Water Filtration Advice

ishoot308 · 05-13-2026, 04:10 PM

I apologize for the length of this post in advance...

As my wife and I get older, we are getting tired of carrying the cases of Poland spring water to the camp for drinking. While we request any guests visiting to bring a case of water, it never seems to be enough and we always end up lugging more out... Not to mention the single use plastic usage we are also trying to reduce.

In an effort to decrease the lugging and plastic usage, my wife has finally agreed to try the lake water for drinking! We have what I thought was a fantastic filtration system and put it to use this past weekend... My wife thought it was the best water she had ever tasted (I agree!) and she was fully on board! Yippee! Happy wife happy life! So far so good!

My filtration system is as follows...

Water is drawn from the lake, 9' down and on a stand and goes through a 50 micron then 5 micron sediment filter. Water then goes through a properly sized ultraviolet tube filter. Both glass tube and UV bulb are new this spring. Before coming out of the kitchen faucet, the water goes through a large under sink carbon activated filter.

I then purchased a "Lifestraw pitcher" as a final filter which is supposed to remove 30+ contaminants including microplastics, bacteria, parasites and PFAS. Honestly the Lifestraw pitcher was just added to appease my wife as I thought all the filtration I already had was more than enough.

Anyway, now to my issue...So I decided to have my water tested by Nelson analytical labs. I actually did four standard water tests. #1 was untreated lake water. #2 was water through my kitchen faucet which goes through my primary sediment, UV and carbon activated filter. #3 was water through all filters including the Lifestraw pitcher and finally #4 was simply Poland Spring bottled water.

The first three water test (all lake water) all came back with a presence for Total Coliform Bacteria. Now I realize that Total Coliform bacteria is just an indicator that says there is a possibility but not certainty that disease organisms may also be present. There was NO ecoli bacteria noted in any of the tests which is good and all other tested indicators were well within standards.

The Poland spring test did have one out of standard indicator, a low PH level of 6.31 which really isn't an issue.

So my question is does anyone have any recommendations on what I can do to completely eliminate the Total Coliform Bacteria level?? I was thinking possibly a secondary under sink UV chamber??

Appreciate any experienced input!!

Dan

05-13-2026, 04:10 PM	#1
ishoot308 Senior Member Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Gilford, NH / Welch Island Posts: 6,531 Thanks: 2,454 Thanked 5,465 Times in 2,142 Posts	Water Filtration Advice I apologize for the length of this post in advance... As my wife and I get older, we are getting tired of carrying the cases of Poland spring water to the camp for drinking. While we request any guests visiting to bring a case of water, it never seems to be enough and we always end up lugging more out... Not to mention the single use plastic usage we are also trying to reduce. In an effort to decrease the lugging and plastic usage, my wife has finally agreed to try the lake water for drinking! We have what I thought was a fantastic filtration system and put it to use this past weekend... My wife thought it was the best water she had ever tasted (I agree!) and she was fully on board! Yippee! Happy wife happy life! So far so good! My filtration system is as follows... Water is drawn from the lake, 9' down and on a stand and goes through a 50 micron then 5 micron sediment filter. Water then goes through a properly sized ultraviolet tube filter. Both glass tube and UV bulb are new this spring. Before coming out of the kitchen faucet, the water goes through a large under sink carbon activated filter. I then purchased a "Lifestraw pitcher" as a final filter which is supposed to remove 30+ contaminants including microplastics, bacteria, parasites and PFAS. Honestly the Lifestraw pitcher was just added to appease my wife as I thought all the filtration I already had was more than enough. Anyway, now to my issue...So I decided to have my water tested by Nelson analytical labs. I actually did four standard water tests. #1 was untreated lake water. #2 was water through my kitchen faucet which goes through my primary sediment, UV and carbon activated filter. #3 was water through all filters including the Lifestraw pitcher and finally #4 was simply Poland Spring bottled water. The first three water test (all lake water) all came back with a presence for Total Coliform Bacteria. Now I realize that Total Coliform bacteria is just an indicator that says there is a possibility but not certainty that disease organisms may also be present. There was NO ecoli bacteria noted in any of the tests which is good and all other tested indicators were well within standards. The Poland spring test did have one out of standard indicator, a low PH level of 6.31 which really isn't an issue. So my question is does anyone have any recommendations on what I can do to completely eliminate the Total Coliform Bacteria level?? I was thinking possibly a secondary under sink UV chamber?? Appreciate any experienced input!! Dan __________________ It's Always Sunny On Welch Island!!