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What your water isn’t telling you
A certified water sommelier breaks down the contaminants hiding in plain sight—from forever chemicals to fertilizer runoff—and what you can do about them
BY Fast Company Custom Studio | 07-24-26
What’s in your tap water?
That’s a question Mike Sale wants everyone to be able to answer. As a certified water sommelier, Sale has dived deeply into what shapes water’s taste, from the unique minerals that hit your palate just right to the route the water has taken to your kitchen faucet. In short, every sip tells a story. “It’s helped me to understand the science behind what’s happening when someone says their water tastes funny,” he says.
That knowledge has been central in Sale’s role as director of home water systems in the Innovation Lab at Delta Faucet Company. In recent years, the company best known for products ranging from kitchen sinks to showerheads has been ramping up its efforts to help consumers improve their homes’ water quality.
Here, Sale discusses the importance of getting to know your water, why better water can have positive impacts that go beyond taste, and that one drink of water that’s stayed with him for years. The conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
What are some of the factors that typically affect water quality?
For many, water quality translates to “I can see it” or “I can smell it.” Take chlorine, which is something intentionally added by a lot of municipalities to keep water from growing bacteria as it travels to your house. That’s something you can taste.
Sometimes we think the water looks, tastes, and feels clear, but that’s not necessarily the reality. There are four contaminants we continue to hear about: lead and metals, largely from old pipes; microplastics, which shed off of the products we’ve used for decades in the United States; PFAS, or “forever chemicals,” which are the manufactured things that don’t break down and live through water cycles; and nitrates, which are a by-product of fertilizer runoff. And none of these meaningfully change the taste or appearance of the water.
People are getting more educated about their water. But there’s still a level of concern. So that’s become our core driver.
Mike Sale
Director of home water systems, Delta Faucet
What are the potential impacts of, say, chlorine or contaminants like nitrates?
In high-enough doses, chlorine isn’t great for your hair or your skin—think about that dry feeling after a long day at the pool. There’s good science that high levels of nitrates and other contaminants can cause consequential health effects. But what we don’t understand is what that might look like for long-term health at the smaller levels that are throughout the nation’s water supply. Right now, we’re in a bit of an uncertain period where science is working to keep up.
In the meantime, what can consumers do today to reduce contaminants and make their water tastier?
I highly endorse a shower filter that will remove chlorine and other impurities before they get into your hair and skin. Another solution I generally guide folks to is reverse osmosis, which uses a very fine membrane that takes virtually everything out of drinking water, including those emerging contaminants we discussed. However, along with man-made contaminants, reverse osmosis can remove some of the natural minerals that make water taste more interesting. That’s why a lot of people who use reverse osmosis for their drinking water also use a cartridge called a remineralizer that puts small amounts of calcium and magnesium back into the water. These are generally things that are healthy for your body and help make the water taste better.
When you’re looking at a solution like reverse osmosis, it’s important to make sure that there’s third-party certification validating the product’s performance in contaminant removal, so you’re actually getting what you’re buying.
What have you been working on at the Innovation Lab at Delta Faucet?
Delta Faucet entered the water treatment space two years ago, but our work started years before that, making sure we deeply understood consumers’ needs and concerns. Back then, it was, “I’m starting to get concerned about my water, but I don’t know enough to know exactly what I’m concerned about.” Now, people are getting more educated. But there’s still a level of uncertainty and concern. So that’s become the core driver.
For example, we wanted to start with a best-in-class tankless reverse osmosis system. There were some on the market, but we redesigned ours from the inside-out [to create] a newer technology of tankless reverse osmosis that could meet consumers’ expectations. We’re really proud that our system has the most certifications in the industry. And we included what we call “quiet benefits” like a space-saving design and a two-year filter life. The two-year filter equates to about 10,000 bottles of water, so that helps the system make sense from a return-on-investment standpoint as well as from a sustainability standpoint.
As a certified water sommelier, what’s the most memorable water you’ve tasted?
One of my favorites came from a tap that pulls water straight from the springs by the Grand Canyon. Just like any other beverage or food, so much of it is about the experience and the location. Just the magic of a tap popping straight up from the ground at the top of the canyon where you can fill your water bottle—I won’t forget that moment.
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How much does the average person know about the quality of the water in their homes?
Historically, not a lot. Water was something we just counted on being there and we didn’t worry too much about where it came from. But we’re seeing a trend of people trying to better understand their water—its origin, how it’s treated. For instance, I keep an eye on the annual water-quality report from my municipality to see the things that are in my water before it gets to me.
Sale says pulling water straight from a Grand Canyon spring tap was a “magical” moment he’ll never forget.
