, should follow a lab test, not come before it.

Test before you treat

A system chosen without a test is a guess. Your utility’s annual water quality report tells you about the supply as a whole; a test at your tap tells you about the water in your house, after your own pipes. For hardness, a simple test at the tap shows how close you are to SAWS’s typical 15 to 20 grains. For anything you are worried about for health reasons, such as lead, a laboratory test gives a reliable figure; for private wells, the EPA’s advice is to use only laboratories certified for drinking water testing.

Keep the results. They are what the installer should size and certify against, and they let you check later whether the equipment is doing its job. If a quote recommends treatment for something your test did not find, ask why.

Questions for any water treatment quote

1. What did you test for, and can I see the results?
2. Which contaminant does this system reduce, and which NSF/ANSI standard is it certified to?
3. Which Texas license do you hold for this equipment?
4. Which City of San Antonio permit applies, if any?
5. What does the maker say about cartridges, membranes and maintenance?
6. What is included in the written price?

Questions people ask