New Homeowner Water Checklist: What to Test and Filter Before You Drink

• Step 1: Pull Your Local Water Quality Report
• Step 2: Test Your Tap Water Directly
  • What to test for
  • Well water vs. municipal water
• Step 3: Understand What Your Filter Actually Needs to Do
• Step 4: Choose the Right Under-Sink Filter for Your Home
  • Matching the model to your household
• Step 5: Plan for Ongoing Maintenance
• Step 6: Think About Whole-Home vs. Point-of-Use
• The Short Version: Your New Home Water Checklist
• Frequently Asked Questions

Before you drink from the tap in a new house, pull your city’s water quality report, then test for lead, bacteria, nitrates, hardness and PFAS. If you find a problem, choose a filter certified for that specific contaminant. Older homes should start with lead, and our lead removal under-sink filters are certified for it.

Key takeaways:

• The city report covers the plant, not your home’s own pipes.
• Lead and bacteria are the two tests not to skip.
• A lab panel beats a strip kit for accuracy.
• Match the filter to what the test actually finds.

Moving day comes with a long list: utilities, locks, internet, smoke detectors. The tap rarely makes it onto the new homeowner checklist, but it should, because you don’t know what the last owner’s pipes are like.

Moving into a new home means a hundred things on your list — paint colors, appliance warranties, figuring out the neighborhood. But one thing most people skip entirely is the water coming out of their taps. That’s worth fixing before you ever fill a glass.

You don’t know the history of the pipes in your new home. You don’t know what the previous owners did or didn’t filter. And depending on where you live, your municipal supply may carry contaminants your utility is legally permitted to deliver at low levels. That doesn’t mean the water is safe for long-term drinking. It means it passed a threshold.

Here’s exactly what to test, what to look for, and how to filter your water before you start drinking it in 2026.

Step 1: Pull Your Local Water Quality Report

Your water utility publishes an annual Consumer Confidence Report (CCR). It lists detected contaminants, the levels found, and the legal limits. You can usually find it on your utility’s website or request it directly.

Read it with one question in mind: what’s present, even at “acceptable” levels?

Pay particular attention to:

• Lead — especially in homes built before 1986, where lead solder or pipes may still be in place
• PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) — increasingly detected in municipal supplies across the US
• Chlorine and chloramines — added for disinfection, but linked to taste, odor, and long-term health concerns
• Chromium 6 — a known carcinogen found in water supplies across many states
• Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) — can enter groundwater from industrial or agricultural sources nearby

One important caveat: the CCR reflects what’s in the supply at the treatment plant. It doesn’t account for what happens in the pipes between there and your kitchen faucet. Your utility’s annual Consumer Confidence Report lists what was found in the supply and at what levels. It won’t tell you anything about the house itself, though. Our guide on how to read a water quality report walks through the numbers.

Step 2: Test Your Tap Water Directly

A utility report is a starting point, not a complete picture. Old pipes, a corroded service line, or your home’s own internal plumbing can introduce contaminants after the water leaves the treatment facility.

Testing your tap water gives you a specific, accurate baseline for your home — not your neighborhood, not your city. Your home.

A home water test fills the gap the city report leaves. You’ve got two options.

A home water test kit with strips or drops costs $15 to $50 and gives results in minutes for hardness, chlorine, pH and sometimes lead. It’s a quick first look, but readings can be off, and most kits can’t measure PFAS at all.

A certified lab test costs roughly $50 to $300 depending on the panel. You fill bottles at home and mail them back, and you get exact numbers for dozens of substances. Woder offers [lab water testing]([LAB TESTING URL]) if you want a single panel that covers the basics.

If you’re wondering how to test water quality at home the right way, follow the kit or lab instructions to the letter: use cold supply, take the first draw in the morning for lead, and keep samples cold on the way back.

What to test for

So what to test water for in a new home? Start with these six.

• Lead, especially in homes built before 1986 or with a lead service line.
• Total coliform bacteria, the basic safety check.
• Nitrates, important near farms or for families with babies.
• Hardness, which explains scale and spotty dishes.
• PFAS, the so-called forever chemicals, if your area has a known issue or you’re near an airport or military base.
• pH and copper, if the house has copper pipes or a metallic taste. Our post on what lead in water tastes like explains why taste alone isn’t a reliable sign.

Well water vs. municipal water

If your new home uses a private well, testing matters even more. Wells aren’t regulated the way municipal supplies are, and contamination from agricultural runoff, septic systems, or naturally occurring minerals can vary significantly by region. Test when you first move in, and at least once a year after that. On a private well, nobody tests for you. Most labs mail a kit, so how to test well water at home mostly comes down to sampling correctly and testing every year. Add bacteria, nitrates, arsenic, iron and manganese to the list above.

Step 3: Understand What Your Filter Actually Needs to Do

Once you have your test results, you can match your filter to your actual water profile rather than guessing.

Here’s how the main filter types stack up:

Pitcher filters are convenient, but they’re not built for serious contaminants like PFAS or lead. Reverse osmosis systems go the other direction — they remove nearly everything, including the calcium and magnesium your body actually benefits from, and they produce wastewater in the process. Installation usually means calling a plumber.

An under-sink filter sits in the middle: serious filtration performance, no wastewater, no plumber, and no stripping of the minerals worth keeping.

Step 4: Choose the Right Under-Sink Filter for Your Home

Not all under-sink filters work the same way. The key questions are: what does it remove, what does it keep, and how does it install?

Woder builds its filters around Advanced Selective Filtration technology, which uses nanoparticles to attract and remove contaminants while leaving naturally occurring minerals intact. Lead, PFAS, chlorine, chromium 6, mercury, and VOCs come out. Calcium and magnesium stay in.

Remove the bad. Keep the good. That’s the Woder difference.

Woder filters install directly into your existing water line under the sink — no tank, no whole-home overhaul, no plumber. Most homeowners have it done in under an hour.

Matching the model to your household

Woder makes several models based on flow rate and household size:

• WD-G4-210-JG — compact residential unit, well-suited for smaller households
• WD-D-8K-FRM-ADV-DC — 8 kGPM under-sink model for standard family use
• WD-10K-ADV-PORT — 10 kGPM high-flow option for larger households or higher demand
• WD-S-5K-REP — replacement cartridge model for existing Woder owners
• Water-Filter Bottle — portable filtered water for when you’re away from home

Not sure which one fits? The interactive Wizard at woder.com/wizard walks you through it based on your household size and water concerns.

Step 5: Plan for Ongoing Maintenance

Buying a filter is step one. Keeping it working is step two.

Replacement cartridges wear out over time as they accumulate contaminants. Most under-sink filters need a cartridge change every six to twelve months, depending on your water quality and how much your household uses. Woder sells replacement cartridges separately, so you swap the cartridge — not the whole unit.

Set a reminder now. A spent cartridge doesn’t announce itself. The water won’t taste different. The filter will just quietly stop performing at full capacity while looking exactly the same.

Step 6: Think About Whole-Home vs. Point-of-Use

An under-sink filter covers your drinking and cooking water — which is where most of your contaminant exposure actually happens. Ingestion is the primary concern.

Whole-home systems treat every tap in the house, including showers and laundry. They cost more, require professional installation, and aren’t always necessary. For most new homeowners, a high-performance under-sink filter at the kitchen tap is the practical, cost-effective place to start.

If your test results show serious contamination across multiple sources, or you have young children with significant exposure through bathing, a whole-home system may be worth looking into. But for the majority of households, the kitchen tap is where to begin. Cost is the deciding factor for most new owners. A whole-home system usually runs $1,000 to $4,500 installed and needs a plumber. A point-of-use filter under the kitchen sink usually costs $100 to $400 and you can install it yourself. Start with the tap you drink from, and add whole-home treatment later only if your test shows a problem that affects showers or appliances.

The Short Version: Your New Home Water Checklist

1. Download your utility’s annual report.
2. Ask the seller or city whether the house has a lead pipe running from the main.
3. Order a lab test or use a home kit for lead, bacteria, nitrates, hardness and PFAS.
4. Run the cold tap for 30 seconds before drinking until results come back.
5. Pick a filter certified for whatever the test finds.
6. Write the install date on the cartridge and set a reminder.
7. Retest once a year, or right away if taste, color or smell changes.

If you just want to know how to test water at home fast, steps 1 and 3 are where to start. Readings in ppm? Our guide to ppm and TDS numbers explains them.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need to test my water if I’m moving into a new construction home?

Yes. New construction can still have contaminants from municipal supply lines, and some building materials introduce their own concerns. Testing gives you a real baseline regardless of the home’s age.

What’s the difference between an under-sink filter and a reverse osmosis system?

An under-sink filter like Woder installs inline into your existing water line, removes 99.9% of contaminants, preserves beneficial minerals, and produces no wastewater. A reverse osmosis system removes nearly everything — including minerals — requires a storage tank, and typically needs professional installation. It also produces significant wastewater for every gallon filtered.

How do I know if my home has lead pipes?

Homes built before 1986 are most likely to have lead solder or lead service lines. Check with your water utility, inspect visible pipes under sinks (lead pipes are dull gray and soft enough to scratch with a key), or use a home water test kit. When in doubt, test.

How often do I need to replace my under-sink filter cartridge?

Most cartridges need replacing every six to twelve months, depending on household water usage and local water quality. Woder sells replacement cartridges separately, so you replace the cartridge rather than the full unit.

Can a pitcher filter handle PFAS and lead?

Most pitcher filters aren’t designed to remove PFAS or lead at meaningful levels. They handle chlorine and some sediment reasonably well, but for serious contaminants, you need a filter specifically rated for those substances.

Is an under-sink filter hard to install?

Not with the right one. Woder filters connect directly into your existing water line — no plumber needed. Most homeowners finish the installation in under an hour with basic tools.

What if I rent and can’t modify the plumbing?

Woder makes inline filters that connect without permanent plumbing changes, and the portable Water-Filter Bottle is a solid option for renters who want filtered water with zero installation. Many inline installs are fully reversible, but check with your landlord before making any under-sink connections.

How much does it cost to test a new home’s tap?

A strip or drop kit costs $15 to $50. A certified lab panel usually runs $50 to $300, depending on how many contaminants it covers. Well owners often pay a bit more for bacteria and metals. It’s a small cost next to the price of the wrong filter.

How often should I test my home’s tap?

City homes are fine with a test when you move in and again whenever taste, color or smell changes. Private wells should be tested every year for bacteria and nitrates, plus after floods or well repairs. Test again after any plumbing work that touches the main line.

Your new home is a fresh start. Make clean water part of it from day one. Find the right filter for your household at woder.com.