Bath and shower water filters: our CuZn bath ball review, and what to buy now

Why we started paying attention

After hearing enough about what might be in tap water — prescription residues, chlorine, the rest — we started paying attention to where ours came from.

Living part of the year in Palm Beach County, Florida, we were all too familiar with boil orders and with finding out about unacceptable contamination levels a week after the fact. Even once the problems were corrected, we still flinched a little putting a toddler in the tub, wondering what he was sitting in. It is no secret that treatment plants use chlorine and other chemicals to make water safe for public use — which is the right trade, and still leaves chlorine in the water at your tap.

The CuZn bath ball

A whole-house filter was not in the budget that year, so a bath ball was ideal — at least the tub would be filtered.

It is genuinely simple: a round housing containing a recyclable filter cartridge. You slip the ball onto the bath faucet so it hangs underneath, and the water runs through it into the tub.

The difference was immediate. Our water had always had a faintly chlorinated smell, and once the tub was full enough for a toddler, there was none. Who knows what else it caught — but during the months when our son usually had dry skin, he had considerably less of it. We did not put lotion on his legs that whole year, which was a first.

The cartridge filtered around 26,000 gallons and lasted about a year, and was replaceable, making it a far more affordable measure than a whole-house system.

A note on availability: this specific CuZn bath ball, which we bought from WaterCheck.biz, is not carried in the retail catalog we price-check against. We have left the review here because the reasoning holds and people still ask about it — but the picks above are the versions you can currently buy.

What to buy now

Three price points on the same idea.

The Santevia bath faucet filter is the closest current equivalent to the bath ball: it hangs off the tub tap, needs no plumbing, and is the cheapest way to find out whether this makes a difference in your house.

The Crystal Quest bathtub filter is the larger-capacity version for a household committing to it.

The Aquabliss shower filter is where this goes once children are showering rather than bathing — and shower water is arguably the bigger chlorine exposure anyway, given the heat, the steam and the duration.

Being clear about limits

A bath or shower filter is a skin-contact filter. It targets chlorine. It is not a drinking-water filter, it will not address lead, and it is not a response to a contamination notice — during a boil order, do what the utility says.

If lead is your actual concern, the sequence is a water test first, then a certified drinking-water filter chosen for that contaminant. Your utility's annual water quality report is free and is the right place to start — though note it describes the water leaving the plant and in the mains, not what your own service line and household plumbing may add.

That distinction is worth holding onto, because a filter that makes the bath smell better can quietly feel like the whole problem is handled.

For shower filters, which of them are named in a certifier's register for the shower-filter standard and what that standard covers, see our shower filter guide.