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Water Quality
Your water leaves the treatment plant meeting the Australian Drinking Water Guidelines — what happens between the plant and your kitchen tap is a very different story.
Who this is for
If more than two of these apply, this guide is written for you.
The problem
For decades, Australian homeowners and renters assumed that turning on the kitchen tap meant instant access to safe, pristine drinking water. After all, water utilities routinely publish reports stating that supply meets the Australian Drinking Water Guidelines.
Here is what nobody is telling you: those results are measured at the treatment plant. Before that water hits your glass, it travels through kilometres of decades-old distribution mains, then through your building's own plumbing and the brass fittings inside your tap.
Along the way, it picks up a hidden cocktail of contaminants:
Hidden health risks
Every one of these is targeted and reduced by FlowPure's multi-stage filtration.
Chlorine, specifically — what it does in the body: chlorine is added at the treatment plant to disinfect the supply, and it is still in the water when it reaches your glass. Beyond the swimming-pool taste and smell, it is linked to skin irritation, dry hair and eczema flare-ups; inhaled as steam it can aggravate asthma; and long-term exposure is associated with an increased bladder-cancer risk. It is also antibacterial by design — that is its job — but the same action can disrupt the balance of gut bacteria when you drink it every day.
Tap or click any card above for what each contaminant does — every line comes from the research behind our technology page.
In the news
Four Australian water notices from the last two years, and what caused them.
PFAS — "forever chemicals" — were found at elevated levels in the dams feeding Sydney Water's Cascade filtration plant at Katoomba. Two of them, Medlow and Greaves Creek, were shut off from supply in August 2024 and stayed shut. A $3.5 million mobile PFAS treatment system was installed at the plant to strip it out.
ABC News · WaterNSW Read the report →
A faulty valve dropped water pressure across the suburb on 3 August 2025, and South East Water placed roughly 1,200 households on a Boil Water Advisory while it tested the supply. Emergency drinking water was handed out from Dunstan Street. The advisory was lifted on 6 August.
South East Water Read the report →
A dead rodent was found in the Shoreham Reservoir during a routine maintenance inspection on 20 March 2025. A precautionary Boil Water Advisory went out that evening, with residents warned that unboiled water could cause diarrhoea, cramps and gastro-like symptoms.
South East Water Read the report →
E. coli was detected in the Terrigal Reservoir during routine testing in February 2025. Up to 40,000 residents across nine suburbs — Terrigal, Erina, Kincumber, Avoca Beach and more — were told to boil their water, and shoppers drove to Gosford to find bottled. The alert was lifted the next day after retesting.
ABC News Read the report →When you drink unfiltered tap water, your liver, kidneys and gut act as the primary filtration system.
Over time, daily exposure to chlorine strips scalp oils (causing unexplained hair fall) and disrupts delicate gut flora (leading to chronic bloating and digestive discomfort).
Why the last stretch of pipe matters: water leaves the treatment plant within the Australian Drinking Water Guidelines, but the distribution network is the part of the journey nobody monitors at your end. Ageing mains shed sediment and rust, and the chlorine or chloramine added at the plant is still present when the water reaches your glass.
And then there is the tap itself. Australia is in the middle of phasing lead out of plumbing. Under the National Construction Code, copper-alloy products that carry drinking water must hold a weighted average lead content of no more than 0.25% — only lead-free products can be certified and manufactured from 1 May 2026, and only lead-free products can be installed from 1 May 2028. The regulator's own reasoning is blunt: lead is a cumulative toxicant in the body. Every brass fitting and tap installed in an Australian home before those dates is still sitting between the mains and your glass.
"I opened my tap aerator mesh out of curiosity and found a thick, brown sludge trapped inside. I was giving this water to my 2-year-old daughter every single day."
— Jess M., Geelong VICHead to head
| Water source | The problem | Real cost |
|---|---|---|
| Plastic bottled water | Heavy to carry, filled with microplastics, environmentally toxic. | About 86c per litre ($1,170+/year) |
| Plastic pitcher jugs | Takes 10 minutes to filter, takes up fridge space, traps only large debris. | Slow & incomplete |
| Under-sink systems | Requires $290+ plumber fees, drills into benchtops, puts your rental bond at risk. | $390+ upfront |
| FlowPure® Tap Filter | 0.1-micron ultrafiltration, twists on in 30s, no plumber, keeps healthy minerals. | <2c per litre (tool-free) |
Our recommendation
304 surgical-grade stainless steel · independently lab tested
Built for treated municipal tap water, FlowPure® attaches directly to virtually any kitchen tap in under 30 seconds — with zero tools, zero plumbing, and 100% bond safety for renters.
How it works
Adsorbs chlorine, chemical tastes and odours, pesticides and the organic compounds that make tap water taste "off".
Filters down to 0.1 microns — 2,000× finer than a Brita Maxtra jug — blocking bacteria, viruses, microplastics and nanoplastics.
Unlike reverse osmosis, the beneficial minerals your body needs stay in the water.
What it targets and removes: lead · excess fluoride · chlorine · microplastics & nanoplastics · PFAS, PFOA & forever chemicals · THMs (trihalomethanes) · bacteria & viruses · arsenic · selenium · pesticides — and more.
Certified and tested to remove up to 99% of impurities. NSF 42 & 53 certified. Independently lab-tested. Voted best-tasting water in blind tests against 8 top filtration systems.
| Contaminant | How FlowPure removes it | Tested reduction |
|---|---|---|
| Chlorine & odour | Activated carbon adsorption | 98–99% |
| Sediment, rust & sand | Mechanical micropore filtration | 99% |
| Lead | KDF electrochemical reduction | 95–99% |
| Heavy metals | KDF + dedicated media | 95–99% |
| Microplastics | 0.1-micron ultrafiltration membrane | up to 99% |
| Bacteria & cysts | Multi-barrier filtration | 99% |
| VOCs | Activated carbon adsorption | 60–80% |
Renter-friendly
All testing conducted by accredited independent laboratories. Click any report to view the full document.
NSF Test Report
NSF Evaluation Report
CE Compliance Certificate
RoHS Safety Test Report
FDA Material Safety Report
Certain proprietary and supplier-specific information has been redacted for confidentiality. Full results are available upon request.
Try FlowPure todayCertificate
Verified customer reactions
"I thought I had an intolerance to gluten or dairy. Turns out, my stomach was reacting to the high chlorine levels in my tap water. Switching to FlowPure was the single best decision I made for my health."
Verified customer"When I pulled out the filter cartridge after 90 days, it was dark brown. To think my family was drinking that before FlowPure… I will never go back."
Verified customerThe doc supplies two customer reviews for this page. This third card is here so the row stays balanced — send me a third review and I will drop it straight in.
Placeholder · awaiting contentThe offer: exclusive reader discount (limited stock)
As part of their Australian Health Awareness Campaign, FlowPure® is offering an exclusive reader discount for the next 24 hours only.
Stock is limited due to high demand. Discount automatically applied at checkout.
Common questions
