Campus Water Filters

Types of water filter systems

MIU has several dozen water filters around campus.  See the lists below for locations of these systems.

The University maintains the following types of water filter system on campus:

1-stage

A system with a single carbon filter, which reduces chlorine taste and odor, particles larger than 0.5 micron, and lime scale.

• Argiro — Outside student lounge
• Art Center — Upper floor, near north bathrooms
• Art Center — Upper floor, near south bathrooms
• Fairfield Business Park — first floor center kitchen
• Fairfield Business Park — second floor center kitchen
• Fairfield Business Park — second floor north kitchen
• Library — Basement, outside southwest bathrooms
• Library — Upstairs, near east entrance
• Rec Center — Outside women’s room
• Rec Center — Outside men’s room
• Science Wing —  Spayde backstage area
• Swimming Pool — Bathhouse lobby
• Verrill — Outside northwest bathrooms
• Verrill — Outside southeast bathrooms
• Verrill — Near southwest corner (bottle filling only)
• Verrill — Center of west corridor

2-stage

A system with two filters, a Pentek PD-25 sediment filter and a KX Matrikx PB1 carbon filter, which eliminate sediment, MTBE (a gasoline additive often found in groundwater), VOCs (volatile organic compounds), lead, cysts, and most chlorine.

• 1948 Highway 1 — kitchen
• Argiro — North Dining
• Argiro — South Dining northwest tea machine
• Argiro — South Dining northeast tea machine and bottle filler
• Dreier — basement drinking fountains
• Dreier — first floor drinking fountains
• Dreier — second floor drinking fountains
• Gate Ridge — upstairs south hallway
• Gate Ridge — downstairs south hallway
• H1 — laundry
• H2 — laundry
• H3 — laundry
• H4 — laundry
• H5 — laundry
• Headley — kitchen
• Henn — kitchen
• Hildenbrand — next to restroom opposite room 224
• Hildenbrand — next to restroom opposite room 236
• Hildenbrand — next to restroom opposite room 124
• Hildenbrand — room 135 (Tea Room)
• Library — basement next to northeast restrooms
• Maharishi Veda Bhavan inner — lobby
• McLaughlin — inner lobby
• Men’s Dome — near bathrooms
• R11 — kitchen
• R12A — kitchen
• R12B — kitchen
• R13 — kitchen
• R16 — kitchen
• R17 — kitchen
• R18 — kitchen
• R22 — basement laundry
• R23 — kitchen
• R24 — kitchen
• R31 — dining room
• R41 — dining room
• Science Wing — north corridor
• V1 — kitchen
• V2 — kitchen
• V3 — kitchen
• Women’s Dome — inner lobby

Whole house system

A Springwell CF1 system, which removes chlorine, chloramine, PFAS, pesticides, herbicides, and haloacetic acids.

•  Argiro — Water used by kitchen for cooking

RO

A reverse osmosis filtration system.

•  Argiro — Cafe (for use by MIU students only)

Rain

A special rain water catchment and RO filtration system in the Sustainable Living Center.

• Sust. Living Bldg. —  Main corridor

Maintenance

All water filter systems on this list, except the systems in the Sustainable Living Building and the Argiro Cafe, are maintained by MIU Facilities Management.  The rain water catchment and filtration system in the Sustainable Living Building is maintained by the MIU Sustainable Living department. The reverse osmosis system in the Argiro Cafe is maintained by Student Government.

Blue tag

At most of water filter system locations, there is a blue tag that tells you when the filters were last changed.  This tag is as near as practical to the faucet that gives the filtered water.  If there is a cabinet under the faucet, the tag is usually in the cabinet.

Alternatives

Everybody’s has several 6-stage reverse osmosis (RO) machines and charges 59 cents per gallon for water from these machines. For those who wish to add minerals to RO water, Everybody’s carries ConcenTrace Trace Mineral Drops, which can remineralize water for about 10 cents a gallon.

Everybody’s also carries several brands of spring water in 1 liter, 1 gallon, 2.5 gallon, and 5 gallon bottles.

HyVee and Walmart have similar RO water machines.

Crystal Clear Water Company (641-472-4004, ccbw.com) delivers bottled water anywhere in Fairfield.

Sudden bad taste in filtered water

Occasionally, filtered water on campus may suddenly acquire a bad taste. This is usually due to the Fairfield Water Department adding extra chlorine to the water. This is called a “chlorine shock”. A chlorine shock usually lasts no more than a day, after which water taste returns to normal. The purpose of a chlorine shock is to prevent growth of bacteria, and it is usually done when the weather suddenly warms. Since MIU filtered water starts with Fairfield tap water, the extra chlorine is passed on to MIU’s filters, which remove most but not all of the chlorine.
Sudden changes in filtered water quality are generally not due to deterioration of filters. Filter deterioration usually results in slow degradation of water quality, which is normally avoided with regular water filter changes by MIU Facilities Management.

Detailed specs on the water filters we use on campus

The OmniPure K2586 water filter (used in the 1-stage systems listed above) is an activated carbon and polyphosphate filter that reduces chlorine taste and odor, particles larger than 0.5 micron, and lime scale.

• Reduces chlorine by 90–95%
• Reduces bad taste and odor
• Flow rate: 0.5 GPM (gallons per minute)
• Temp Range: 35–100° F

The Pentek CW-F string wound polypropylene whole house filter (used in the 2-stage systems listed above) is designed to reduce extra fine sand, dirt, silt, rust, and scale particles.

• 10 micron rating
• Reduces sand, rust, sediment, silt, dirt and scale particles
• Flow rate: 10 GPM
• Temp Range: 40–165° F

The KX Matrikx PB1 (used in the 2-stage systems listed above) is a carbon-briquette multimedia water filter that removes lead, volatile organic compounds (VOC), MTBE (a gasoline additive often found in groundwater), extra-fine sediment, bad taste and odor, and chlorine taste and odor.

• 0.5 micron rating
• Temperature range: 40–165° F
• Flow rate: 0.5–1.0 GPM
• NSF Standard 42 test and certified
• Removes chlorine taste and odor, cysts, lead, VOC, MTBE, extra fine sediment, lead, and mercury
• Removes 99.95% of cryptosporidium, giardia, entamoeba, and toxoplasmacysts