Best Water Filter for Chlorine Taste and Odor

Why does tap water taste like chlorine?

Because the water system put it there on purpose. The EPA’s home drinking water filtration fact sheet says “most tap water is treated with chlorine to kill disease-causing microbes,” and that “water systems use chlorine because it is an effective disinfectant for viruses and bacteria, and because it continues to disinfect water as it travels through pipes.” The taste is the disinfectant still doing its job at your faucet.

The same fact sheet gives two ways to get rid of it. The first costs nothing: “If you object to the chlorine taste of your tap water, try placing the water in an uncovered pitcher in the refrigerator overnight. This will reduce the chlorine taste.” The second is the filter. “Most water pitchers use granular-activated carbon and resins to bond with and trap contaminants. These filters are effective at improving the taste of water, and many will also reduce lead and other contaminants.” Faucet filters “generally use the same technologies as their pour-through pitcher counterparts,” and the EPA says of both that “specific contaminants removed vary by model,” so “read the label and instructions carefully.” This guide is that reading, done once for five filters.

What does a chlorine certification cover?

Less than the word “certified” suggests, and the EPA says exactly how much. Three organizations certify home filters against ANSI/NSF standards, which “are issued in two different sets, one for health concerns (such as removal of specific contaminants) and one for aesthetic concerns (such as improving taste or appearance of water). Certification from these organizations will be tied to one or both of these specific standards.” Chlorine taste is an aesthetic concern. On Brita’s Original and faucet data sheets it sits under the heading “NSF/ANSI Standard 42, Aesthetic Effects,” while lead sits under “Standard 53, Health Effects.” A filter certified for chlorine alone is certified for taste, and the lead question is a separate line on the sheet that may or may not be there.

The sheets also show what the standard asks for. Beside each filter’s own chlorine figure, Brita prints the minimum the standard requires, a 50 percent reduction at a test concentration of about 2 parts per million. Every Brita figure here clears that by a wide margin. PUR’s pages state the certifier and the claim and leave the figure off, which is why this guide ranks the three Brita filters on a number and the two PUR filters on a sentence.

Our pick: Brita Elite Pitcher and Dispenser Replacement Filter

Three things put the Elite first. Its data sheet reports a 97.4 percent chlorine reduction at the standard’s test concentration. Its page claims certification by WQA against NSF/ANSI 42, 53 and 401, and by IAPMO R&T and NSF against Standard 53 for lead, so the filter that fixes the taste is also the one with a lead claim behind it. And it lasts. Brita says to replace it “every 120 gallons, or about every 6 months for most households,” where every other pitcher filter here is rated for 40 gallons and about two months. A household that forgets to change filters changes this one a third as often.

One caveat. The Elite’s page describes a pleated filter rather than the activated carbon and ion exchange resin of Brita’s Original, and its lead certification is tied to specific pitcher models the data sheet lists. Check your pitcher’s model number against that list before counting on the lead claim; the chlorine claim covers every Brita pitcher the sheet names.

Runner-up: Brita Basic Water Filter Faucet System

The faucet system publishes the highest chlorine figure of the five, 99.0 percent, and its page says the system “removes 99% of lead and reduces chlorine (taste and odor), benzene, asbestos and trichloroethylene from tap water.” The filter is rated for 100 gallons or about four months, and the page says that life “begins after flushing for 5 minutes.” It is second rather than first because it is a different kind of purchase. It mounts on the faucet, filters on demand, and needs a standard faucet to attach to, where a pitcher filter works in any kitchen. For a household that fills a kettle and a pot from the tap, that is the point.

Also consider: PUR PLUS Lead Reducing Pitcher Filter

PUR’s page names the certifier in the claim itself. The filter “is IAPMO R&T certified to reduce lead, microplastics, chlorine, mercury, copper, zinc and other chemical & physical substances that can cause bad taste and odor in your drinking water.” It names the media too, “granulated activated carbon and ion exchange materials,” which is the same pairing the EPA describes for pitcher filters. What the page does not give is a figure, so there is no number to set beside Brita’s. It is rated for 40 gallons or two months, and the page adds, in its own words, that “like other leading brands, PUR does not filter microbes.”

Also consider: Brita Original Pitcher and Dispenser Replacement Filter

The Original is the filter most Brita pitchers ship with, and its data sheet reports a 95 percent chlorine reduction, certified by WQA against Standards 42 and 53. The page lists “chlorine (taste and odor), copper, cadmium and mercury” and makes no lead claim at all, which its record states rather than leaving a reader to assume. The media is “coconut-based activated carbon plus ion exchange resin,” and the life is 40 gallons or about two months. For a reader whose only complaint is the taste, this is the plainest answer on the list.

Know before you buy: PUR Pitcher Filter

PUR’s basic pitcher filter is “certified by NSF to reduce chlorine, mercury, copper, zinc and other chemical & physical substances that can cause bad taste and odor,” and the page says it is “certified to reduce 15 contaminants including certain pesticides, pharmaceuticals, heavy metals, chlorine (taste & odor) and more.” It makes no lead claim. It is last because its page says the least about what is inside. The media is described only as “2-in-1 genuine PUR filtration technology,” with no carbon or resin named, so a reader has the claim and the certifier and nothing else to compare.

What we left out

Two brands a reader would expect here have no record. ZeroWater’s product pages could not be reached with the tools available, and PUR’s faucet-mount filters were not read for this guide. Neither absence says anything about either product. When a page is read, the record appears and the guide is updated.

How we researched this

Every product fact in this guide comes from each brand’s own website and, for Brita, the performance data sheets those pages link to, read on the date each record shows. Nothing was retrieved from a retailer listing. The chlorine figures are the ones each manufacturer publishes, and each certification is recorded as a manufacturer claim, since the certifiers’ directories could not be queried by exact model with the tools available. A filter has no ingredient list; each record notes what the page says about the filter media instead. The EPA’s own fact sheet is the source for what chlorine does in tap water and how the standards divide. Runlow has not tested any of these filters and makes no claim about how any of them performs on a particular household’s water. No prices are shown. Every retailer link goes to a search results page for the exact product, not a specific listing, so it stays accurate regardless of what’s currently in stock. How often to replace whichever one you choose is a question for the Water Filter Calculator.

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