This does not amount to an antimicrobial certification, hence Lifestraw’s caution to market the device for anything but municipal water. But if my primary worry were the bacteria or mold known to potentially accumulate in other water filters and pitchers, I would certainly spring for this Lifestraw. The same IAPMO India lab data also shows good removal of PFAS and PFOA “forever chemicals,” though not quite to the levels of my top filter picks.

This doesn’t mean the filter is perfect. The Home’s tall dual-stage filter, comprising both a membrane filter and a replaceable activated carbon filter, causes the 10-cup Lifestraw to be quite lofty for a fridge pitcher: about 13 inches tall. It only fits in my refrigerator because I’d already removed a shelf to allow for tall bottles and meal kit boxes.

The Lifestraw filter is also among the slowest I’ve tested, requiring more than 20 minutes to filter on the 10-cup pitcher. And while it removes free chlorine, it does not remove chloramine—a more stable disinfectant found in about half of municipal water systems. And so if your city uses chloramine to treat its water and you’re sensitive to the aroma, be forewarned.

For those especially worried about plastic even after filtering out microplastics, Lifestraw also makes a glass version of its 7-cup water pitcher. But note that the filter housing is plastic, and so this still won’t make for an entirely plastic-free water pitcher.

Other Water Filters Tested

Photograph: Matthew Korfhage

Waterdrop 10-Cup Lucid Water Filter Pitcher for $21: Waterdrop is a decade-old, California-based company best known for innovative countertop reverse osmosis water filters. This hands-free water filter pitcher from Waterdrop is a much more economical option than most filters; in fact, it’s the cheapest filter I’ve tested. It also sports a weirdly likable design, with a little hinged lid that’ll drop down almost frictionlessly to accept even a trickle of water into its reservoir before snapping back shut. The water filter is also the fastest I tested, dripping through a full reservoir in less than two minutes, and it’s certified to NSF standards for lead-free manufacturing and chlorine removal. Its makers also claim to have tested filtration to NSF standards on 372 other substances. So far, so good. But lab results aren’t posted publicly, nor is the identity of the third-party lab. My own testing showed that the filter is less successful at filtering chloramine, the substance used for disinfection of municipal water in half of American cities. The filter removed about 75 percent of chloramine, far worse performance than my top-pick filters.