If you’ve heard of Camp Lejeune, there is a good chance it’s due to those running commercials about possible law suits for the water quality in the area. While the worst of that was back in the 80s, we were pretty sure our house would need a filtration system. It wasn’t until we were filling the bathtub for the first time that we really saw how brown the water was. We had already decided not to drink the tap water, but just seeing what we were bathing in was a real eye opener. I wish I’d taken a picture of it.

We quickly started looking into a whole house filtration system with a few caveats in mind:

1. Cost – this isn’t our forever home, so we were not in a position to drop $10k on a top of the line system.
2. Ease – what could we quickly purchase and quickly install?

We settled on a basic system from Amazon for under $500, and hired a company for $1100 to install it.

Here’s a photo of the system installed and new, on July 15.

And here’s a photo taken September 27 – only 2 months later! Look at how brown that white filter got.

We’ve noticed a significant difference in the water with this system – bath water runs clear, I don’t stress about drinking it (although still don’t rely on it for drinking). We’ve changed the filters every 3 months or so, usually relying on the look of the bath water to tell when it’s time. The installer also said that we may notice water pressure decrease when the filter gets too full.

Cost Breakdown:

• $436 Whole House Water Filter System by Express Water
• $65 iSpring WSP-50 Reusable Whole House Spin Down Sediment Water Filter
• $1100 for installation by Blue Water Plumbing
• $109 for replacement filters every 3 months

Total installation cost = $1601, plus about $327 every year for replacement filters.